Former Pakistan skipper Shahid Afridi has once again come out with an outrageous claim, stating that people in India are being oppressed. Recently, Afridi had to face the wrath of many former Indian cricketers like Harbhajan Singh, Yuvraj Singh and Gautam Gambhir for his anti-India remarks. But that hasn’t stopped him.

“I’ll remain thankful towards Harbhajan & Yuvraj for supporting my foundation. The real problem is that this is their compulsion. They live in that country. ‘Wo majboor hain.’ They know that people are being oppressed in their country. I won’t say anything further,” Afridi said on Pakistan channel Hum News.

During his recent visit to Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK), Afridi had accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of committing religious atrocities in India. Following this Shikhar Dhawan, Harbhajan, Yuvraj, Suresh Raina and Gambhir slammed the former all-rounder.

It came as a huge shock for Harbhajan and Yuvraj because the duo had gone out of their way to support Afridi’s foundation to help the poor and needy in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.

“This is very upsetting what Shahid Afridi has come up with, talking ill about our country and our Prime Minister. This is just not acceptable,” Harbhajan told Sports Tak.

“To be honest, he (Afridi) asked us to make an appeal for his charity. In good faith, we did it for humanity and for the people suffering due to the coronavirus. But this man is talking ill about our country. All I have to say is we have nothing to do with Shahid Afridi. He has no right to speak ill against our country and he should stay in his country and limits.”

Yuvraj tweeted: “Really disappointed by @SAfridiOfficial’s comments on our Hon’b PM @narendramodi ji. As a responsible Indian who has played for the country, I will never accept such words. I made an appeal on your behest for the sake of humanity. But never again.”

However, this is not the first time that Afridi has made anti-India comments. Last year, he had visited the Line of Control (LoC) to “express solidarity with our Kashmiri brethren” following the Indian government’s decision to abrogate Article 370 of the Indian Constitution. He had even called for intervention by the UN and the US regarding the same.

The coronavirus pandemic has brought the entire world to a standstill and the sporting arena is no exception. Most of the high profile tournaments including the Tokyo Olympics 2020 stand postponed.

Even the biggest cricketing spectacle on the planet, the Indian Premier League (IPL), stands suspended indefinitely owing to the coronavirus pandemic. Recently, Bundesliga became the first high-profile sporting event to resume after a 65 day period with almost no sporting activity.

The move comes after governments are beginning to realise that the coronavirus is here to stay for quite some time and sports among other businesses will need to find a way to co-exist with it.

The virus has already infected close to 5.5 million people around the world while claiming over three lakh forty thousand lives. There is still no sure shot treatment of the disease and social-distancing, self-isolation and maintenance of basic hand hygiene remain the only potent weapons of protecting oneself from contracting the infection.

(With inputs from IANS)