New Delhi: Former India captain Sourav Ganguly Wednesday called for severing all sporting ties with Pakistan in the wake of Pulwama terror attack which left 40 CRPF personnel martyred.
Ganguly echoed sentiments of his one-time teammate Harbhajan Singh, saying that not playing Pakistan in one group league tie in the upcoming World Cup will not affect India's chances.
However, Ganguly didn't elaborate whether the protest should be symbolic for one game or India should forfeit if they happen to meet Pakistan in semi-final or final.
"This is a 10-team World Cup and each team plays matches against every other team and I feel if India doesn't play a match in the World Cup, it won't be an issue," Ganguly said. "I feel it will be really difficult for ICC to go on with a World Cup without India. But, you also have to see if India has the power to stop ICC from doing such a thing. But, personally I feel a strong message should be sent," Ganguly added. He said India should to cut off all ties with the neighbouring country.
"And, whatever reactions came from the people of India...was right. There is no chance of a bilateral series with Pakistan after this incident. I agree that after this attack, India should not only stop playing cricket, hockey or football with Pakistan but should cut all ties with them," Ganguly said.
Indian leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal feels the country should take strong action to end terror attacks like Pulwama, which claimed the lives of 40 CRPF personnel, but refused to say whether the World Cup game against Pakistan should be boycotted.
The attack is the deadliest in the last 30 years in Jammu and Kashmir and there has been demands for India to refuse playing Pakistan in the World Cup which gets underway in England from May 30.
"This should settle once and for all. We can't tolerate it any longer," Chahal said. "Every three months we get to hear about our jawans losing their lives to terrorism and we can't keep waiting for things to happen. We have to make things happen and we should settle this face to face, even if that means aar paar ki ladaai (fight on the battlefield)," he added.
Terrorist outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed, which operates out of Pakistan, has claimed responsibility for the attack, which has escalated the political tensions between the two countries.