Pakistan Rejects ICC’s ‘Unverified’ Afghan Airstrike Allegation

News Desk

Islamabad: Pakistan on Sunday strongly condemned the International Cricket Council (ICC) for what it termed a “selective, biased and premature” statement regarding the reported deaths of Afghan cricketers, warning that such remarks risk politicising the sport and eroding confidence in global cricket governance.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Minister for Information and Broadcasting Ataullah Tarar said Pakistan, itself a victim of cross-border terrorism, “rejects the ICC’s selective and unverified comment advancing a disputed allegation as established fact.”

“The ICC has cited no independent verification to substantiate its claim that three ‘Afghan cricketers’ died in an ‘airstrike’,” Tarar said. “Pakistan strongly contests the ICC’s version and calls for an immediate correction.”

The minister accused the ICC of amplifying unverified information and noted that the sequence of statements following the ICC’s post — including similar comments from ICC Chair Jay Shah and the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) — appeared to create “an echo chamber to legitimise an unproven claim.”

“This episode follows a pattern of avoidable controversies under the ICC’s current leadership that have disproportionately targeted Pakistan cricket,” Tarar said, citing the recent ‘handshake controversy’ that delayed a Pakistan Asia Cup fixture earlier this year.

He added that such incidents have undermined trust in the ICC’s neutrality, urging the global regulator to remain impartial and avoid political influences.

“Pakistan has consistently held that politics must not contaminate sport, especially cricket,” the minister stressed. “The ICC must uphold its independence, avoid endorsing unverified claims, and prevent any actor from drawing political mileage.”

Tarar also called on the ICC’s leadership — noting that its current chair hails from India — to restore the body’s neutrality and international standards of fair play, warning that any precedent linking a sport regulator to “narratives tied to violent extremists” would be deeply damaging.

Precision Strikes in Border Areas

A day earlier, Tarar confirmed that Pakistan had conducted “precision strikes” on verified camps of the proscribed Gul Bahadur group in North and South Waziristan, eliminating 60–70 militants, including senior commanders, based on confirmed intelligence.

He said that militants from the Khawarij group, operating from Afghan territory, had attempted multiple attacks inside Pakistan during the recent 48-hour ceasefire, but all such attempts were thwarted by Pakistani forces.

The information minister also refuted allegations of civilian casualties, calling them “baseless” and part of a “deliberate effort to elicit sympathy for terrorist groups.”

According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), Pakistan’s military action earlier this month was in response to an unprovoked cross-border attack on October 12 by Taliban forces and India-backed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which resulted in the martyrdom of 23 Pakistani soldiers. The self-defence strikes killed over 200 Afghan Taliban and affiliated militants, the ISPR added.

Ceasefire Reached in Doha

Following several days of hostilities, Qatar announced late Saturday that Pakistan and Afghanistan had reached a landmark ceasefire agreement after negotiations in Doha, mediated by Qatar and Turkiye.

The agreement calls for an immediate cessation of hostilities and the establishment of a joint mechanism for lasting peace and stability. Both sides also agreed to hold follow-up talks in Istanbul on October 25 to ensure implementation.

Confirming the truce, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif expressed optimism that the ceasefire would reduce border tensions and reaffirmed that both countries had agreed to respect each other’s territorial sovereignty.

The truce marks a potential breakthrough in efforts to restore peace along the 2,500-kilometre porous border, long plagued by militant infiltration and cross-border attacks.