On Friday (January 13), former Afghan Vice-President Amrullah Saleh called for a ban on the country’s cricket team over a picture of Afghan cricketers gleefully posing with Sirajuddin Haqqani, the chief of the Islamic terror outfit Haqqani Network.
In a tweet, he stated, “Afghan people were shocked to see their cricket team smilingly pose in a picture with (the) boss of suicide terrorists HQN chief & dine with him & remain silent on all injustices including erasing of girls from education.”
“So, the sanctioning and ban of Afghan cricket team is a meaningful move. Ethics first,” Saleh emphasised.
The development comes after a picture of Afghan cricketers, posing with UN-designated terrorist Sirajuddin Haqqani went viral on social media. In a tweet, human rights activist Saleem Javed shared the picture and wrote, “Afghan cricketers are angry over Australian team’s refusal to play with them.”
Sirajuddin Haqqani is part of the current Taliban government in Afghanistan. He is the first deputy leader of Afghanistan and the acting interior minister. He leads the Haqqani Network, which is the paramilitary arm of the Taliban.
“The irony is that Australian teams does it so as a protest against Taliban’s ban on girls education/work while Afghan cricketers pose with the perpetrators and an UN-designated terrorist leader,” he further added.
Javed pointed out, “If only Afghan men had protested as much against Taliban’s ban on women as they do against Australian cricket team’s refusal to play cricket with a team which was actually nurtured politically and fully ethnicized. Cricket is not more important than women’s basic rights.”
It must be mentioned that the Australian Men’s cricket team had called off its tour of Afghanistan over the denial of basic human rights to women in the country. Interestingly, Afghan cricketers had earlier praised the Taliban for being avid followers of the gentlemen’s game.
Hashmatullah Shahidi and Asghar Afghan met Taliban leader Anas Haqqani in August 2021 and also dined with the radical Islamists.