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DUBAI: Pakistan captain Salman Agha said India had “disrespected cricket” while Indian counterpart Suryakumar Yadav complained his side “were denied the trophy” after winning a fraught Asia Cup.

The two teams did not shake hands for the third Asia Cup match running as India won the final by five wickets in Dubai on Sunday.

Suryakumar’s side did not attend the victory ceremony after refusing to accept the trophy from Mohsin Naqvi, the president of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC), who is also chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board and Pakistan interior minister.

Suryakumar told reporters: “I think this is one thing which I have never seen since I started playing cricket that the champion team is denied the trophy.

“We took the call on the ground about not taking the trophy.”

The regional Twenty20 tournament was the first time the Asian cricket giants had met since deadly fighting between the nuclear-armed neighbors earlier this year.

Tensions had been running high after the two previous matches in the competition saw political posturing and aggressive on-field behavior.

“If you tell me about the trophies, my trophies are sitting in my dressing room — all the 14 players and support staff. They are the real trophies for me,” said Suryakumar.

“It appeared on the big screen that India is Asia Cup 2025 champion. It was a great journey and moment for us as a team.”

The presentation ceremony was delayed for an hour before announcer Simon Doull said: “I have been informed by the ACC that the Indian cricket team will not be collecting their awards tonight. So that does conclude the post-match presentation.”

Pakistan’s Agha said India’s actions during the tournament had been “bad for cricket.”

“I think what has happened in this tournament is very disappointing,” Agha told reporters.

“If they think they disrespected us by not shaking hands, then I say they disrespected cricket.

“What they did today, a good team doesn’t do that. Good teams do what we have done. We waited for our medals and took them.

“It’s been seen for the first time. I do not know where it will stop. What has happened in this tournament is bad for cricket.”

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has urged the Jammu Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee (JKJAAC) to withdraw its call for an indefinite “lockdown” in Azad Kashmir, a senior member of Sharif’s party said on Sunday.

The JKJAAC has laid a 38-point charter of demands before the Azad Kashmir government, which includes removal of perks of the ruling elites, ending 12 seats in the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Assembly reserved for Kashmiri migrants who came from the Indian-side of the territory, and royalty for hydel power projects in Azad Kashmir.

The committee has organized several protests in Azad Kashmir in recent years to demand resolution of public issues, some of which have even turned violent. In Nov. last year, the JKJAAC had staged a similar protest that continued for days and ended after assurances by the AJK government to meet their demands.

The action committee this year issued a call for an indefinite lockdown in Azad Kashmir starting Sept. 29, which prompted members of Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party from Pakistan and Azad Kashmir to hold consultations to defuse the demonstration that may continue for days if not weeks.

“’I will reach Pakistan within next two days’,” Mushtaq Minhas, a member of Sharif’s PML-N party, quoted the Pakistan premier as telling him at their meeting in London. “The prime minister said, ‘We will contact the Joint Action Committee, I will have its representatives invited’.”

Minhas said the prime minister promised to resolve the issues faced by all the Kashmiri people, not just the joint action committee.

“Whatever issues are being faced by the Kashmiris, he will, God willing, play his role regarding their resolution,” he added.

The development came amid reports of suspension of Internet and mobile phone services in Azad Kashmir.

Services were “closed on the direction of MoI [Pakistani ministry of interior],” Pakistan Telecommunication Authority spokesperson Zaibun Nisa told Arab News on Sunday.

In May 2024, at least three protesters and a police officer were killed and several others wounded in days of clashes between demonstrators demanding subsidies on wheat flour and electricity and law enforcement in Azad Kashmir, according to officials.

The protests were called off after Pakistan announced $83 million subsidies and prompted the regional government to notify a reduction in prices of wheat flour and electricity.

The Himalayan territory of Kashmir has been divided between Pakistan and India since their independence from British rule in 1947. Both sides claim it in full but rule in part and have fought multiple wars over the region.

The protest in Azad Kashmir comes days after demonstrations demanding greater political autonomy in Ladakh, Indian-administered Kashmir turned violent in the sparsely populated, high-altitude region bordering China and Pakistan.

New Delhi blamed the unrest on “provocative speeches” by prominent activist Sonam Wangchuk, who had been on a hunger strike demanding either full federal statehood for Ladakh or constitutional protections for its tribal communities, land and fragile environment.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government split Ladakh off from Indian-administered Kashmir in 2019, imposing direct rule on both. New Delhi has yet to fulfil its promise to include Ladakh in the “Sixth Schedule” of India’s constitution, which allows people to make their own laws and policies.