Skip to content
Hindi News, हिंदी समाचार, Samachar, Breaking News, Latest Khabar – Pratirodh

Hindi News, हिंदी समाचार, Samachar, Breaking News, Latest Khabar – Pratirodh

Primary Menu Hindi News, हिंदी समाचार, Samachar, Breaking News, Latest Khabar – Pratirodh

Hindi News, हिंदी समाचार, Samachar, Breaking News, Latest Khabar – Pratirodh

  • Home
  • Newswires
  • Politics & Society
  • The New Feudals
  • World View
  • Arts And Aesthetics
  • For The Record
  • About Us
  • Featured

Taliban Will Allow 400 Sports – If You’re A Man

Sep 15, 2021 | Pratirodh Bureau

Taliban's director of physical education and sports Bashir Ahmad Rustamzai (C) arrives to watch youth showcasing their skills during an event at a gymnasium in Kabul (AFP)

From swimming to soccer, running to horse riding, Afghanistan’s new sports chief said on Tuesday that the Taliban will allow 400 sports – but declined to confirm if women can play a single one.

“Please don’t ask more questions about women,” Bashir Ahmad Rustamzai told AFP, from an armchair where Afghanistan’s Olympic Committee president had sat until he fled the country last month.

Rustamzai, a heavily-built former kung fu and wrestling champion with a bushy black and white beard, was appointed by the hardline Islamist group to be Afghanistan’s director general for sports and physical education.

Once the wrestling federation chief when the Taliban were last in power, Rustamzai then worked with the Western-backed government, before falling out with them because of “their widespread corruption,” he said.

‘We Will Not Ban Any Sport’ 

Dressed in a black turban typical of the Taliban, Rustamzai repeatedly ducked questions on the issue of women’s sports.

During the extremists’ brutal and oppressive regime from 1996 to 2001, women were completely banned from playing any sport while men’s sport was tightly controlled. Women were also largely banned from education and work.

Sports stadiums were regularly used for public executions.

“We will not ban any sport, unless it does not comply with sharia law… there are 400 type of sports allowed,” Rustamzai said.

Shortly after, he watched a demonstration by young Afghan men, some zooming around on roller blades, and waving the white Taliban flag.

Rustamzai said that abiding by Islamic law meant little change in practice compared to other countries.

“It doesn’t change much,” he said, noting it would require, for example, football players or Muay Thai boxers to wear “shorts a little longer, which fall below the knee”.

Pushed on women’s participation, he said he was still awaiting decrees from the top Taliban leadership.

“We can imagine the same thing as in universities: allowing women to play sports, but separately from men,” one of his advisors said.

But Rustamzai would not confirm that directly.

New rules on universities allow for women to continue studying as long as they are strictly segregated from men, and adhere to a dress code of an abaya robe and niqab face veil. The curriculum will also be controlled.

Segregated Sport?

For now, the indications look bleak for women.

Last week, the deputy head of the Taliban’s cultural commission, Ahmadullah Wasiq, said that it was “not necessary” for women to play sport.

“In cricket, they might face a situation where their face and body will not be covered,” Wasiq told Australian broadcaster SBS. “Islam does not allow women to be seen like this.”

But the Taliban are already under pressure, especially for cricket, where international regulations state that nations must also have an active women’s team to take part in Test matches.

Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) chairman Azizullah Fazli later told SBS Radio Pashto he was still hopeful women will be able to play.

“Very soon, we will give you good news on how we will proceed,” he said.

But Rustamzai distanced himself from the future of women’s sport.

“The opinions of our elders (senior Taliban) are important,” he said. “If they ask us to authorise women, we will — otherwise, we will not. We await their announcement.”

Tags: Afghanistan, Pratirodh, sports in Afghanistan, Taliban

Continue Reading

Previous Cooperation Is Key As Nations Deal With Glacial Floods
Next NHRC Notices To 4 Govts Over ‘Adverse Impact’ Of Farmers’ Stir

More Stories

  • Featured

Bilkis Case: Cong Asks If PM Approved Of Guj Govt Decision

5 hours ago Pratirodh Bureau
  • Featured

India Home To 18 Of 20 Cities With Severe Rise In Air Pollution: Study

6 hours ago Pratirodh Bureau
  • Featured

Which Diet Will Help Save Our Planet?

22 hours ago Pratirodh Bureau

Recent Posts

  • Bilkis Case: Cong Asks If PM Approved Of Guj Govt Decision
  • India Home To 18 Of 20 Cities With Severe Rise In Air Pollution: Study
  • Which Diet Will Help Save Our Planet?
  • Bharat Jodo Yatra ‘Badly Needed’ In India: Cong
  • Rushdie, Supporters To Blame For Attack: Iran
  • What Ails Himalayan Wetlands?
  • 11 Life-Term Convicts Released, Bano’s Family Left Surprised
  • Activists Question PM Modi On What’s Done For Women On Ground
  • Afghanistan Marks 1 Year Since Taliban Seizure As Woes Mount
  • Deep Scars To South Asia’s Ecosystems Are A Legacy Of Partition
  • Deforestation In Amazon Hits A Fresh Record
  • ‘Blood On Streets’: Google Execs On Layoffs
  • Climate Change Could Worsen 58% Of Human Infectious Diseases
  • Salman Rushdie On Ventilator, Likely To Lose An Eye: Report
  • Afghan Girls Face Uncertain Future After 1 Year Of No School
  • Laal Singh Chadha: Blowing In The Wind
  • Ukraine ‘Getting Ready For Tragedy’ At Nuclear Power Plant
  • Tikait Warns Of Another Farmer Agitation
  • BJP Finishes Off Its Regional Allies: Pawar
  • Prophet Row: SC Clubs, Transfers All FIRs To Delhi Police

Search

Main Links

  • Home
  • Newswires
  • Politics & Society
  • The New Feudals
  • World View
  • Arts And Aesthetics
  • For The Record
  • About Us

Related Stroy

  • Featured

Bilkis Case: Cong Asks If PM Approved Of Guj Govt Decision

5 hours ago Pratirodh Bureau
  • Featured

India Home To 18 Of 20 Cities With Severe Rise In Air Pollution: Study

6 hours ago Pratirodh Bureau
  • Featured

Which Diet Will Help Save Our Planet?

22 hours ago Pratirodh Bureau
  • Featured

Bharat Jodo Yatra ‘Badly Needed’ In India: Cong

22 hours ago Pratirodh Bureau
  • Featured

Rushdie, Supporters To Blame For Attack: Iran

1 day ago Pratirodh Bureau

Recent Posts

  • Bilkis Case: Cong Asks If PM Approved Of Guj Govt Decision
  • India Home To 18 Of 20 Cities With Severe Rise In Air Pollution: Study
  • Which Diet Will Help Save Our Planet?
  • Bharat Jodo Yatra ‘Badly Needed’ In India: Cong
  • Rushdie, Supporters To Blame For Attack: Iran
Copyright © All rights reserved. | CoverNews by AF themes.