The captain of Pakistan’s blind cricket team, Zeeshan Abbasi, was rushed to a local hospital in the Indian city of Bangalore after consuming acid at the team’s breakfast table.
According to latest reports, Zeeshan Abbasi, who is leading the team in the Blind World Twenty20 underway in the Indian city, was now stable and had been discharged from the hospital.
Pakistan’s manager was left disgusted by the act and questioned the tournament’s security arrangements. He also rubbished some reports in the Indian media that had termed the incident “an accident.”
“Mineral water bottles were given to us everyday; the acid was in one of those bottles. How can this be a mistake? How was it on the breakfast table?” he questioned.
Chairman Blind Cricket Council Sultan Shah, too, expressed his shock at the incident which came a day after Pakistan beat India by eight wickets.
“We are blind, how can we see bottle distilled/mineral water? How can a 5star hotel do this? It’s deliberate,” Shah told an Indian news channel.
He said a thorough investigation into the incident was underway and the hotel’s management was being questioned.
According to Sultan Shah, there was a thorough investigation underway while Pakistan Cricket Board spokesman Nadeem Sarwar expressed his concern over the incident and said the PCB was in constant contact with Indian officials on the matter.
According to the Hindu newspaper, G.K. Mahantesh General, Secretary of the Cricket Association for the Blind in India (CABI) and founder of the Samarthanam Turst for the Disabled, who are organizing the 10-day tournament, termed the incident as “shocking and embarrassing”. He said: “All players are important to us. The Movenpick Hotel has promised an internal inquiry and we await the results.” Mahantesh added the “strictest of actions” will be taken against those responsible for the incident.
The report also quoted Neha Gairola, Senior Food and Beverage Manager of the hotel, as saying that Abassi had consumed ‘diluted soap solution’ which had ‘inadvertently’ been left on the table by the cleaning staff. Gairola added that the services of the person responsible had been terminated.
Meanwhile, talking to INP, Zeeshan’s father, Iftikhar Abbasi said his son is alright, as he has talked to him, adding however, when his son was given breakfast, there was acid in his glass of water. He said the incident could affect the Pakistan-India relations. He said he was not contacted by anyone about the incident and he came to know about the incident through the media.
He appealed the nation to pray for early recovery of his son.