This is a sports story with nothing to do with sports. It takes place in Latvia, and involves an Israeli basketball team, a Pakistani Tae Kwon Do team, and Latvian police.
Ten Pakistani Tae Kwon Do athletes were arrested on Friday in Riga, Latvia, suspected of planning an attack on an Israeli basketball team visiting the country.
The 10 men (four athletes, the other six officials and businessmen) became suspects after only one of them participated in a Tae Kwon Do tournament that took place in Riga, said Kristine Apse, an aide to the chief of Latvia’s Security Police. Their return flight, scheduled for November 26, also alerted the Security Police because it was the same flight an Israeli basketball team was to take.
The Media Line (TML) spoke with one of the Pakistani athletes, who is being detained. with the others, for questioning in an illegal immigrant camp near Riga.
The athlete, Judri Mohammad Mansha, told TML that he has no idea why his group is being held in the camp.
“We are genuine and peaceful people, and if they give us the chance we will prove that we are [Tae Kwon Do] players,” he said.
The story began, when the Latvian Tae Kwon Do foundation invited a group from Pakistan to participate in an international tournament. The tournament was to take place on November 13-15. However, the Pakistani group, according to Mansha, obtained arrival visas only on November 13.
“We got to Riga on the night of November 14 and to our hotel at 4:30 a.m. on the 15. Due to the late hour we got to Riga, and our tiredness, we couldn’t participate in the tournament’s last day,” said Mansha.
That was the initial reason for the group’s detention, according to Latvian police.
It seems that after keeping the Pakistanis in detention for five days, the Latvian police still has no proof to support its allegations.
“It’s totally against human rights… This is not a matter of our respect, it is now the matter of Pakistan’s respect… and we will not leave until they [Latvian authorities] confront the international media and say they were wrong and that Pakistan is clear”, said Mansha.
When asked if he is familiar with the details of the incident, the manager of the Israeli team, Ha-Po’el Tel Aviv, Oded Menahen told TML that he never heard of it.
Ha-Po’el Tel Aviv is scheduled to play tonight and to return to Israel immediately thereafter.
Concluding, Mansha said “There are good people and there are bad people in the world. As far as the Pakistani people is concerned, we are a peaceful people… Pakistan always tried to cooperate and fight against terrorism.”
The Latvian police officers are still checking whether the Pakistani group has any connections to terror, but so far no proof has been found, according to Apse.
Listen to Berman, Mansha and Apse here [3].