Asif Ghafoor shared a video Friday on Twitter of Sri Lankan skipper Lahiru Thirimanne sipping tea with the caption “Pakistani tea is ‘fantastic’ too”.
The video has outraged many Indian twitterati as it appears to be mocking the Indian dogfight hero, Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, who was briefly detained by Pakistani Army during the February dogfight. Wing Commander Varthaman was seen in a video, while a Pakistan Army captive, praising Pakistan's "fantastic tea".
Welcoming the Sri Lankan team, Ghafoor captioned the video clip as, "Welcome Team Sri Lanka. For sure you are as good as your tea. Pakistani tea is ‘fantastic’ too,” after a cricket tour of the Sri Lankan team to Pakistan was jeopardised due to security reasons and the top 10 cricketers from the squad had pulled out from the tour.
The video of Varthaman had gone viral on social media, especially in Pakistan.
Many Pakistani users also joined Ghafoor in ridiculing Varthaman.
The tweet has also compelled many Indians to share their piece of mind on the post, which has outraged them.
Many Indian Twitter users have hit back, asking if it isthe Sri Lankan team's B group players as almost all of the top 10 players had backed out of the Pakistan tour, citing security concerns.
Wing Commander Abhinandan was detained by Pakistani forces after his Mig21 was shot down in late February by the Pakistani Air Force over the Line of Control (LoC). He was released a few days later.
A 14 February Pulwama terror attack allegedly carried out by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) suicide bombers in which 40 Indian troopers were killed in Pulwama, in Kashmir. India responded with airstrikes against purported JeM terror camps in Balakot in Pakistan on 26 February, and was soon targeted by a Pakistani air raid which culminated in a dogfight.