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Srinagar: The much-hyped Indian Heaven Premier League (IHPL) in Srinagar \u2014 projected by the Modi regime as a symbol of \u201cpeace and normalcy\u201d in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, \u2014 has collapsed in a full-blown scam, leaving several former international cricket stars, including Chris Gayle and Jesse Ryder, stranded in a hotel after the organisers fled without clearing dues.<\/p>\n
According to Kashmir Media Service, the tournament, inaugurated on October 25 with much fanfare at Srinagar\u2019s Bakshi Stadium, was touted by Indian authorities as proof of \u201cgrowing investment and tourism\u201d in the territory. However, the league has instead exposed the rot beneath New Delhi\u2019s propaganda \u2014 a web of deceit, mismanagement, and exploitation under the occupation setup.<\/p>\n
The privately-organised IHPL, run by the Mohali-based \u201cYuva Society,\u201d abruptly ended on Saturday when players and officials refused to participate further due to non-payment of salaries and hotel bills. The organisers reportedly vanished from the city, leaving hotels to detain players, umpires, and support staff until dues were cleared.<\/p>\n
Mellisa Juniper, a British umpire at the event, confirmed that none of the officials or players had been paid. \u201cWe have not received any payment,\u201d she told reporters, adding that the hotel staff informed her that the organisers had disappeared.<\/p>\n
Even as the scandal made headlines, local police and administration offered no clarity or accountability. Observers say this silence reflects the complicity of the occupation authorities, who were quick to use the league as a publicity tool for Modi\u2019s \u201cNaya Kashmir\u201d narrative but are now attempting to distance themselves from the embarrassment.<\/p>\n
The scam has also raised questions about how an inexperienced private group was allowed to use the Bakshi Stadium \u2014 a government-owned facility under the Jammu and Kashmir Sports Council \u2014 without background checks or official oversight. Despite large billboards and media promotions featuring international players like Gayle, Devon Smith, Shakib al-Hasan, and Jesse Ryder, the tournament failed to attract local crowds or generate trust.<\/p>\n
The Indian National Congress and regional analysts have described the episode as symptomatic of the Modi regime\u2019s policy of using Jammu and Kashmir as a propaganda laboratory \u2014 staging fake spectacles of \u201cdevelopment\u201d while ignoring the region\u2019s political reality and human suffering.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe IHPL was never about sports. It was a desperate attempt by New Delhi to project a sense of normalcy before international audiences,\u201d said a Srinagar-based political commentator. \u201cNow that it has collapsed into scandal and humiliation, it perfectly mirrors the failure of Modi\u2019s Kashmir policy \u2014 built on deception, not substance.\u201d<\/p>\n
The scandal underscores how the Modi regime\u2019s obsession with image-building continues to backfire. While India promotes Kashmir as a \u201cpeaceful tourist paradise,\u201d the territory remains under siege \u2014 its people silenced, its institutions hollowed out, and even its sports events turned into instruments of fraud and propaganda.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Srinagar: The much-hyped Indian Heaven Premier League (IHPL) in Srinagar \u2014 projected by the Modi regime as a symbol of \u201cpeace and normalcy\u201d in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, \u2014 has collapsed in a full-blown scam, leaving several former international cricket stars, including Chris Gayle and Jesse Ryder, stranded in a hotel after the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":187172,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[5],"class_list":["post-187171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-indian-occupied-jammu-and-kashmir","tag-top-story"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/assests\/2025\/11\/MirSuhail2-1.avif","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=187171"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187171\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":187173,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187171\/revisions\/187173"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/187172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=187171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=187171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=187171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}