Days after Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj Singh were trolled by a section of people on Twitter for supporting former Pakistan star cricketer Shahid Afridi's NGO, another former Pakistan spinner Danish Kaneria urged the Indian duo to support the minorities, too, in Pakistan in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic.
Kaneria, who is a Hindu, took to Twitter to request Harbhajan and Yuvraj to make a video for the minorities in Pakistan, that is, the Hindus. In the tweet, he also asked people to donate via Facebook to a page called 'Fundraiser for Food for Minorities of Pakistan'.
"I request @YUVSTRONG12 and @harbhajan_singh to make a video for the minorities living in Pakistan as well. They need your help in this moment of #coronacrisis", tweeted Kaneria.
Recently, both Harbhajan and Yuvraj had tweeted and posted video messages in support of Shahid Afridi Foundation, and urging people to donate to it and help it in the fight against COVID-19, in Pakistan.
The noble gesture, however, did not go down well with a section of users on Twitter, with many calling them “Pakistanis” and “ISI agents”, and challenging them to do something for their homeland rather than for Pakistan.
Both the players took to Twitter to condemn the backlash they got for supporting Afridi's noble cause. The former Pakistani skipper, too, expressed his support to Harbhajan and Yuvraj in the wake of the unnecessary controversy.
Kaneria, indicted in a spot-fixing case while playing county cricket for Essex, in 2012, was recently embroiled in a controversy when former pacer Shoaib Akhtar, in a chat show, revealed that some Pakistani players discriminated against Kaneria because he was a Hindu. The leg-spinner himself confirmed Akhtar's claims later. Kaneria had, in the past, claimed that the Pakistan Cricket Board had treated him unfairly in the spot-fixing issue because of his religion.
The Pakistan leg-spinner took 261 wickets in 61 Tests at an average of 34.79. He also played 18 ODIs.
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Interestingly, three years ago, it was reported that Kaneria was considering migrating to India and had even expressed his willingness to work for the BCCI to earn a livelihood.
With the NDA government passing the CAA, it will be interesting to see if Kaneria finally gets to migrate to India citing religious persecution in Pakistan.