Amir Khan, a British boxer whose family hails from Pakistan, has been in the news in recent days over a highly publicised trip to Pakistan. Khan had announced on August 24 he was visiting Pakistan to “bring greater awareness to the terrible situation in Kashmir and call for peace.”
During the trip, Amir Khan visited Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and the LoC on Tuesday and met officials, including the spokesperson of the Pakistan Army, Major General Asif Ghafoor. On Tuesday, Ghafoor uploaded a two-second video of Amir Khan, apparently shot during their meeting, drinking tea. In the video, Amir Khan says just four words, “fantastic tea, Kashmiri tea”. Amir Khan retweeted the video uploaded by Ghafoor.
Despite the brevity of the video, it can be argued the words were carefully chosen to convey a political point. Indian Air Force Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, who was captured by the Pakistani military after his MiG-21 fighter was shot down across the LoC in February, was videographed drinking tea while in captivity. When asked by a Pakistani official whether he liked the tea, Abhinandan had said, “the tea is fantastic”.
In the months since, Pakistani social media users have repeatedly made memes of Abhinandan drinking tea.
On Tuesday, Amir Khan had told Pakistani mediapersons that “his heart beats with the people of Kashmir who are living under siege. I condemn India's actions. People are being killed and tortured there.” Amir Khan was quoted by Geo News as saying, “I will continue to be the voice of Kashmiris against the brutalities of Indian... I will tell people back in Britain about the situation here.”
Amir Khan had claimed people in PoK (Azad Kashmir in Pakistani discourse) were free to go about their daily lives, while in Jammu and Kashmir, “people were living in fear and under siege.”
Despite being born in the UK, Amir Khan has been vocal about his links with Pakistan. The Pakistani Army had arranged his recent trip to the LoC.
Amir Khan is not the only sports-person to voice support for Pakistan's stance on the Kashmir situation. Pakistan cricket legend Javed Miandad announced on August 25 he would lead a “march for peace” to the LoC with other sports-persons to “raise awareness about the terrible situation in Kashmir”. Pakistani movie actors have already condemned the abrogation of Article 370 and criticised their counterparts in Bollywood.