Imran Nazir, a former cricketer for Pakistan, described his painful past experience of being detained while coming to Karachi and being imprisoned for three days.
According to Nazir in a recent podcast, it happened when a weapon was discovered in his backpack during airport security checks.
“I have a pure heart. Everyone is aware of this incident, and the investigation turned up nothing, he said to the host.
The cricketer claimed that he had previously resided in Muridke and had not travelled frequently.
I was chosen to represent the under-19 cricket team against South Africa in a competition. My backpack was travelling with us to Karachi when it was asked whose bag it was at the airport security checkpoint, Nazir recalled.
The former batter, who represented Pakistan in 79 one-day internationals and eight tests between 1999 and 2012, claimed that the security personnel asked him three times who the bag belonged to before accepting that it was his.
He said, adding that he was subsequently separated from the rest of the group, “Pistols and bullets were lying on top of the bag.”
Nazir described how he initially believed it to be a toy until realising it was all real and how afraid he was. After that, he claimed, “I was jailed for three days while handcuffed, but the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) eventually intervened.”
Though Nazir was lucky enough to avoid being physically assaulted while incarcerated, he claimed that his three days inside “felt like 30 years.”
When you have good intentions, nothing bad can ever happen to you, remarked Nazir.
When he got out of jail, he claimed that his coaches told him to put the incident behind him, treat it like a terrible dream, and concentrate on his cricket instead.
