Pride and excitement surge in Pakistan’s cricket fans ahead of Champions Trophy

Islamabad: Indian Hindu fans were seen offering special prayers as their national cricket team locks horns with arch-rivals Pakistan in a blockbuster Champions Trophy 2025 clash in Dubai today, Sunday. 

India and Pakistan enjoy one of the fiercest rivalries in sports. The nuclear-armed neighbors have fought three wars since 1947 ever since they gained independence from the British, fueling passion and emotion in millions on both sides of the border every time the two teams meet on the cricket field. 

India’s Hindu fans were seen offering special prayers in the eastern Kolkata and northern Prayagraj cities on Saturday for their cricket team’s success against Pakistan. 

“India and Pakistan are going to play against each other, and we have prayed to mother Triveni (confluence of three rivers: Ganga, Yamuna, Saraswati) and mother Ganga (river Ganga) that tomorrow’s match turns out to be in favor of India,” Hindu devotee Pradeep Pandey told Reuters in Prayagraj on Saturday.

In Prayagraj, on the sidelines of Maha Kumbh Mela (The Great Pitcher Festival), fans and devotees performed ‘Aarti’ (flame ritually waved to deities) at the shore of the Ganges, praying for the Indian cricket team’s win. 

In Kolkata, fans and devotees were seen performing ‘yajna’ (offering to the God in front of a sacred fire) in the name of Goddess Kali.

India, who refused to travel to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy citing government advice, will be playing all their matches in Dubai. They kicked off their Group A campaign with a comfortable six-wicket victory against Bangladesh earlier this week. Pakistan’s title defense, meanwhile, looks in disarray after their comprehensive defeat to New Zealand.

India have won seven of the eight completed ODIs in the last decade against their rivals they play only in multi-team events because of a strained political relationship between the two countries.

Pakistan are the defending champions of the Champions Trophy tournament. The green shirts, under the leadership of former captain Sarfaraz Ahmed, beat India in 2017 in the final by 180 runs to win the tournament. 

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said on Sunday that the government would review the “disproportionate burden” suffered by the country’s salaried class due to high taxes, calling on other sectors to “step up” to remedy the situation. 

Pakistan last year passed its Rs13 trillion ($46.66 billion) national budget to strengthen the case for an International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout deal. The budget increased the tax liability by Rs22,500 [$80.50] for all persons earning more than Rs50,000 [$178.89] a month. In 2023 also the government imposed a higher income tax on salaried persons it deemed “high earners.”

The move invited anger from Pakistan’s salaried class, including the Salaried Class Alliance of Pakistan, who warned of a brain drain and said they were already burdened by high taxes, surging inflation and strained incomes. 

“The manufacturing industry and the salaried class has suffered a disproportionate burden,” Aurangzeb told reporters “We will undertake all efforts to try to review this in the next budget and take this toward rationalization.”

The finance minister said that other income segments and sectors will have to contribute by paying more taxes. He pointed out that for the first time, Pakistan’s provincial assemblies had passed the agriculture income tax bill. 

“In the same way, our brothers and sisters in the real estate and wholesale and retailers sector will all have to step up, so that the burden on other categories can be adjusted in a proportionate manner,” Aurangzeb said.

In response to a question, Aurangzeb said Pakistan’s diaspora abroad was happy with the government’s policies. He thanked overseas Pakistanis for contributing with increased remittances every month.

“The way remittances are increasing, this year we expect them to reach around $35 billion as compared to $30.2 billion last year,” Aurangzeb said.