ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Sunday announced it was issuing a “blanket ban” on future participation in the World Championship of Legends (WCL) league, accusing it of being biased in favor of India. 

The WCL is a T20 tournament held in England every year. It features retired and non-contracted players from cricketing giants, including England, India, Pakistan, Australia, West Indies and South Africa. It is co-owned by Bollywood superstar Ajay Devgn and Harshit Tomar. 

The tournament became controversial when India refused to play Pakistan in the league stage of the match, and the WCL decided both teams would share the points. India again refused to play Pakistan in the semifinal stage of the tournament, with the Green Shirts advancing on to the final on Sunday.

Several Indian players announced they would not take part in matches against Pakistan after the two nations engaged in the worst fighting in decades with each other in May. The WCL had said it respected India’s decision to withdraw and Pakistan’s willingness to compete. 

 “The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) announces that it is issuing a blanket ban from future participation in the World Championship of Legends (WCL),” the PCB said in a press release following its 79th meeting of the Board of Governors. 

The PCB said it reviewed “with considerable disappointment” the WCL’s conduct of awarding points to a willfully forfeiting team, and the content of the press releases of the WCL announcing the cancelation of the scheduled India vs. Pakistan legends matches.

It said the press releases were “tainted with hypocrisy and bias.”

“The contents of the said press releases highlight a duality where the narrative of ‘peace through sport’ is selectively applied and sporting events are held hostage to political expediency and narrow commercial interests,” the cricket board added. 

The PCB said it has always advocated for the separation of sports and politics, adding that it believes cricket, like other international sports, should solely serve as a platform for goodwill, healthy competition, and mutual respect.

“For a tournament involving legendary players to be dictated by sentiments that undermine this fundamental principle is not only regrettable but also deeply concerning for the future of independent sporting events,” it added. 

“The WCL’s apology for ‘hurting the sentiments’, whilst being farcical, inadvertently acknowledges that the cancelation was not based on cricketing merit, but rather on succumbing to a specific nationalistic narrative,” it added.

“This bias, masquerading as sensitivity, sends an unacceptable message to the international sporting community.”

The PCB said it can no longer condone participation in an event where the fundamental principles of fair play and “unbiased administration” are compromised by external pressures.

“We cannot allow our players to be part of events where the spirit of the game is overshadowed by skewed politics that undermines the very essence of sportsmanship and the gentleman’s game,” it added. 

Pakistan were beaten by South Africa in the final of the WCL on Sunday when the Proteas trounced the South Asian giants by nine wickets to claim the tournament. 

MUMBAI: Indian filmmakers are locking up the rights to movie titles that can profit from the patriotism fanned by a four-day conflict with Pakistan, which killed more than 70 people.

The nuclear-armed rivals exchanged artillery, drone and air strikes in May, after India blamed Pakistan for an armed attack on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir.

The fighting came to an end when US President Donald Trump announced a surprise ceasefire.

Now, some Bollywood filmmakers see an opportunity to cash in on the battle.

India tagged its military action against Pakistan “Operation Sindoor,” the Hindi word for vermilion, which married Hindu women wear on their foreheads.

The name was seen as a symbol of Delhi’s determination to avenge those widowed in the April 22 attack in Kashmir’s Pahalgam, which sparked the hostilities.

Film studios have registered a slew of titles evoking the operation, including: “Mission Sindoor,” “Sindoor: The Revenge,” “The Pahalgam Terror,” and “Sindoor Operation.”

“It’s a story which needs to be told,” said director Vivek Agnihotri.

“If it was Hollywood, they would have made 10 films on this subject. People want to know what happened behind the scenes,” he told AFP.

Agnihotri struck box office success with his 2022 release, “The Kashmir Files,” based on the mass flight of Hindus from Kashmir in the 1990s.

The ruling right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party gave that film a glowing endorsement, despite accusations that it aimed to stir up hatred against India’s minority Muslims.

Since Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi took office in 2014, some critics say Bollywood is increasingly promoting his government’s ideology.

Raja Sen, a film critic and screenwriter, said filmmakers felt emboldened by an amenable government.

“We tried to wage a war and then we quietened down when Mr.Trump asked us to. So what is the valor here?” Sen told AFP of the Pakistan clashes.

Anil Sharma, known for directing rabble-rousing movies, criticized the apparent rush to make films related to the Pahalgam attack.

“This is herd mentality... these are seasonal filmmakers, they have their constraints,” he said.

“I don’t wait for an incident to happen and then make a film based on that. A subject should evoke feelings and only then cinema happens,” said Sharma.

Sharma’s historical action flick “Gadar: Ek Prem Katha” (2001) and its sequel “Gadar 2” (2023), both featuring Sunny Deol in lead roles, were big hits.

In Bollywood, filmmakers often seek to time releases for national holidays like Independence Day, which are associated with heightened patriotic fervor.

“Fighter,” featuring big stars Hrithik Roshan and Deepika Padukone, was released on the eve of India’s Republic Day on January 25 last year.

Though not a factual retelling, it drew heavily from India’s 2019 airstrike on Pakistan’s Balakot.

The film received mixed-to-positive reviews but raked in $28 million in India, making it the fourth highest-grossing Hindi film of that year.

This year, “Chhaava,” a drama based on the life of SambHajji Maharaj, a ruler of the Maratha Empire, became the highest-grossing film so far this year.

It also generated significant criticism for fueling anti-Muslim bias.

“This is at a time when cinema is aggressively painting Muslim kings and leaders in violent light,” said Sen.

“This is where those who are telling the stories need to be responsible about which stories they choose to tell.”

Sen said filmmakers were reluctant to choose topics that are “against the establishment.”

“If the public is flooded with dozens of films that are all trying to serve an agenda, without the other side allowed to make itself heard, then that propaganda and misinformation enters the public psyche,” he said.

Acclaimed director Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra said true patriotism is promoting peace and harmony through the medium of cinema.

Mehra’s socio-political drama “Rang De Basanti” (2006) won the National Film Award for Best Popular Film and was chosen as India’s official entry for the Golden Globe Awards and the Academy Awards in the Best Foreign Language Film category.

“How we can arrive at peace and build a better society? How we can learn to love our neighbors?” he asked.

“For me that is patriotism.”