Fahad Mustafa responds to Indian commentator who criticised Waqar Younis

Fahad Mustafa has responded to Indian cricket commentator Harsha Bhogle after he demanded an apology from former cricketer Waqar Younis for his namaz comments following India-Pakistan World Cup face-off.

Waqar caused a stir this week when he appeared on Kashif Abbasi’s show with Shoaib Akhtar to talk about Pakistan team’s winning performance against India. He cited Rizwan’s prayer at the stadium as one of the best highlights of the game.

“The best thing Rizwan did was that he offered namaz on the ground surrounded by Hindus. That was very, very special for me,” was what Waqar said.

Shameful remarks #waqaryounis there is a large Muslim community in India. We have millions of Hindus living in Pakistan.
Sport is sport, not a battle of religions. pic.twitter.com/jLgH0bdgAF

— Arsalan Hassan Khan (@ArsalanH_Khan) October 27, 2021

Many people were disappointed with Waqar after a clip of his comments made it to social media. They called his statement “communal” and accused him of “bringing religion into sports”.

Harsha Bhogle remarked that Waqar’s words were “terrible to hear”.

“For a person of Waqar Younis' stature to say that watching Rizwan offering namaz in front of Hindus was very special to him, is one of the most disappointing things I have heard,” he tweeted. “A lot of us try hard to play such things down and talk up sports and to hear this is terrible.”

For a person of Waqar Younis' stature to say that watching Rizwan offering namaz in front of Hindus was very special to him, is one of the most disappointing things I have heard. A lot of us try hard to play such things down and talk up sport and to hear this is terrible.

— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) October 26, 2021

Harsha added that cricketers are brand ambassadors of their game and should therefore be more responsible.

You would think that cricketers, as ambassadors of our game, would be a little more responsible. I am sure there will be an apology on the way from Waqar. We need to unite the cricket world, not divide it by religion

— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) October 26, 2021

Fahad Mustafa retweeted Harsha’s comments and took a dig at negative portrayal of Muslims in Bollywood.

“It's equally hard to see muslims being portrayed as terrorists in almost every Bollywood movie for the longest,” Fahad retorted. “I can’t imagine how difficult and embarrassing it must be for muslims in India to watch themselves being ridiculed like that.”

Its equally hard to see muslims being portrayed as terrorists in almost every Bollywood movie for the longest.. I can’t imagine how difficult and embarrassing it must be for muslims in india to watch themselves being ridiculed like that.#stophypocrisy https://t.co/hr8mdQJ4ci

— Fahad Mustafa (@fahadmustafa26) October 26, 2021

Fahad completed his tweet with a hashtag calling for “hypocrisy to stop”.

Waqar has, however, apologised for his comments which he has called “unintended”.

“In the heat of the moment, I said something which I did not mean which has hurt the sentiments of many,” he tweeted. “I apologise for this, this was not intended at all, a genuine mistake. Sports unites people regardless of race, colour or religion.”

In the heat of the moment, I said something which I did not mean which has hurt the sentiments of many. I apologise for this, this was not intended at all, genuine mistake. Sports unites people regardless of race, colour or religion. #apologies ??

— Waqar Younis (@waqyounis99) October 26, 2021

Muhammad Amir and Harbajhan Singh engaged in an ugly Twitter fight following the match too.

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