Islamabad: Federal Minister for Information Fawad Chaudhry held an important press conference on New Zealand’s withdrawal from the recent ODI series in Pakistan, revealing that a threatening email was sent to the Black Caps from India.
Flanked by Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed, the information minister spoke about the stringent security measures in place for the visiting New Zealand squad.
The information minister said Pakistan was facing a hybrid and fifth-generation war.
Fawad Chaudhry spoke about a fake social media post that was shared with former TTP commander Ehsanullah Ehsan’s name in August, adding that the post had warned the New Zealand cricket team against touring Pakistan.
“The post stated that New Zealand cricket team should not go to Pakistan as Daesh would attack it,” revealed the information minister.
Chaudhry said that an article was published in The Sunday Guardian two days later, on August 21, by the paper’s bureau chief Abhinandan Mishra, who wrote the same thing: that the New Zealand cricket team could get attacked in Pakistan.
“The article published in The Sunday Guardian centred around Ehsanullah Ehsan’s post,” he said. “Indian journalist Abhinandan Mishra has close relations with former Afghan vice-president Amrullah Saleh,” he added.
The information minister revealed that five days later, on August 24, a threatening email was sent to New Zealand batsman Martin Guptill’s wife from an ID using the Tehreek-e-Labbaik alias. In the email, Fawad Chaudhry revealed that a death threat was issued to the New Zealand batsman.
“The email said that Guptill will be killed while on tour in Pakistan,” he said. “After we investigated the ID, it was found that it was created on August 24, 2021 at 01:05am while the email was sent at 11:59am on August 25,” he disclosed.
He said the email was sent using ProtonMail, adding that those who knew about the service were aware that it is a secure email service. He said Pakistan had asked Interpol to assist it further in probing the email and the perpetrator behind it.
He said that despite “all these threats” the Black Caps did not cancel their tour and arrived in Pakistan.
“We deployed a security team for New Zealand cricket squad larger than New Zealand’s army itself,” said Sheikh Rasheed.
Chaudhry said that a chartered flight had brought the New Zealand team on September 11.
“A detailed program containing their protocols and security was issued by the interior ministry, which included the squad being accompanied by two helicopters,” shared the information minister.
Chaudhry said that the New Zealand squad, on September 13, travelled from their hotel to the Rawalpindi cricket stadium along with the Pakistani players, where they held a “full practice session”.
“I would just like to remind you that both Pakistan and New Zealand’s security agencies had probed and arrived at the conclusion that the threats issued on August 19, 21 and 24 were all fake,” he noted. Web Desk
