An aircraft tows a banner which reads “Justice for Kashmir” as it flies over the venue of the Cricket World Cup match between India and Sri Lanka at Headingley in Leeds (Source: AP) An aircraft tows a banner which reads “Justice for Kashmir” as it flies over the venue of the Cricket World Cup match between India and Sri Lanka at Headingley in Leeds (Source: AP)

Minutes after the World Cup match between India and Sri Lanka started on Saturday, an aircraft carrying the banner ‘Justice for Kashmir’ flew above Headingley stadium. After a half an hour, a similar looking aircraft flew over the stadium with a different banner – ‘India Stop Genocide, Free Kashmir’.

This is second such incident inside 10 days as Afghanistan and Pakistan fans had clashed at the same venue on June 29 after ‘Justice for Balochistan’ banner was displayed by an unnamed aircraft that landed at the Bradford airport. A few fans were evicted for engaging in a brawl inside the stadium premises.

The ICC has zero tolerance for political or racist slogans and expressed their disappointment this new security breach.

“We are incredibly disappointed this has happened again. We do not condone any sort of political messages at the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup,” the ICC said in a statement.

Yorkshire, in the north of England, is known for having a sizable Pakistan population, especially in Bradford.

“Throughout the tournament, we have worked with local police forces around the country to prevent this type of protest from occurring. After the previous incident, we were assured by West Yorkshire Police there would not be a repeat of this issue. So we are very dissatisfied it has happened again,” the ICC statement added.

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