ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Information Fawad Chaudhry is holding an important press conference on New Zealand’s withdrawal from the ODI series.
Flanked by Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed, the information minister spoke about the stringent security measures in place for the visiting New Zealand squad.
“We deployed a security team on the cricket squad larger than New Zealand’s army,” said Sheikh Rasheed.
Chaudhry said the New Zealand Cricket (NZC) informed the PCB and Pakistani authorities on 10:30am on September 17 that the team has received information of a security threat from its government.
The information minister said that New Zealand cricket team itself was not affected much by the threat as the environment at the ground and the hotel was secure.
He said PM Imran Khan had, despite being busy with official engagements in Dushanbe, phoned New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, requesting her not to abandon the tour at the last minute.
“She, however, said they [New Zealand government] had received a ‘critical threat’ that their team would be attacked,” said the information minister.
Indian journalist, a fake social media post and Martin Guptill’s wife
The information minister said Pakistan was facing a hybrid and fifth generation war. He said a threatening email had been sent to the New Zealand cricket team from an ID that was generated in India, adding that the person who sent the threat created the email with a fake ID with the name of Hamza Afridi.
Fawad Chaudhry spoke about a fake social media post that was shared with former TTP commander Ehsanullah Ehsan’s name, adding that the post warned the New Zealand team against touring Pakistan.
“The post stated that the 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 19, by Abhinandan Mishra, who wrote the same thing: that the New Zealand cricket team could get attacked in Pakistan.
“The news published in The Sunday Guardian featured 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 then revealed that a threatening email was sent to New Zealand batsman Martin Guptill’s wife. In the email, Fawad Chaudhry revealed, a death threat was issued to Guptill.
“The email said that Guptill will be killed in Pakistan,” he said. “After an investigation, it was found that the email was created on August 24 at 01:05am while the email was sent from this account at 11:00am on August 25,” he disclosed.
The information minister said only one email was sent from the ID, which was made under a fake name, Hama Afridi.
“This email ID was sent from India,” he said. “The IP address of the email generated under a certain Hamza Afridi’s name was changed from India to Singapore,” revealed the information minister.
“The device which was used to send the email, further investigation revealed, was operating 13 email IDs,” said Chaudhry. “All IDs were made generated on the names of Indian actors and drama celebrities,” he added.
Chaudhry said that the device used to send the threatening email to the New Zealand cricket team belonged to an Indian man named Om Prakash Mishra from Maharashtra.
“This is a very strong link to India,” he said. “A fake ID of [email protected] was used to send a threat to the New Zealand team. This threat was sent from Maharashtra,” he added.Â
Fawad said that in August, a fake post was created under Ehsan’s name which told the New Zealand cricket board and government to refrain from sending the team to Pakistan as it would be “targeted”.
“Interestingly, [Mishra] has strong links with [former Afghanistan vice president] Amrullah Saleh,” he said.
He said that on August 24, New Zealand opener Martin Guptill’s wife received an email threatening her husband from ID with the username “Tehreek-i-Labbaik”.
“When we investigated further, we discovered some facts. Firstly, this email is not affiliated with any social media network […] and only one email has been generated from this account,” he said.
The minister added that the email was sent via ProtonMail, a secure service. “The details [of the email] are not available and we have requested Interpol to assist us and tell us how it was generated.”
Despite these events, the New Zealand cricket team did not cancel the tour at this point and travelled to Pakistan. “As the interior minister said, the security we provided outnumbered the number of people in their forces,” he said.
Fawad said that once the Black Caps arrived, the interior ministry issued a detailed protocol programme for them and the teams began focusing on the practice sessions. The New Zealand team participated in the practice sessions “without any issues,” he said.
However, on the day of the first match New Zealand officials said that their government had concerns of a credible threat and cancelled the tour, he said.
“Pakistan Cricket Board officials, the interior ministry security team, everyone went to them and asked them to share the threat … [but] they were as clueless as us.”
He said that a day later, a second threatening email was sent to the New Zealand team using the ID, Hamza Afridi.
He said that when authorities probed the email, they discovered that it was sent from a device associated with India. “It was sent using a virtual private network (VPN) so the location was shown as Singapore.”
He said that the same device had 13 other IDs, nearly all of which were Indian names. “All IDs were made using the names of Indian actors and celebrities. Only the name Hamza Afridi is different to show that this email was generated from Pakistan.
“His name was used deliberately to show that a terrorist threat is present in Pakistan.”
He said that the user of the particular device had been identified as Omprakash Mishra from Maharashtra. “The device used to send the threat to the New Zealand team belonged to India. A fake ID was used but it was sent from Maharashtra.”
The minister added that the interior ministry had registered a case and had requested Interpol for assistance and information on the Tehreek-i-Labbaik ProtonMail and the ID of Hamza Afridi.
“This whole threat was primarily generated from India.”
He said that the West Indies team was travelling to Pakistan in December. “A threat has already been issued to the team,” he said, adding that this was also issued via a ProtonMail account.
“This is unfortunate. We believe this is a campaign against international cricket. The International Cricket Council (ICC) and other bodies must take notice,” he said, adding that it was apparent that a fake threat was created by India to cancel the New Zealand tour.
He also called on the New Zealand government to share the specifics of the threat they had received. He said that Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi — who is currently in New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly — had also lodged a strong protest with New Zealand.
“We hope that they will share their stance.”
Commenting on England’s decision to follow in the footsteps of the Kiwis, Fawad said that British High Commissioner Christian Turner had made it clear that the United Kingdom government’s advisory for Pakistan was not being changed.
“So if the government has no reservations, who is the English Cricket Board [to cancel the tour]? To claim that players are tired is a shoddy excuse,” he said.
He added that he had asked Pakistan Television to evaluate the financial losses it had suffered. “We are working on this and if our legal team permits, we will sue the ECB,” he said.
