 The iLeague is back in the news and, unsurprisingly, not for footballing reasons. The discussion today has focused on developments in the wake of the horrific terror attack in Pulwama that killed more than 40 CRPF policemen. Minerva Punjab, the defending champions of the iLeague, are scheduled or are scheduled to play a match in Srinagar on the 18th, Monday the 18th. And their owner Ranjit Bajaj tweeted yesterday. So I'm going to read out the quote from Ranjit Bajaj just so that it's accurate. His first tweet was after his club had returned from Iran where they played an AFC Cup match. He said, I've just returned from Iran and came to know about the worst attack on our forces in JNK one hour from Srinagar airport slash taking my boys at Minerva Punjab FC there to play a football match at iLeague official on 18th seems like disrespecting brave CRPF jawans. He's followed this up with a second tweet where he said, if we at Minerva Punjab FC wear this on our chest or back in tribute to our armed forces, and we'll pull that picture up so you can see what the wear this is that he's talking about is the flags of the three services the army navy and air force. Isn't it wrong to go and play a football match at iLeague official the very next day one hour away from where our 42 brave CRPF jawans were martyred. Indian flag, Indian flag, crying smiley, hashtag stand with forces, hashtag pulwama, hashtag terror attack. The question here and this is an issue for the iLeague which we're talking about with Arjun Pandit and Ishfaq Ahmed who's joining in via Skype from Bangalore is firstly we've dragged football into the political arena and this has presented a problem for the iLeague on multiple counts one because this is a scheduled match that must go ahead because if it doesn't it sets negative precedence but on the other side we spoke to Ranjit Bajaj and he clarified a few things for us those things being that he feels like because Minerva's primary sort of business is as a training institute for future officers or prospective officers to the armed forces his club is more of a target than let's say an East Bengal or a Mohan Bagan or any other club would be in Srinagar. He's also said that his foreign players have received advisories from their embassies asking them not to travel to Jammu and Kashmir given the security situation there. What he wants is a written guarantee from the government of Jammu and Kashmir and or the central home ministry saying that I suppose guaranteeing that they will travel and come back safe and he's willing to play anywhere else and he's so he's willing to play in Srinagar with written guarantee okay and he's willing to play anywhere else in India because he like he said to me that life is carrying on in other parts and the idea is not to stop football from happening or any other part of life including Jammu right so I mean just straight up reactions to that first of all we as long as it's a security issue and you know like he's not feeling safe we can you know like relate like okay post this horrific attack and all we can feel like people are like thinking twice and all that and then his tweet says something and what he had clarified you which things you told or little bit not related to each other but I feel first he's saying that paying respect to the forces or it's because the Kashmir okay then he says that advisory and all that I think the foreign advisory was from long time they are foreign nationals France I know people who you know like they say that we have not we have been told that you should avoid traveling Palani Palani Jaga and Kajom and Kashmir is one of them then I think he is ready to play somewhere else which is he did you said that he's ready to play Jammu I think maybe he's not aware of the sort of riots that have sparked off in the wake of the the the car bombing in Jammu which probably makes Jammu far more unsafe a place to visit than Srinagar would be right now given all the security apparatus that exists in Srinagar and the fact that it's the focal point here as long as security reason I'm not feeling safe I I totally understand that players can understand that oh I'm not feeling safe which is a personal feeling like I'm not feeling safe and of course when you leave when you feel like safe then only you might perform better or you may be happy you know like to perform also that's a fair point yeah like like Ranjit also said you know here the players are scared the players especially the foreign players who are perhaps not accustomed to how things work in India in that aspect no you can understand where he's coming from man honestly speaking if he's saying look my players are there my advisories are there and because something has happened right now so recently if he says that look I don't want to go and until I'm not getting a written guarantee I have a responsibility then you can understand where he's coming from whether it's a right decision or wrong decision I don't think the point gets still there only you have to respect that decision right yeah you have to respect that decision yeah that decision of course has repercussions then and then probably the bigger repercussion would be then would people then travel to Kashmir for as many games in the iLeague that are left right and that is the big repercussion I totally agree with Urjun like what he's saying that after effects of it you know like what can happen what can follow if teams start everybody start saying that we are not feeling safe we won't go there it can it's like we had this positive thing coming out from the value it's like taking one step and five ten steps backwards one step forward and ten step backward so I personally feel a as long as it is security security reason if government of Jumman Kashmir is assuring him that everything is okay and I am sure all india football football federation will make sure that everything is okay because the referees are coming and it's not about them only it's about the real Kashmir team itself we have a lot of foreign players playing six seven foreign players are there I think and guys from other parts of India as well absolutely yeah there are players there I know there are there are other players who are from Tamil Nadu northeast you know like the security concern is for them also it it is not for only for one team it is definitely if it is a concern it is concerned I but there are there