'A decision was taken on Sunday (February 17) to remove all the photographs of Pakistani cricketers at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. Also, there were bats autographed by Pakistan teams when they visited Bengaluru to play matches. They too were removed,” Vinay Mruthyunjaya, official spokesperson of KSCA told MyNation
Bengaluru: The Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) has also decided to remove photographs of Pakistan cricketers which were displayed at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium as the association expressed solidarity with the armed forces.
There is massive anger in the country over the suicide attack by a Jaish-e-Mohammad (JEM) terrorist in Pulwama where 40 CRPF men were martyred on February 14.
Also read: PCA removes photos of Pakistan cricketers
With Pakistan involved in the dastardly act, several cricket associations in the country have shown solidarity by removing Pakistan players' photographs at their stadiums.
Cricket Club of India (CCI) was the first to blank former captain and current Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan's photo. Later, Punjab Cricket Association (PCA), Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA) and others followed suit.
"See, CCI is a sports-club and we have photographs of past and present cricketers from all countries. We wanted to show, in our way displeasure on whatever is happening right now. It is mark of protest. We have covered it as of now but can't say right now if we would take it down," CCI president Premal Udani had told PTI.
: Cricket Club of India covers Imran Khan's photo at CCI Headquarters in Mumbai in wake of . pic.twitter.com/H1Ymk71sfA
— ANI (@ANI)"As a humble step, the PCA has decided to show its solidarity with the families of martyrs of the Pulwama attack. There is so much anger in the nation against the heinous attack and PCA is no different in this," PCA treasurer Ajay Tyagi had said.
Now, KSCA too has joined the other state associations. The Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru had several portraits of Pakistan players and they have now been taken down.
“A decision was taken on Sunday (February 17) to remove all the photographs of Pakistani cricketers at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. Also, there were bats autographed by Pakistan teams when they visited Bengaluru to play matches. They too were removed,” Vinay Mruthyunjaya, official spokesperson of KSCA told MyNation.
“We at Karnataka State Cricket Association to show our solidarity and support to our armed forces; and to express our strong protest against the recent terrorist bombing at Pulwama, we have brought down all photographs of Pakistan cricketers including Imran Khan,” he added.
KSCA secretary Sudhakar Rao confirmed to MyNation that they had also removed a picture from the 1992 World Cup which was on one of the walls near the main entrance of the stadium. It was a group picture which had players from all participating nations including Pakistan. It was taken in Australia. Pakistan won that tournament under Imran's captaincy.
The photographs of Imran, Shoaib Malik, Shoaib Akhtar, Inzamam-ul-Haq, who played his 100th Test in Bengaluru, Wasim Akram, Javed Miandad and former Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf were taken down at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.
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