Image Credit- AFP
The captain of Afghanistan, Hashmatullah Shahidi,
dedicated his team’s seven-wicket victory over the Netherlands to the thousands
of Afghan refugees living in Pakistan who may soon face deportation back to
their homeland.
With two games remaining against Australia and South
Africa, Afghanistan has three straight wins in Lucknow that have moved them to
eight points and a berth in the semi-finals. Shahidi was addressing following
this victory.
“Right now, a lot of refugee peoples are in
struggle so we are watching their videos and we are sad for that and we are
with them in this tough time,” Shahidi said after the game. “I
dedicate this win to those refugees that are in pain and also to all country
peoples back home.”
The government has given over two million Afghan
refugees, who Pakistan claims are in the country illegally, notice to depart by
November 1 or risk being deported or arrested. Thousands of people have flocked
to the border between the two nations this week in an attempt to beat the
deadline, but they are concerned about their future in Afghanistan, which the
Taliban has controlled since August 2021.
Since the former Soviet Union entered Afghanistan in
1979 as part of a new front in the Cold War with the US, Pakistan has a long
history of hosting Afghan refugees. Many of the cricket players from the first
Afghan cricket teams had grown up and learned their trade in north-west
Pakistani refugee camps. Since the Taliban seized over the nation two years
ago, there has been another huge stream of refugees. However, the directive for
the refugees to depart from Pakistan coincides with strained diplomatic ties
between the two nations.
The cricket squad has felt strongly about this
subject. Ibrahim Zadran also dedicated last week’s eight-wicket victory over
Pakistan in Chennai to the forced migration of refugees.
“I think the players are attuned with everything
that’s going on back home, whether it’s an earthquake and other things,”
Jonathan Trott, Afghanistan’s coach, said on Friday after the Netherlands win.
“So they realise, and I think they’re enjoying
the joy that they’re giving to the Afghan people and the smile that they
currently have on their face in the changing room, but also the smiles that’s
giving everybody else. That’s the great thing about sport and being able to
touch people far further afield than just here in the stadium or in this
country, but back home as well.”