According to a letter written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi by veteran BJP leader Shanta Kumar, he has asked the PM to call off the T20 India-Pak match scheduled at Dharamsala on March 19.<\/p>\n
“It will be difficult for the families of the martyrs and people of Himachal to see Pakistani flag fluttering at the stadium, which is at a stone’s throw from the War Memorial. The state government too is against the match. I urge you to call off the match as the safety of Pakistani supporters could be at risk,” he wrote.<\/p>\n
According to a report in The Tribune,<\/strong> the former chief minister said at least one member from every family was either a serving soldier or a retired officer. “Incidentally, it is the BJP MP and the BCCI secretary, Anurag Thakur who is the president of the HP Cricket Association (HPCA),” he said.<\/p>\n A report in The India Express,<\/strong> Shanta Kumar feared that holding the match at Dharamshala close on the heels of martyrdom of two gallant soldiers – Sanjeevan Rana and Jagdish Chand –who laid down their lives fighting Pakistan militants at Pathankot airbase attack, can create a serious law and order situation, apart from hurting the sentiments of the families living barely few meters away from the stadium. Shanta Kumar informed the prime minister that just a few days back family members and kins of two Pathankot attack martyrs had also assembled at this war memorial and pledged that they will not allow the India-Pakistan match to be held on the soil that gave birth to the brave and gallant soldiers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" According to a letter written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi by veteran BJP leader Shanta Kumar, he has asked the PM to call off the T20 India-Pak match scheduled at Dharamsala on March 19.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[15312,4744,15310,466,15311,5771],"class_list":["post-26088","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-from-the-newspapers","tag-bjp-leader-shanta-kumar","tag-cricket-news","tag-india-vs-pakistan-t20","tag-indian-sports-news","tag-prime-minister-narendra-modi","tag-world-t20"],"yoast_head":"\n
“In Kangra, every family has one person serving in the Indian army, or ex-servicemen. Recently, we lost two soliders fighting Pakistani militants at Pathankot. There is a shaheed Samarak (war memorial) barely few meters away from the stadium as a symbol of supreme sacrifice of the jawans for the nation,” he wrote.<\/p>\n