Published 11:53 IST, March 18th 2020
Rangoli Chandel slams Shoaib Akhtar's motormouth rant against the Chinese amid Coronavirus
Former Pakistan cricketer Shoaib Akhtar in a recent video was seen blaming China's eating habits for the coronavirus pandemic. Rangoli Chandel later slammed him
Former Pakistan cricketer Shoaib Akhtar in a recent video was seen blaming China's eating habits for the coronavirus pandemic and claimed that it is because of them eating 'dogs, bats, etc' that the "world is at a standstill today'.
"I don’t understand why you have to eat things like bats, drink their blood and spread some virus across the globe I’m talking about the Chinese people. I don't understand - if God has made halal animals, why are you eating haram. When God has given you so much livestock, why can't you eat that? Why do you have to eat bats, cats and dogs, drink their urine, their blood, and spread the virus in the entire world? I don't understand, I'm really angry," said the motormouth ex-pacer in a shockingly derogatory, racist and communal rant
Slamming Shoaib Akhtar's thoughts, Rangoli Chandel said that he sounded 'stupid and dumb' and called the debate 'not so simple' as Akhtar endorsed eating other animals but not 'snakes or bats'. Rangoli concluded by saying that any living organism, even an insect 'longs to live'.
Pakistan can't afford to shutter cities to prevent virus: PM Imran Khan
As of Tuesday, Pakistani health authorities had only tested 1,571 suspected cases, with over 200 of them positive.
"The Pakistan situation is not the same as that of the US or Europe... 25 percent of our population is living in grave poverty", Khan said in a televised address to the nation. "If we shutdown the cities -- people are already facing difficult circumstances -- we will save them from corona at one end, but they will die from hunger on other side." Pakistan has however closed cricket stadiums, schools, colleges and universities, Khan noted.
(With PTI inputs)
Updated 11:54 IST, March 18th 2020