• Fawad says alert to NZ police, email threat to Black Caps were sent from India
• WI receive similar threat from another concocted email ID
• Rashid says India frees prisoners and trains them to foment terrorism in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry on Wednesday said the frightening alert sent to the Black Caps had generated from a device in India, indicating the conspiracy to sabotage the New Zealand cricket team tour to Pakistan.

The minister, who came up with facts and figures in detail to expose the Indian conspiracy against the planned ODI series in Pakistan, also disclosed that a similar threat from a concocted email ID was sent to the West Indies cricket board, as its team was scheduled to arrive here in December.

Based on fake threat alert, the Indian disinformation campaign that led to cancelation of the New Zealand cricket team tour “is a very serious trend and ICC must take notice of these malicious acts of Indian nationals” otherwise the “Gentleman’s Game” would be adversely affected, the minister said while requesting other cricket teams to share security-related concerns.

While speaking at a press conference with Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, Mr Chaudhry said the fake campaign was launched on August 19 with the circulation of a Facebook post from a fake account created in the name of former TTP spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan. Through the post New Zealand cricket board and government were asked not to send the team to Pakistan, claiming that militant Islamic State (IS) group, KP, had planned to target the NZ team, he explained.

Two days later, Abhinandan Mishra, Bureau Chief of Sunday Guardian, an Indian newspaper, published an article captioned “New Zealand Cricket Team may face terrorist attack in Pakistan” based on the fake post, Mr Chaudhry told the presser. The Sunday Guardian, according to its website, was founded by former Indian minister for external affairs M.J. Akbar, who served in the Modi government till 2018. He said Mishra was also found in contact with Amrullah Saleh, former Afghan vice president, prior to publication of the article.

Again after a gap of two days, on August 24, the wife of New Zealand opener Martin Guptill received an email threatening her husband from ID: tehreekelabaik@protonmail.com to kill him during the tour, the minister disclosed.

On digging deeper, it emerged that the email had been sent just hours after the account had been created, Mr Chaudhry said. “When we investigated further, we discovered some facts. Firstly, this email is not affiliated with any social media network and only one email has been generated from this account,” he said, explaining that the email was sent via ProtonMail, a secure service.

“We have requested Interpol to assist us and tell us how it was generated,” the minister said.

As the New Zealand cricket team continued with their plan to tour Pakistan with comprehensive security arrangements being in place, the conspirators struck again, this time sending a threat email to NZ Police, Mr Chaudhry disclosed.

Once blackcaps arrived, the interior ministry issued a detailed protocol programme for them and the teams began focusing on the practice sessions. The team also participated in the practice sessions “without any issues,” the minister said. However, he added, on the day of the first match, New Zealand officials said their government had security concerns. “Pakistan Cricket Board officials, the interior ministry security team, everyone went to them and asked them to share the threat,” he said but they said they had nothing to share.

The minister told the presser that Interpol Wellington intimated Interpol Islamabad about the receipt of a threat email to NZ Police from hamzaafrid17899@gmail.com. The email had been sent just 15 minutes after the ID had been created, he said, adding that when authorities probed the email, they discovered it was sent from a device associated with India.

“It was sent using a virtual private network (VPN) to show the location as Singapore,” the minister said, adding that the same device had 13 other IDs, nearly all of which were Indian names.

“All IDs were made using the names of Indian actors and celebrities. Only the name Hamza Afridi was different to create an impression that this email was generated from Pakistan,” he said. Social media co-relation revealed that possible user of this email ID was an Indian Omparkash Mishra from Mumbai, Maharashtra, he said.

The minister disclosed that a similar threat was sent to the West Indies cricket board from another concocted email ID ehshanullahehshan protonmail.com. He requested other cricket teams to share similar security-related concerns if any. He noted that Indian disinformation campaign based on fake threat alert affected the NZ cricket team tour and ODI series.

“This is a very serious trend and ICC must take notice of these malicious acts of Indian nationals,” he said. He also called on the New Zealand government to share the specifics of the threat they had received.

Commenting on England’s decision to follow in the footsteps of the Kiwis, Mr Chaudhry said that British High Commissioner in Pakistan Christian Turner had made it clear that the UK government’s advisory for Pakistan was not being changed. “So if the government has no reservations, who is the English Cricket Board to cancel the tour,” he remarked, while describing the excuse that players were tired as “shoddy”.

He said he had asked Pakistan Television to evaluate the financial losses it had suffered. “We are working on this and if our legal team permits, we will sue the ECB,” he added.

Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid told the media that Pakistan could not be isolated by such campaigns that led to the cancellation of a cricket team’s tour.

“Cricket is our passion,” he said asserting that disappointment amounts to disbelief. “Soon a day will come when the teams of the world will come to Pakistan,” he said.

The interior minister said Pakistan had played a “historic role” and had evacuated over 10,000 people from Afghanistan including Nato forces, IMF and World Bank personnel and Americans.

“India has been disappointed that Pakistan couldn’t be made a scapegoat and it was thinking that there would be civil war [in Afghanistan] and so much killing and slaughter that there would be a rush of refugees here — not a single refugee has come,” he said. However, he added, India freed many people from prison and then trained them to foment terror in Pakistan.

The interior minister said the Torkham and Chaman borders were functioning normally and more people were going to Afghanistan from Pakistan than those arriving here. “Everything is peaceful. This is all a drama and the gloved hands behind this drama will be unsuccessful.

“Pakistan is a great nation and has great security agencies and army. There is an elected government and no one can isolate us. We will move forward,” he added.

Published in Dawn, September 23rd, 2021