Freedom to support: Rashid calls for ‘no politics in sport’

Decries BCB’s move to restrict Bangladeshi cricket fans from flying flags of other teams.

ISLAMABAD:

Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid on Wednesday decried Bangladesh Cricket Board’s move to restrict local cricket fans from flying flags of any other team competing in the ICC World Twenty20 tournament.

“There should not be any such restrictions on spectators. There should be no politics in sport,” he said while talking to reporters at the launch ceremony of the report and recommendations of the media commission.

Meanwhile, he reiterated the government’s position that it had no plans to send the army for any overseas operations. The statement came a day after opposition parties threatened to protest against any direct or indirect intervention in Syria.

“All this [talk of sending the army to Syria] is mere speculation,” Rashid told reporters. “We have neither been asked to send our army by any country nor have we decided to send our troops abroad.”



“Those spreading such rumours and doubts actually want to defame the country… the army will continue to perform the role it has been given by the Constitution,” he said, adding that the government will not interfere in others’ affairs and will not allow anyone to meddle in its affairs.

Responding to a question on the recommendations of the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) on child marriage, the minister said, “The CII merely gives its recommendations and it is prerogative of Parliament to implement those.” The recommendations, he said, would soon be sent to Parliament.

When asked about the peace talks with the Taliban, he said the first ever direct meeting between the two parties would discuss a ‘permanent ceasefire’. He refused to comment on other points which would be discussed.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 27^th, 2014.