Pak women cricketers up in arms

Pakistan may be crazy about cricket, but when it comes to women playing the game in public, the government gets suddenly strict.

Pakistan's women's team has been refused permission to play in public by the authorities, who fear the disapproval of the religious right.

Angry women cricketers said the Pakistan Cricket Board turned down the request of the Women's Cricket Control Association for permission to hold a series of matches this month between India and Pakistan in its stadiums in Lahore and Karachi, saying that it was ''against women playing any game in public.''

When their many representations were ignored, the venue of the planned three one-day matches - part of the 50th Independence Day celebrations under way in both countries - was shifted to private cricket grounds in the two cities.

Protesting in an open letter to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif - copies of which were released to the press - the women's association said: ''It is a matter of regret that government functionaries make statements about the participation of women in all fields of acitivity, but experience proves otherwise.''

Pakistani rights activists think the authorities are scared to displease the religious right, who would like to put all Pakistani women in purdah (the veil).

Discrimination against women is deep rooted in Pakistani society. In most of the all-girls schools and colleges in the country, students are taught embroidery and other 'ladylike' occupations, but there is no facility for sports.

As a result, though it is a country of 140 million people, contingents to international meets are predominantly male and Pakistani women have not made a mark in sports.

"Pakistan has a women's team it could be proud of, but there is no support,'' declares Anita Ghulamali of the Women's Cricket Association.

"Instead, facilities are different for male and female players. While officials and sponsors fall over each other to support and endorse the men's national team, the women's team has been raising its own funds and playing on private grounds."

The team was told by an unidentified official that he did ''not want them to participate in public sport,'' Ghulamali, a former education minister in the province of Sindh and honorary secretary of the cricket association, told participants in a Karachi seminar on women's rights recently.

The government does not spend money on women's cricket. Women affairs minister Syeda Abida Hussain had promised to give about $4,700 to the women's team, but there has been no news since.

Earlier in the year, the team toured New Zealand and Australia on its own initiative and money. Cricketer Mehreen Haleem said they were promised money by the then caretaker government, but it ''backed out at the last minute. And after the caretakers backed out and nothing was given to us, we all had to pool together the $50,000 required for the trip to the two countries,'' said Mehreen.

Moreover, the team was refused permission to practice in the cricket stadium in Karachi before it left for the friendly tour.

''We had to put up nets in the car park outside the stadium to practise," Haleem said.

Pakistan's team is no push over, says Ghulamali, who points out that a team member was selected to the prestigious International Women's Cricket Council (IWCC), whose members include India, South Africa, Canada, England, Ireland, Denmark, West Indies, the Netherlands, Australia and Japan.

Asked why the Pakistan Cricket Board discriminates against women, its chairman Majid Khan, a former test cricketer, said the women's team was not their concern. ''We also have a heavy season ahead with a lot of matches to be played. We have to take into consideration the upkeep and maintenance of the stadiums.''

The bias against women in Pakistan is state sanctioned. It surfaced during the martial law regime of General Zia ul Haq, who placated Islamic fundamentalists to stay in power. Anti-women laws were enacted, which the governemnt said conformed to the Islamic Shariah laws. But that has been contested by critics.

In sports, the military government enforced a dress code for women following an outcry that women should not be allowed to wear shorts. Pakistan's women's hockey team was the first to be forced to change to baggy trousers.

''This is a major handicap, as sweaty trousers become soggy and heavy, while the rival team remains swift and cool in their shorts,'' says Sindh Hockey Association secretary general Shahida Jamil, who is also a lawyer.

It has also restricted their participation in international meets. According to Shahida, the team has been abroad only once, to an exhibition match in China.

''Let alone India, even Muslim countries like Indonesia, Malaysia and Bangladesh encourage their women teams to participate in international events,'' she said.

Aiming to counter its critics, the government announced it would host an Islamic Women's Games, organised for the first time three years ago in Teheran by the Iranian government. But that plan was shelved without explanation.