Usman Khawaja has revealed that the upcoming Sydney Test against England would be his last international game for Australia. The veteran batter took control of an explosive press conference at the Sydney Cricket Ground, wherein he reflected over his playing career and the different challenges that he had to endure due to being a non-white player.
The reactions to Khawaja's press conference has been sporadic with polarised views from the former cricketers, pundits and fans. Social media too has been showing mixed reactions although many feel that the timing of this press conference seemed inappropriate. Meanwhile, a section of people on social media have been mentioning Arsalan Khawaja to troll Usman's speech and mention about Pakistan.
For those unaware, Arsalan is Usman's elder brother who was jailed for framing terrorism charges on his colleague Mohamed Nizamdeen in August 2018. According to reports, Arsalan wanted his colleague to be investigated as he was jealous of his frequent contact with a woman who knew both the men. Unfortunately for Arsalan, his attempts escalated into unprecedented territory, forcing him to make a confession.
“Kamer is a top bloke. He is a friend of mine and I let him down,” Arsalan had said at the time
“I caused him a lot of pain. I caused his family a lot of pain. He didn’t do anything.”
Arsalan allegedly stole Nizamdeen notepad and planted false evidences which hinted at possible terror attacks in Sydney and also had potential threats to the Prime Minister. Consequently, Nizamdeen was not only arrested but also kept in custody for weeks until Arsalan made his own confession.
The whole episode happened in 2018, and it took a handwriting expert to cause the first breakthrough in favour of Nizamdeen, as the handwriting didn't seem to match. Arsalan was arrested and jailed, and in November 2020, he pleaded guilty to the offence. Apart from this incident, Arsalan also confessed about spreading fake terror claims on another person who he thought was a threat to his brother Usman.
Contrastingly, Arsalan had a very clean profile till this incident. Usman would often rave of his older brother who was brilliant at studies and sports. The elder sibling even worked at IBM for a considerable amount of time before entering Government service in Australia.
