Top cricketers hit out at Shahid Afridi for Kashmir tweet

Top national cricketers, including Indian captain Virat Kohli, on Wednesday hit out at Pakistani cricketer Shahid Afridi for his remarks urging the United Nations (UN) to intervene in "Indian Occupied Kashmir" to stop the killing of "innocents".

Captain Virat Kohli was categorical in his retort when he stated that he could "never support" anything that harms the interests of India.

"As an Indian you want to express what is best for your nation and my interests are always for the benefit of our nation. If anything opposes it, I would never support it for sure," ANI quoted Kohli as saying.


"But having said that, it's a very personal choice for someone to comment about certain issues. Unless I have total knowledge of the issues and the intricacies of it I don't engage in it but definitely your priority stays with your nation," he added.

Indian World Cup-winning former captain Kapil Dev wondered why Afridi was even receiving importance.


"Who is he? Why are we giving importance to him? We should not be giving importance to certain people," he said.

Suresh Raina reiterated that "Kashmir is an integral part of India and will remain so always."


Shahid Afridi's remark comes after one of the biggest security operations being carried out by the security forces in the valley. On Sunday 12 terrorists were killed in the Valley.

"Kashmir is the pious land where my forefathers were born. I hope @SAfridiOfficial bhai asks Pakistan Army to stop terrorism and proxy war in our Kashmir. We want peace, not bloodshed and violence," he wrote.