Former captain Azhar Ali has expressed deep dismay over the ongoing crisis in Pakistan cricket following the team making wholesale changes to its squad on the ongoing Test tour of England, adding that the side has become consistent in the most negative way. Azhar's scathing assessment comes in the wake of severe fallout after heavy defeats at Headingley and Lord's, which saw head coach Sarfaraz Ahmed and bowling coach Umar Gul being relieved of their duties and seven players sent home. The turmoil has drawn widespread criticism, with Shahid Afridi calling it ‘the most shocking decision ever' and Misbah-ul-Haq resigning as a selector in protest. "People used to say you could expect anything from Pakistan – that any team could turn up on any given day and either be 46 all out or win from nowhere. But we don't even do that inconsistency any more. We've become totally consistent – in the most negative way. “Cricket in Pakistan needs proper care and a vision tha...
India has lodged a strong protest with Dhaka over a now-deleted social media post by a key aide of Bangladesh's interim government that claimed certain areas of Indian territory should be part of that country.
Mahfuz Alam, known for his provocative comments, had also posted on Facebook four days ago a map purportedly showing parts of West Bengal, Tripura and Assam as parts of Bangladesh. He deleted the post after it triggered backlash.
Mr Alam is a de facto minister in the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government of Bangladesh.
In strongly reacting to the post, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal on Friday reminded all concerned to be "mindful" of their public comments.
"We have taken this up with the Bangladeshi government. We have strongly registered a protest on this issue. We understand that the post being referred to has reportedly been taken down.
"We would like to remind all concerned to be mindful of their public comments. While India has repeatedly signalled interest in fostering relations with the people and the interim government of Bangladesh, such comments underline the need for responsibility in public articulation," he said.
The relations between India and Bangladesh are reeling under severe strain after the interim government headed by Mr Yunus came to power in August.
Mr Yunus assumed the charge as the head of the interim dispensation days after the then prime minister Sheikh Hasina resigned from the post and fled to India in the face of a massive anti-government protest.
Asked about Mr Yunus not providing a specific timeline for holding parliamentary elections in Bangladesh as he said it could be held between late 2025 and early 2026, Jaiswal did not give a clear answer.
"We have very clearly defined our approach towards our ties with Bangladesh. We have said that we support a democratic, stable, peaceful, progressive and inclusive Bangladesh," he said.
"We have reiterated our willingness to build a positive and constructive relationship with Bangladesh based on mutual trust, respect and mutual sensitivity to each other's concerns and interest," Jaiswal said.
"We have also emphasised that the people of Bangladesh are the main stakeholders in the India-Bangladesh relations and noted that India's development cooperation and multi-faceted engagements with Bangladesh including in areas of connectivity, trade, power, energy and capacity building which are all geared towards benefiting the people of Bangladesh," he added.
In an address to the nation on December 16, Mr Yunus said the elections could be held between late 2025 and early 2026, depending on implementation of various reforms.
Asked about Mr Yunus's comments offering to host the stalled SAARC summit in Bangladesh following his meeting with Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in Cairo, Jaiswal said India has been pushing for regional cooperation through various platforms.
"Our efforts have been to boost regional cooperation. We want to move forward with platforms like BIMSTEC," he said, adding, "SAARC is another platform...You know why cooperation under SAARC is not moving forward." The SAARC ((South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) is a regional bloc comprising India, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
The grouping has not been very effective since 2016 as its biennial summits have not taken place since the last one in Kathmandu in 2014.
The 2016 SAARC Summit was to be held in Islamabad. But after the terrorist attack on an Indian Army camp in Uri in Jammu and Kashmir on September 18 that year, India expressed its inability to participate in the summit due to "prevailing circumstances".
The summit was called off after Bangladesh, Bhutan and Afghanistan also declined to participate in the Islamabad meet.
In the last few years, India has been making concerted efforts to make BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) a vibrant forum for regional cooperation as initiatives under SAARC were not moving forward.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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