Police Authorities continued to halt fans at the National Bank Arena, Karachi during a PSL match from showcasing their solidarity with Palestine by waving the country’s flag and chanting slogans in the stands.
Senator Mushtaq Ahmed hails from KPK and represents the Jamaat-e-Islami Party in the Senate of Pakistan. He expressed his frustration at the fact that people cannot even express solidarity with Palestine in Pakistan during the current political climate.
The Senator posted a video on Twitter and lamented, “This government is crossing all limits of disrespect, chanting the slogan of Palestine and raising the flag of Palestine in the stadium has been declared a crime in a PSL match, the flag of Palestine is being pulled shamelessly, what kind of oppression is this? Is this Pakistan?
The incident happened in the Eliminator 1 match between Islamabad United and Quetta Gladiators where the police officers, who were ushering the crowd during the match, pulled the flags from the grasp of the fans in the stands and confiscated them.
Police officers also ordered the fans not to chant the Palestine slogans but the fans vehemently protested against them by chanting the slogans even more defiantly.
Senator’s tweet about the slogans was shared massively across all platforms and it seems like the fans have resonated with the tweet, which comes just before the Senate elections on April 2, 2024.
Despite the protests such incidents have re-occurred time and time again, as fans were also stopped from bringing flags in the vicinity of the Jinnah stadium during the football match between Pakistan and Tajikistan in November and the ongoing PSL.
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