On October 1, Pakistan’s woman cricketer Diana Baig called out Maulana Jalal Abid for opposing women’s sporting event at Gilgit’s Lalik Jan Stadium located in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. Reportedly, the Gilgit-Baltistan Women Sports gala 2022 comprising different sporting events, including Cricket, Basketball, Tennis, Badminton, Squash, Table Tennis and hockey, is scheduled to take place from October 5 in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir’s Gilgit-Baltistan region. Diana Baig is a cricketer and footballer from Pakistan. She primarily plays cricket and was also selected for a domestic Football team as there was a ‘shortage of female football players’.
According to Ibex Media Network, Maulana Jalal Abid opposed the scheduled sporting event as the venue is the “Eid-Gah for Muslims”. While the ground is a stadium with the name Lalak Jan Stadium in Jutial in Gilgit, namaz is performed on the ground during Islamic religious events.
Gilgit:
— Ibex Media Network (@IbexMedianetwrk) September 29, 2022
Moulana Jalal Abid has reportedly condemned the ongoing sports gala for women at Gilgit’s Lalik Jan stadium. According to reports, the cleric has said that the venue is the “Eid-Gah for Muslims”.#news #women #sport #womenrights #pakistan #gilgit #religion #imn pic.twitter.com/UQ0BDeLXdH
Diana Baig responded to the reports and lashed out at the Muslim cleric. She said, “Gilgit has given so many gems (men and women) to Pakistan sports who continue to uplift the image of the country with their talent. This ground is fit to host prayers, men’s boxing events, cultural dances and everything else but cannot host a women’s event.”
My question is: why was the condemnation not for the men’s event?
— Diana baig (@baig_diana) October 1, 2022
Shouldn’t the space belong to women just as much as it belongs to everyone else who lives in Gilgit or will we continue to live under a rock and pretend that a woman stepping on the field is a taboo?
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She added, “My question is: why was the condemnation not for the men’s event? Shouldn’t the space belong to women just as much as it belongs to everyone else who lives in Gilgit, or will we continue to live under a rock and pretend that a woman stepping on the field is taboo?”
While the sportsperson from Pakistan was not pleased by the opposition coming from the clerics, several Islamists attacked Baig and “schooled” her about Islam.
Twitter user Hazxsupremacy said, “a place where namaz is performed shouldn’t be a place for women to play football with shorts up to their thighs and no scarf that goes for men as well no sport, festival or any event should be conducted at a religious site.” Replying to him, Baig said, “The venue is called “Lalik Jan Stadium” it’s not an Eid-Gah.”
Twitter user Muhammad Taseet Hassan said, “If it is against Islam… it is wrong. There is no need of justification. No matter a man does it or a woman.”
Similar opposition to the event was marked by Anjuman Imamiya Agha Baqir al-Husseini. It was shared in comments by a Twitter user. Upon investigating the authenticity of the press release in Urdu, OpIndia found that it was, in fact, true.
— PabloEscobar (@edward55567) October 1, 2022
In a press release issued by the Central Imamia Jamia Masjid Skardu, the organization said, “An emergency meeting of Anjuman Imamia Baltistan was held under the chairmanship of Anjuman Imamiya Agha Baqir al-Husseini.
In this meeting, concern was expressed over the reports by the government about bringing college and university students to the ground in the name of hockey and cricket in the land of Baltistan and that this act was declared as the nobility, honour and status of women by Islam. He is declared his opponent.
And the GB government was warned that raising girls in Baltistan for Sharia work in the name of the sport is completely against religious and Islamic teachings and unacceptable for a religious person.
And instead of implementing Sharia and Islamic laws in a country where there is no God but Allah, it is astonishing to arrange such obscenity programs. Therefore, the district administration is urgently requested to stop this act.
Religious and well-trained families of Baltistan are requested to prove that they are Islam and Sharia loving people by preventing their daughters from doing non-shamal acts in the name of sports.” (Translated using Facebook Translation Services)
Gilgit-Baltistan is illegally occupied by Pakistan
Gilgit-Baltistan is an Indian territory that has been illegally occupied by Pakistan. Located in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, the hostile neighbouring nation has claimed it to be its territory which has been categorically denied by India on several occasions. In 2020, the Ministry of External Affairs stated Pakistan’s attempt to bring material change to a part of the Indian Territory. The statement came after then Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran khan officially announced the ‘provincial status’ of Gilgit-Baltistan. He claimed that the decision was taken while “keeping in mind the UN Security Council’s resolution.”
Then-Official Spokesperson, Ministry of External Affairs Anurag Srivastava, said, “The Government of India firmly rejects the attempt by Pakistan to bring material changes to a part of Indian Territory, under its illegal and forcible occupation. I reiterate that the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, including the area of so-called “Gilgit-Baltistan”, are an integral part of India by virtue of the legal, complete and irrevocable accession of Jammu and Kashmir to the union of India in 1947.”
The statement further added that the Government of Pakistan has no right to territories illegally and forcibly occupied by it. “Such attempts by Pakistan, intended to camouflage its illegal occupation, cannot hide the grave human rights violation, exploitation and denial of freedom for over seven decades to the people residing in these Pakistan-occupied territories. Instead of seeking to alter the status of these Indian territories, we call upon Pakistan to immediately vacate all areas under its illegal occupation.”
