Thread by @JanAli1976

Thread
#Pakistan´s tainted company Kashmir Premier League #KPL offered support to #India to hold cricket tournament in #Srinagar.
Does KPL get a nod from Pakistani, AJK politicians for this controversial statement?
@CMShehbaz
@OfficialDGISPR

It appears that organisers of Pakistani company KPL and politicians of #AzadKashmir have discovered a novel way to mint money by using the plight of the people of the Kashmir valley.

On April 06,2021,KPL President Arif Malik wrote a letter to the then PM of AJK, Raja Farooq Haider, in which,he claimed of having invested heavily in the Kashmir cause globally so KPL should be given exclusive rights to hold National or International matches in AJK for 13 years.

The letter also stated that if exclusive rights were not given, they would suffer financially; manifest clearly they were more interested in doing business than promoting regional cricket to an international level, a stated objective of the league or promoting the Kashmir cause.

It has also made it clear that the people at the helm of the organization were using the miseries of the Kashmiris as a justification for their business interest and politicians and officers of AJK chose to be willing facilitators.

It is pertinent to mention that the KPL president wrote this letter when KPL was not even registered in Pakistan or Azad Kashmir and there was no agreement between the government of Azad Kashmir and KPL.

In such circumstances,Arif Malks’s claim of having invested heavily in the Kashmir cause was absurd & carried no weight. Instead of raising questions about KPL, chiefs statement, Mr.Haider granted exclusive rights of the Muzaffarabad cricket ground to be used by KPL for 13 years

By doing so, Raja Farooq Haider Khan acted more like a frontman of KPL than the elected representative of Kashmiris.

In Feb 2022, the then PM of AJK,Abdul Qayyum Niazi, wrote a letter to PCB Chairman Ramiz Raja in which he said that KPL was holding leagues in AJK in collaboration with the Department of Sports & asked him to issue an NOC in favour of KPL for holding KPL season-2 in AJK.

The letter also claimed that KPL was a great diplomatic success without explaining how it was a success in promoting the Kashmir cause at the national or international level.

However, the KPL organisers and government officials give this silly justification that the KPL made the world see violence in the Valley and a peaceful atmosphere in Azad Kashmir with young boys playing cricket there.

But Azad Kashmir politicians and KPL organizers do not know that very few people in the world know about Kashmir and may not even know where Muzaffarabad and Srinagar are located.

Yes, people could have known about Kashmir if the commentator had talked about the situation in both parts of Kashmir and the images of the situation in Occupied Kashmir had been displayed and telecasted.

One wonders what diplomatic victory was achieved by showing the players playing cricket at the Muzaffarabad ground can only be explained by the KPL and Azad Kashmir’s ruling classes.

It is clear from the letter of Abdul Qayyum Niazi that KPL has been using the name of Kashmir for its business with the tacit support of the rulers of Azad Kashmir.

Just two months before Abdul Qayyum Niazi’s letter, KPL signed a three-year contract with AIX Capital Holdings, a British company, owned by an Indian-origin British national. It was established just six months before this deal.

Under the agreement reached between KPL and this company, full branding, TV rights, advertising, marketing and media rights were given to this company for the UK, Wales, USA, Europe, Canada and Africa.

Apart from this, all commercial dealings were also the responsibility of the same company and the company would get 30% of the contractual revenue.

This contract was later terminated. But this agreement with a British national of Indian origin itself raised many questions.

What agreement with an Indian had to do with the Kashmir cause?
Would any British citizen of Indian origin work for the Kashmir cause?
Why was this contract made with a company that was established only a few months ago?
Did the authorities in AJK know about this agreement?
.

If KPL signed this contract without their knowledge, then why did not AJK government terminate the contract with KPL?
Did the authorities of Azad Kashmir ask for an explanation?
If nothing like this happened, then the authorities of Azad Kashmir are equally involved

It is not known when the contract between KPL and AIX Capital Holdings was terminated, but three months after the contract, KPL held a roadshow in the UK & Spain to raise money.

Pakistani High Commissioner in London, Moazzam Khan, hosted the roadshow and Pakistan’s Consul Generals in Birmingham & Barcelona facilitated the roadshow.

This story took another turn when just two months after this roadshow, the KPL president Arif Malik announced that he would make Virat Kohli, the former captain of the Indian cricket team, a part of the KPL and would be invited to play in the KPL or attend as a chief guest.

The politicians of Azad Kashmir remained silent
The announcement of Kohli’s inclusion in the KPL appeared to have the support of the Azad Kashmir officials.
KPL dropped the Idea of inviting Kohli fearing public backlash.

In July, the KPL dropped a bombshell when its president Arif Malik gave an interview to a private Pakistani TV saying that if India’s BCCI wanted to host a KPL-like tournament in Srinagar, KPL was ready to help.

Malik said, “We´re cricket promoters, we don`t mind if BCCI organizes a cricket league in Srinagar, in fact, )1we´re ready to help & share our expertise with BCCI.”

Just 2 days after this statement,AJK’s PM Sardar Tanveer Ilyas & Yasin Malik’s wife Mashaal Malik attended the opening ceremony of KPL season-2.
No politician of AJK or Pakistan raised issues over this controversial statement. This indicates that KPL Chief enjoys their support.

The irony is that on the one hand, the KPL organisers make fake claims that they hold leagues to promote the Kasmir cause, and on the other, they offer support to the BCCI to hold a KPL-like tournament in Srinagar. This is sheer hypocrisy.

In a nutshell, their agenda appears to be to use Kashmir for their business interests and both Pakistani and AJK politicians support them.

It is an irony that someone who has not an iota of an understanding of the magnitude of Indian violence is offering the BCCI to hold a tournament in Srinagar

It amounts to whitewashing Indian sins in Kashmir, justifying Indian occupation and nullifying the rights and even existence of the Kashmiri people.

What is more worrying is the fact that those who make such offers enjoy the support of the AJK politicians.

Many Pakistani politicians also support controversial KPL.
Shahryar Yar Khan Afridi of PTI, the former chairman of the Kashmir Committee of the Parliament of Pak, is the brand ambassador of KPL.
Meanwhile,many Kashmiris have expressed serious concern about the KPL controversy.
[

Adeel Ahmad, a resident of Kashmir valley, said that KPL had to do business even if it was on dead bodies of Kashmiri people but there was a question mark on the role of politicians of AJK. He said that in such a situation, why should the politicians of AJK be trusted?

”Are they trying to whitewash Indian crimes in Kashmir for their own interests?” he asked. He said that It appears that Kashmiris do not exist for them and seem willing to conspire against the people of the valley for money

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