Sports Desk //

Culture advisor Mustafa Sarwar Farooqui has questioned the neutrality of the International Cricket Council (ICC) for holding Bangladesh’s World Cup match in India despite security concerns. In a post on Facebook on Friday, he wrote, ‘While taking into account security concerns in the case of India and Pakistan, the ICC has taken a different stance in the case of Bangladesh.’

Fearing the safety of Bangladeshi players and fans in India, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) had requested the ICC to shift the Bangladesh team’s match in the upcoming T20 World Cup to Sri Lanka. However, claiming that there was no ‘security threat’, the cricket governing body has asked Bangladesh to play in India. The BCB and the Bangladesh government have stated that they will remain adamant in their decision not to play in India.

This afternoon, the Culture Advisor wrote in a Facebook post, ‘Recently, several incidents of people being beaten to death in India on suspicion of being Bangladeshi. Just yesterday, a Muslim born in West Bengal, Manzoor Laskar, was beaten to death on suspicion of being a Bangladeshi, The Telegraph of India reported.

Culture advisor Mustafa Sarwar Farooqui also highlighted Shiv Sena leader Aaditya Thackeray’s warning about hosting a Bangladesh-India match in Mumbai. He said, “If these incidents are added to the long-running anti-Bangladesh hate campaign, as a result of which Mustafiz was removed from the IPL, then it must be admitted that the security threat to Bangladeshi players in India is real and serious.”

Mostafa Sarwar Farooqui wrote, citing the ICC’s internal and independent security assessment, which also said that there was a medium to high level of risk for the Bangladesh team in India if Mustafiz was in the team and wore the Bangladesh jersey.

Despite such a backdrop, the ICC did not take Bangladesh’s security concerns into account, Farooqui said, “If the ICC really wants to establish itself as a fair and impartial organization for all member countries, then the security concerns raised by Bangladesh should be seriously considered and the matches should be moved from India to Sri Lanka.” In his words, “The onus is now on the ICC to prove impartiality.”

Earlier, after a meeting with the Bangladesh team’s cricketers on Thursday, Sports Advisor Asif Nazrul told reporters that the ICC did not exercise due diligence in taking Bangladesh’s security concerns into account, and the Indian government did not try to assure Bangladesh of the security of the T20 World Cup.

The Indian Cricket Board (BCCI) exempted Mustafiz from the IPL on January 3 in the face of threats from extremist groups in India. The BCB had requested the match to be shifted to Sri Lanka, another host of the tournament, raising the question of how India could provide security to the Bangladesh team and fans and journalists in the World Cup if it could not ensure the security of a player. However, after the board meeting on January 21, the ICC in their press release called the Mustafiz incident ‘isolated’ and ‘unrelated’. However, the sports advisor countered yesterday by saying that the Mustafiz incident is part of cricket.

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