Srinagar, Oct 26 (KNS): CPI (M) Secretary Ghulam Nabi Malik on Tuesday termed the police FIR against MBBS students at SKIMS and GMC Srinagar for allegedly celebrating Pakistan's win over India in the ongoing T20 World Cup as unwarranted, unnecessary and demanded immediate roll back of the charges against them.

In a statement issued to KNS, he said, “The past experiences reveal that such punitive actions have not helped in achieving any results nor it will have any desired outcome this time. Winning and losing is part of any game and in a democratic setup everybody has a choice to cheer up for his favorite team or a player.”

“There are such examples where Indian fans gave standing ovation to Pakistan cricket team after its victory and same things happened with Pakistani crowds cheering up for India team.  In 1999, Chennai crowd gave a standing ovation to victorious Pakistan side. The crowd applauded the fact that Pakistan on that day was the better of the two sides,” CPI (M) secretary said.

CPI (M) Secretary Ghulam Nabi Malik said that the Pakistani team reciprocated in kind to the crowd’s gesture, taking a victory lap around the ground. “Nobody become anti-national if he supports one team or the other,” he said.

“I urge upon J&K administration led by LG Manoj Sinha to immediately revoke the charges framed against the medical college students and help them to continue their degrees,” he added. (KNS)