Beaten to death on suspicion of being Bangladeshi, yet matches in India: Farooki questions ICC’s neutrality

Raising questions over the neutrality of the International Cricket Council (ICC) after it maintained Bangladesh’s World Cup matches in India despite security concerns, Cultural Affairs Adviser Mostofa Sarwar Farooki wrote in a Facebook post on Friday, “When India decides not to play in Pakistan, ICC complies. When Pakistan doesn’t want to play in India, ICC complies. When Bangladesh requested the same for genuine security reasons, the ICC has done the opposite.”

Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) had requested the ICC to move the Bangladesh team’s upcoming T20 World Cup matches to Sri Lanka due to concerns over the safety of players and supporters in India. However, the cricket governing body told Bangladesh to play in India, claiming there was no ‘security threat.’ BCB and the Bangladesh government have said they are firm on the decision not to play in India.

This afternoon, the Cultural Affairs Adviser wrote in a Facebook post, “We have been reading very disturbing reports from India, where Indian people were beaten to death on suspicion of being Bangladeshis. Just yesterday, a West Bengal-born Muslim man named Manjur Laskar was beaten to death on suspicion of being a Bangladeshi, reports The Telegraph of India.”

“Shiv Sena leader Aditya Thackeray on Thursday warned about India playing Bangladesh in Mumbai, the very city where ICC wants Bangladesh to play a match.

“If you add up these to the long running anti-Bangladesh hate campaign, which resulted in removing Mustafiz from IPL, you must admit that the security threat to Bangladeshi players in India is genuine. Even the ICC internal and independent security assessment found moderate to high risk for Bangladesh players and fans in India, provided Mustafizur Rahman was included in the team and they wore Bangladesh jerseys,” he added.

In this context, Faruki commented on ICC not taking Bangladesh’s security concerns into account: “If ICC - International Cricket Council really wants to portray itself as a body that treats all members fairly, it must take Bangladesh’s genuine concerns into cognisance and move the team’s matches from India to Sri Lanka no matter what.” In his words, “The onus is on the ICC to prove its neutrality.”

Earlier, after a meeting with Bangladesh team players on Thursday, Sports Adviser Asif Nazrul told reporters that ICC did not act fairly in considering Bangladesh’s security concerns, and the Indian government also did not attempt to assure Bangladesh regarding T20 World Cup security from their side.

Facing threats from extremist groups in India, Mustafiz was released from the IPL by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on 3 January. Questioning how India could ensure the safety of the Bangladesh team, supporters, and journalists in the World Cup if it could not guarantee one player’s security, BCB requested to move the matches to another venue in Sri Lanka.

However, on 21 January, after a board meeting, ICC mentioned in their press release that the Mustafiz incident was ‘isolated and unrelated.’ The Sports Adviser, however, argued yesterday that Mustafiz’s case is part of cricket itself.