Pakistan Army chief's trip to World Cup match triggers criticism

Fans of the Pakistan cricket team may be heaving a sigh of relief after the team's convincing win over South Africa at the World Cup on Sunday, but two high-profile spectators have attracted attention for all the wrong reasons.

General Qamar Javed Bajwa, chief of the Pakistan Army, and Major General Asif Ghafoor, the military's senior-most spokesperson, visited the Lord's ground to see Pakistan play. Bajwa, who was accompanied by British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, was cheered by fans of the Pakistan team.

However, the response to the Pakistan Army officials attending the World Cup match was not as friendly on social media. Even as Pakistan were batting, former member of parliament Bushra Gohar asked, “Priorities!!! Are the Pak #COAS / Generals on a private visit to UK to watch #PakvSA match? Who has authorised & paid for their visit? Hope it isn’t charged to the poor taxpayers.”

Gohar is an outspoken politician who was part of the Awami National Party. She is also closely associated with the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM), which campaigns against human rights abuses allegedly inflicted on ethnic Pashtuns in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan by the Pakistan Army.

Tweeting from his personal account, Ghafoor defended the visit to the World Cup match. He wrote, “My very humble request to @BushraGohar is to please avoid tweeting while being in front of mirror or using wrong glasses. Enjoy the good performance & match victory of Pakistan, belongs to all of us. Try make it for next match & support the team. Can be my personal guest.”

Another Twitter user named Dr Nadia Khan tweeted a video from journalist Ihtisham ul Haq, which shows Bajwa receiving tickets from a man bearing a resemblance to British-Pakistani entrepreneur Aneel Musarrat. Musarrat has been closely associated with Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek e-Insaaf party.

Nadia Khan tweeted, “Dear @peaceforchange from this video it is quite clear that stadium entrance ticket to you and #COAS was gifted by #AnilMussart who is a political party worker. Isn't it the violation of #Pak_Army code of ethics to accept gifts from political workers!...”

Responding to Nadia Khan, Ghafoor subtly hinted at resorting to “legal options”. He wrote, “Every Pakistani in the stadium wished to host us. Try see the social media dispassionately. I have legal options but am ignoring your myopic and agenda”.

However, Nadia Khan was not finished. She posted screenshots, purportedly from Pakistan's ministry of defence, on the procedure for armed forces personnel to accept gifts. She even alleged the Pakistan Army had deleted details from the page.

Several people tweeted in support of Gohar and Nadia Khan. Some of the outrage over the visit to Lord's by Bajwa and Ghafoor appears linked to the fact that the country's economy is in dire straits.

The criticism of Bajwa and Ghafoor was not the only event with political significance that happened on the sidelines of the Pakistan-South Africa match at Lord's. Human rights activists campaigning over the issue of disappearances of people in Balochistan erected banners outside the stadium. The official Twitter handle of the media cell of the Baloch Republic Party posted a video showing people carrying Pakistani flags tearing down the banners.