New Delhi: The Taliban decided Tuesday to get engaged with cricket in the most controversial manner possible. First, they sacked the head of Afghanistan Cricket Board’s (ACB) CEO Hamid Shinwari. Then they banned the telecast of IPL in the country. It should be stated here that a number of Afghan cricketers including Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi are part of the IPL.
However, Tuesday morning Shinwari was replaced with a member of the feared Haqqani network. The Haqqani network is responsible for some of the worst attacks in Afghanistan’s history. Shinwari posted his Facebook page Monday that he has been removed on the orders of senior Haqqani officials. “Anas Haqqani visited the cricket board office and told me very clearly that my job as the (chief) executive officer was over,” Shinwari wrote on his Facebook page.
Anas is a senior Taliban official and the younger brother of Afghanistan’s new interior minister Sirajuddin Haqqani.
However, the post was not visible Tuesday onwards.
In the Pashto language post, Shinwari said he had asked for a formal order but did not receive it. “I was elected to the Cricket Board’s executive section after a transparent process, but I did not understand the reason for my dismissal,” Shinwari said.
Shinwari has been replaced by Naseebullah Haqqani, also known as Naseeb Khan. He is a close ally of the Haqqani network, said a source at the cricket board who did not want to be named.
“He (Naseeb) holds a master’s degree and has knowledge of cricket as well,” the Afghan cricket board said on its Facebook page. The hardline Islamists however, do not mind cricket and the game is popular among their fighters.
Meanwhile talking about ban on the telecast of IPL matches officials said that it has been done over the presence of ‘female audience and spectators’ in stadiums.
Former ACB media manager and journalist M Ibrahim Momand said the live broadcast of IPL matches was banned due to possible ‘anti-Islamic’ content.
“Afghanistan national (TV) will not broadcast the @IPL as usual as it was reportedly banned to live the matches resumed due to possible anti-islam contents, girls dancing & the attendance of barred (sic) hair women in the (stadium) by Islamic Emirates of the Taliban,” Momand had tweeted Sunday when the IPL action resumed.
Another journalist Fawad Aman, who has also served as the spokesperson of the Ministry of Defence as per his Twitter handle, wrote, “Ridiculous: Taliban have banned the broadcasting of Indian Premier League (IPL) in Afghanistan.”
“Taliban have warned that Afghan media outlets should not broadcast the Indian cricket league due to girls dancing and the presence of female audience and spectators in stadiums,” he added.
According to a media report, Afghanistan’s new sports chief last week said that the Taliban will allow 400 sports – but declined to say anything on women’s participation. “Please don’t ask more questions about women,” he was quoted as saying.