In ICC Cricket World Cup 2019, when the India-Sri Lanka league match was being played at the Headingley Cricket Ground, a plane with the slogan “Justice for Kashmir” was seen flying over the stadium. Another plane followed which had the slogan “India Stop Genocide & Free Kashmir” on it.
Before anyone could have done anything about it or understood the gravity of the matter, yet another plane flew across the stadium which urged people to stop mob lynching in India.
Notably, the International Cricket Council (ICC), the organising body of the Cricket World Cup has expressed its concern over the issue. ICC has spoken to the police in Manchester and Birmingham- the venues for both the semi-finals- and has ensured that both will be declared “no flying zones” during the duration of the match.
ICC said in a release: “We are incredibly disappointed this has happened again. We do not condone any sort of political messages at the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup. Throughout the tournament, we have worked with local police forces around the country to prevent this type of protests occurring. After the previous incident, we were assured by West Yorkshire Police there would not be a repeat of this issue, so we are very dissatisfied it has happened again.”
It is worth noting here that on 29 June, a similar incident had happened. During a league match between Pakistan and Afghanistan, a plane which carried a banner with the slogan “Justice for Balochistan” flew over the same stadium.