Sachin Tendulkar has criticized former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi for his Kashmir remarks. The India batting legend also warned that "no outsiders" should tell us how to run the country.
The 38-year-old took on social networking site Twitter to express his concern over the "appalling" condition in what he called as the "Indian occupied Kashmir". His comments were made in the wake of anti-militancy operation in the Valley.
Thirteen terrorists, three army personnel and four civilians were killed in one of the biggest anti-militancy operation in the region for a long time. Afridi compared the deaths of militants as "innocents".
"We have got capable people to manage and run our country. No outsider needs to know or tell us what we need to do," Tendulkar explained, as quoted by DNA.
Tendulkar made these comments days after former India opener Gautam Gambhir slammed Afridi on Twitter. The former Master Blaster and the Delhi Daredevils captain are not the only cricketers – current and former – to slam the hard-hitting Pakistani batsman.
India captain Virat Kohli and 1983 World Cup winning skipper Kapil Dev also responded to the remarks made by Afridi. The Royal Challengers Bangalore star stressed that he would always express what is best for the nation.
"As an Indian you want to express what is best for your nation and my interests are always for the benefit of our nation. If anything opposes it, I would never support it for sure. But having said that, it's a very personal choice for someone to make comment about certain issues," Kohli said.
"Unless I have total knowledge of the issues and the intricacies of it I don't engage in it. Obviously, it goes without saying that your priority stays with your nation and anything that opposes it, you oppose it as well," the 29-year-old added.
Meanwhile, Dev said that people need not pay heed to Afridi's comments.
"Who is he? Why are we giving importance to him. We should not be giving importance to certain people," Dev stressed.
