Cricket chiefs in Indian occupied Kashmir were left fuming on Tuesday after India's armed forces refused to field a team in a first-class match in the separatist-riven region. The occupied Jammu and Kashmir team received a walk-over when their opponents Services - representing the Indian armed forces - failed to turn up for a Ranji Trophy match in occupied Srinagar due to start on Tuesday.
The state's former chief minister Farooq Abdullah, who also heads the region's cricket association, said the withdrawal of the Services team sent the wrong signal at a time when violence in occupied Kashmir is on the wane. "The Services have negated what the Prime Minister, the Defence Minister and the Home Minister have said, that Kashmir is normal," a fuming Abdullah was quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India (PTI).
"We were all waiting for the Services. We were here to welcome them. It looks very bad that, of all teams, Services decided not to come." He said the incident created a bad image of India. "They have been advised not to come. Now, we will have to find out, who has advised them not to come. This incident has got a much larger picture. It is about: is Kashmir normal or not? "Services is saying Kashmir is not normal. To hell with them for that...they want us to burn all the time so that they can remain our masters.
"What is the government of India doing? I will take this up with them," said Abdullah. A Services team official, J.P. Pandey, was quoted by PTI as saying that the team was ordered not to travel to occupied Srinagar. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) said the Services team had been banned from the rest of the tournament for refusing to play.
"The Services Sports Control Board (SSCB) forfeited the match, having expressed its inability to send its cricket team to occupied Srinagar," BCCI secretary N. Srinivasan said in a statement. "The SSCB has therefore been disqualified from participating in the 2009-10 edition of the Ranji Trophy, in accordance with the rules of the BCCI pertaining to domestic tournaments.
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