Sexual harassment of women in our country is an issue that exists in almost every field of life. The pity part is that mostly women do not talk about it openly. They are scared, afraid and reluctant to discuss something about this issue.
But not this time as some of the ladies said that they will speak on this issue and will talk about it on every forum for all to know how women cricketers are treated.
Four female cricketers named Haleema Rafiq, Hina Ghafoor, Seema Javed and Kiran Khan alleged Moulvi Sultan Alam who is 70 years old and he is the Chairman of Multan Cricket Club (MCC). Hina Ghafoor said that he promotes those girls who tie the bond of friendship with him. Moulvi Sultan Alam denied these allegations and said that these girls are telling nothing but lie.
Drama further escalated as two of the girls named Seema and Kiran said that they themselves have gone through this when they were called into the office. The space in the sofa was empty between Seema and Kiran and Moulvi Sultan sat between them and put his one hand on the shoulder of Seema and while he was putting his other hand on Kiran’s shoulder, she claimed that she left the office. Moulvi Sultan said to her while she was leaving that lets play “Dostana” (friendship) but Kiran said I don’t want to play and left. Seema claims that Moulvi Sultan said that one of you two will play in Under-19 cricket team and Seema said alright, you can select Kiran but Moulvi Sultan said in return that ask Kiran to let me kiss her then I’ll let her play in the team.
The girls also mentioned some names like Hira Basharat and Nadia Hussain. According to these girls Hira Basharat left the cricket due to people like these and their attitude. The girls further claimed that they were warned about these people by Nadia Hussain who is a senior player. According to these girls, Nadia Hussain said that keep away from these coaches as they will show you the dreams of taking you into the Pakistan cricket team and then take you to their bedrooms.
Hira Basharat was offered the deal of friendship two years ago according to these girls and then she left the cricket due to this reason. In this regard the coach of the team Muhammad Javed was contacted and was invited to answer to these allegations. He defended the management by telling that these girls have formed an association against the club management and these are the girls who were banned for some reasons from the club. He further said that we have the proof against all these girls who are busy in allegations.
Human rights activist Farzana Bari was also contacted in this regard who approved this fact that things like these do exist in our society. She stressed that gender discrimination and sexual abuse are two different issues but in our society it is hard to differentiate between these two behaviours. And when a female comes out and tell the society about such behaviours rather than being helped, she becomes the target. She strongly urged a thorough investigation of such cases so that everything becomes crystal clear and rights are given to the individuals.
Another girl who also plays cricket at MCC and her name is Madeeha Rehman also commented on this issue. According to her she has been playing for 5 years in MCC and she did not face any such kind of situation. On one question that if she did not face any such situation where she was sexually harassed, does it mean that it doesn’t happen there, she replied that if the girl herself does not get involved in such things, no one can force her to indulge in such things. In response to her these statements the four girls claimed that she herself in front of all the people abused Moulvi Sultan when she was not selected for Bahawalpur region team.
Additional allegation by the four women cricketers was uttered to ask the coach Muhammad Javed why his wife slapped him in front of all the girls and boys in the ground. Muhammad Javed strongly denied this but the girls persisted that his wife found out about his affairs and she did slap him in front of the people in the ground. Haleema Rafiq further mentioned that she was asked by the coach to sit beside him in a district level match and Rizwana Tareen told her that he was drunk and asked her to go away.
Shahadat Hussain a reporter provided some proofs against the girls. First proof was against Seema Javed that she kidnapped a girl. In response Seema Javed said that the girl was a close friend and she got displeased on some family issues and went to her sister’s house without informing. The case was registered against Seema but when the girl returned, she gave the statement that she went by herself and there was no involvement of Seema in this. She further said that if the allegations were true how could have she played a tournament 6 months ago.
Next allegation was against Kiran Khan that alcohol was being imported inside in a soft drink bottle and was then served and Kiran Khan after being banned gave a written application asking for forgiveness. Kiran Khan absolutely rejected that this was written by her. She showed that all applications had different signatures on them and she signed a paper with her original signatures. Both parties were taking oath that they were righteous in this matter.
Shahadat Hussain was once again asked which party was righteous in this matter and he said that he has been after this case for a very long time and all these things were confirmed from various sources as the issue was quite sensitive. Girls were not prepared to come in front and after a long struggle these ladies came in front and should be applauded to show courage.
Another girl Saba who used to play in MCC and left the cricket said that when she saw the environment changing, she decided to leave cricket. The teams made were not based on performance and something was planned inside and teams were changed and everything did happen in front of the coach and management. Saba Ghafoor turned out to be Hina Ghafoor’s elder sister and according to Muhammad Javed both sisters were involved in such activities that were dealt with iron hands and as a result they formed a front against the management.
A number of other stories were also told by the four girls against Muhammad Javed and Moulvi Sultan. Shahadat Hussain the reporter favoured the girls in all these regards and said that before bringing the girls to front, whatever they say has been closely watched and proofs present with girls were thoroughly checked.
The girls further claimed that now that they have publically appeared in front of the media and allegations are from both sides, a thorough investigations should be conducted and if something happens to them, the sole responsibility will be upon the MCC management and Government of Punjab as these people do belong to Shahbaz Sharif who is the Chief Minister of Punjab.
