BCCI vice-president shames Mohsin Naqvi, drags Pakistan’s 1971 genocide and mass rapes into T20 World Cup row

Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Vice-Chairman Rajeev Shukla insulted Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Mohsin Naqvi by reminding everyone of Pakistan’s brutality towards Bangladesh in the past.

Rajeev Shukla said that Pakistan is interfering in the ICC-Bangladesh and BCCI matter without any reason ahead of the 2026 Men’s T20 World Cup and they played a key role in eliminating Bangladesh Tigers from the marquee event.

Bangladesh has been eliminated from the ICC T20 World Cup 2026

The Bangla Tigers were all set to play the 2026 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, which is scheduled to be hosted by India and Sri Lanka.

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However, they will now not be seen in the tournament as Scotland have replaced them in Group C after the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) refused to participate in the ICC Men’s T20 World 2026 as per the published fixture schedule. Scotland will join England, Italy, Nepal and the West Indies in the group.

The reason why the RBI did not visit India was the security threat to the players and when the ICC conducted its independent assessments, they did not find any such issues and urged Bangladesh to visit India by ensuring complete security.

Despite this, Bangladesh said no to the ICC, and during the high-level meeting between officials and all cricket boards, it was decided to replace Bangladesh with Scotland.

However, the only country that has supported Bangladesh continuously is Pakistan. Despite having nothing to do with them, Pakistan threatened to boycott the T20 World Cup in protest against the ICC.

Everyone knows the brutality practiced by Pakistan against Bangladeshis – Vice president of the Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Rajeev Shukla

When Rajeev Shukla was asked about Pakistan interfering unnecessarily in the situation in the T20 World Cup between the ICC, Bangladesh and the BCCI, he did not mince his words. Rajiv Shukla stated that Pakistan is provoking and misleading Bangladeshis and cited the genocide and rape horrors witnessed in Pakistan in 1971 to respond to Mohsin Naqvi.

“Pakistan is interfering in the matter without any reason and provoking Bangladesh… Everyone knows the brutality practiced by Pakistan against Bangladeshis, and now they are trying to mislead them, which is completely wrong…,” Shukla on Monday told ANI.

“We wanted Bangladesh to play and we also assured complete security, but since they have taken this decision, it is very difficult to change the entire schedule at the last minute. That is why Scotland was brought in..” he added.

#WATCH | delhi | On Scotland replacing Bangladesh in the 2026 Men’s T20 World Cup, BCCI Vice President Rajeev Shukla says: “We wanted Bangladesh to play and we also assured complete security, but since they have taken this decision, it is very difficult to change…p”IC.RThIRRep.CSM/Hg7XeCHHeyAX

-Annie (@Annie) CAnShApy 26, 2026

Notably, Pakistan and Bangladesh have been one country since 1947, but deep inequality and oppression led to separation in 1971. Formerly called East Pakistan, Bangladesh had a larger population, power and resources but was under the control of West Pakistan.

Bangladesh was deprived of democratic rights when the election victory of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s party in 1970 was ignored, and in March 1971 the Pakistani army launched Operation Searchlight, carrying out mass killings, genocide and systematic rape of women, targeting students, intellectuals and minorities, and killing millions of civilians, making coexistence impossible and forcing Bangladesh to fight a war of liberation, which led to Pakistan surrendering on 16 December 1971 and Bangladesh becoming an independent country.

Also Read: Pakistan prepares to boycott India match as T20 World Cup 2026 faces biggest crisis

His death is a great loss – BCCI Vice President Rajeev Shukla on Inderjeet Singh Bindra

While speaking about the demise of former BCCI president Inderjit Singh Bindra, BCCI Vice President Rajeev Shukla said:

“His death was a great loss. He had made huge contributions at the international and ICC levels. I remember that when we won the World Cup in 1983, we had no money to give to the players. With the help of Lata Mangeshkar ji, each player got Rs 1 lakh… Now that he is no longer with us, we pay our respects to him.”

BCCI Vice President Rajeev Shukla also spoke about Rohit Sharma and Harmanpreet Kaur conferring the Padma Shri. He said:

“Rohit Sharma deserves this award because of the way he has performed… This award should have been given earlier, but we congratulate him on the award. Harmanpreet Kaur receiving this award for her performance is the right thing, as is Paraveyan Kumar, the athlete award…”