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.

“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.

According to a report in The Tribune, 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.

A report in The India Express, 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.
“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.

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.