Sena (UBT) stages protests against India-Pak Asia Cup cricket match
Mumbai, Sep 14 (PTI): The Shiv Sena (UBT) members on Sunday raised slogans and even destroyed a television set as part of their protests in different parts of Maharashtra against the India-Pakistan Asia Cup cricket match scheduled in Dubai.
Traditional rivals India and Pakistan will face off in Dubai, in what will be the first match between the two sides since the military conflict in May, when India launched strikes on terror infrastructure in Pakistan-controlled territories after 26 persons, mostly tourists, were killed in a dastardly terror attack in Pahalgam on April 22.
The Indian government has allowed the national team to play against Pakistan at multi-national events like the World Cup and Asia Cup but has barred any bilateral engagement across sports.
On Saturday, Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray said the cricket match between India and Pakistan in Dubai is an insult to national sentiments. The former state chief minister had also appealed to people not to watch the match and said his party's women workers will collect sindoor (vermilion) and send it to the Prime Minister's Office.
Following his opposition to the match, the Sena (UBT) on Sunday organised 'Majha Kunku Majha Desh' campaign in Mumbai.
"We will send these items (sindoor and other items used by a married woman) through official means, through post, not only from Mumbai, but from across Maharashtra to the PM's Office," Sena (UBT) leader and former Mumbai mayor Kishori Pednekar told reporters.
"We will tell the prime minister that those who were responsible for the death of the husbands of our sisters (a reference to the Pahalgam attack) should be caught," she said.
Pednekar, along with her party's South Mumbai MP Arvind Sawant, staged a protest near Currey Road, where they raised slogans and showed placards voicing their protest against the match.
In Kandivali area here, the party workers destroyed a television set on a road. The party activists also organised in other parts of the city.
Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Aaditya Thackeray, son of Uddhav Thackeray, said the match can be boycotted even today, even now.
"The @BCCI can still show India that it belongs to India, and not to greed of money. The BCCI can still prove that it isn't anti- national," he said in a post on X.
Referring to the players, Aaditya Thackeray said those today on the field must realise that they are playing against a country from where terrorists came and massacred innocent people.
"Think of the families who lost their loved ones in Pahalgam. Nothing can come beyond boycotting a country that harbours terrorists. What a shame to know all of this and still going ahead with the game," he said.
"Today, we miss a Union Government that would have strongly come down on such anti-national acts," the MLA said.
Shiv Sena (UBT) secretary and Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) member Milind Narvekar claimed the decision to hold the India-Pakistan match in the Asia Cup was taken by keeping Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the dark.
"I think the decision to play these matches was taken by keeping Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the dark," said Narvekar, who is a member of the MCA's apex council.
The MLC was responding to a question during protests organised by his party against the India-Pakistan match.
The Sena (UBT) workers also staged a protest against the match in neighbouring Pune city.
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Trump says he called off dispatching envoys to Iran talks
Dubai (PTI): US President Donald Trump said he told his top envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner not to travel to Pakistan to negotiate with Iran, stating on Fox News that "they can call us any time they want”.
Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian said his country won't negotiate while the United States imposes a blockade on its ports. Pezeshkian told Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif during a phone call Saturday night that the US “should first remove operational obstacles, including the blockade,” to allow a new round of negotiations, according to the ISNA and Tasnim news agencies in Iran.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi left Pakistan on Saturday evening, two Pakistani officials told The Associated Press. Iran's state-run IRNA news agency said Araghchi is expected back in Pakistan's capital Islamabad on Sunday.
Trump said Thursday that Israel and Lebanon agreed to extend a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah by three weeks after talks at the White House. The meeting was the second high-level negotiation between the two countries this month. The initial 10-day ceasefire had been due to expire Monday.
The Trump administration is placing economic sanctions on a major China-based oil refinery and roughly 40 shipping companies and tankers involved in transporting Iranian oil.
The move announced Friday is part of the administration's threat to impose secondary sanctions on entities doing business with Iran in an effort to cut off Iran's oil exports, which are a key source of its revenue.
Airlines worldwide have begun cancelling flights as the war in the Middle East strains jet fuel supplies and pushes up prices. Experts have offered information to travelers about what to do if a flight is cancelled.
Iran President Masoud Pezeshkian said his country won't negotiate while the United States imposes a blockade on its ports, according to Iranian media.
Pezeshkian told Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif during a phone call Saturday night that the US “should first remove operational obstacles, including the blockade”, to allow a new round of negotiations, the ISNA and Tasnim news agencies reported.
The Pakistani premier described the call as a “warm and constructive discussion”.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi concluded a one-day trip to Pakistan's capital Islamabad on Saturday after meeting with Pakistani military and government officials.
The trip did not produce a breakthrough in efforts to relaunch negotiations after US President Donald Trump canceled a planned trip by his envoys to Islamabad.
Iran's state-run IRNA news agency said Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi will return to Pakistan after his current visit to Oman on his way to visiting Russia.
The report said he was expected to be back in Pakistan's capital Islamabad on Sunday and would join other members of his delegation who had gone to Tehran for consultations and “instructions on the topics related to the end of the war.”