are people who has to you know like look into all those things one of them is federation of course then the jnk football association and the real kashmir team itself I think one of the sticking points is not having this written guarantee and I don't think anyone from the government is going to write on a piece of paper and sign his name to it saying that a hundred percent you guys are guaranteed to be safe it's not going to happen so the likelihood from at least the conversation that we had seems to be that this match is is not going to be played unless things change dramatically and on this point I want to move into the next part of our conversation which is do we think that playing this game of football would actually be disrespectful to the the memory of these soldiers who have died in in in the in the attack so one question that we asked Ranjit was don't you think it would bring more attention and sort of empathy and awareness by maybe wearing a black armband and and doing your bit to show your respect for these guys firstly and secondly the the the paramilitary or central arm police forces that operate in a lot of these areas are quite closely linked to the sports ecosystem especially in jammu and jashmeet absolutely you know like I think Mr Ranjit bhaja is not aware of it like CRPF has taken a lot of majors a lot of initiative especially for sports two of the Kashmiri guys who went for training you know like for couple of months in Spain was actually you know like supported by CRPF and they were very much involved in football they had conducted I think 22 district tournament also youth youth age and I'm sure you know like some of them must have involved in this and how is it disrespect when they have the same motive they they are doing the same thing they wanted to sports they wanted to provide Kashmiri way out no like but then again people think people think differently and it's his own view and but I as as a fact I know that there were a lot of tournaments which were conducted by CRPF by themselves if you're a team owner you're a manager at such a time and if you're traveling to Kashmir I think the right thing to do you're willing to forfeit the match and lose the three points anyway yeah so you you ask who doesn't want to go I will not hold it against you right but I'll take someone there and I'll play a game because I think this game is much bigger than the three points much bigger than the iLeague title race the implications of this game taking place are much bigger than that absolutely yeah you know like the effect the people can take it like otherwise like people don't want to now come to play a match in Kashmir also which is like even bit more scary for me you know like the the people who have been working in for the sports for such a long trying to help to come these young footballers through and if these things you know like if this is the message going you know from one of the top club who have won recently iLeague also and I think I think it it's not a good message to go there like but Ishwak what is the security situation in Kashmir when a team goes there to play the iLeague what is the sort of situation there for all the people are watching right now at least yeah so let me tell you that because I was there when couple of first these couple of matches took place so there is really really good security you you are not allowed to take the bags you are not allowed to take anything you are you you will be checked by two you know like first in the main gate we are checking happens then inside there is one more gate they will ensure that he's not carrying anything and there is a lot of security inside the stadium also just to protect people and nothing no mishap should take place that's why they are there and the best part is like well before match one day and all that like there is like security majors very well you know like taken care of like even the traffic they try to divert the traffic from other side and plus the the area it is it is surrounded with a lot of security houses and you know like all these ministers who stay the Gupta road is just not even a kilometer from there so it's a VIP road that side and it is under you know like CCTV all the cameras everything people I don't think I think it's pretty very much safest place over there in Srinagar just hope guys this doesn't set a bad precedent for teams going forward and I hope even if this game doesn't go ahead or a Minerva does not go there I just hope this is like a one-off issue and an appeal to all the other teams who have to travel to to of course to Kashmir to play that the league should continue especially if the FA involved of the government involved and everyone is saying that it is safe to go there then it should you know normalcy should resume because sport should not come in the middle of it yeah sport at the end of the day I mean works brilliant in unifying people together and if sport also starts getting affected by other things then yeah I mean you're sort of losing the whole purpose of sport if I may say then in the origin you have seen the response you know from the local fans these people who come to watch hardly I think three Kashmiri guys play in first level rest is from rest of the part of India and foreign players are there so it has been like a very positive story of Kashmir you know like everybody was talking about football so as we all know there is no night life nothing no entertainment the sports is the only thing for Kashmiri youth which can you know like you can at least something not to think of other things they come there relax a bit just finally they have their one team for at least food for or chair for and I think I think it was really nice to bring up everyone together and the best part is you know the the real Kashmir itself you know the guy from Jummu and from his one and the Shemim the two owners have come together and there is Sandeep and what more you know like that's a great great story or an example by the owners one thanks very much guys for for coming in for this chat really good to hear from you guys and of course it's a developing situation the game is still scheduled it's still on the cards Sunandodhar the CEO of the iLeague confirmed that just before we shot and as we said the match officials and everyone everything is in place so the game is on the cards so we'll find out soon enough what's going to happen