ICC rejects Usman Khawaja's appeal against armband sanction: Report
Melbourne: Australia opener Usman Khawaja suffered a setback after his appeal against the sanction imposed on him for wearing a black armband during the opening Test against Pakistan was rejected by the International Cricket Council, a report said on Sunday.
Last month, Khawaja was reprimanded by the ICC for wearing the black armband to mourn the children who have been the victim of the conflict between Israel and Palestine that has been going on since October last year.
The 37-year-old, who was born in Pakistan and is the first Muslim to play Test cricket for Australia, had challenged the reprimand saying that the armband was for a personal bereavement.
However, a report in Sydney Morning Herald on Sunday said that ''Usman Khawaja’s reprimand for wearing a black armband onto the field during the first Test against Pakistan in Perth will stand after the International Cricket Council rejected his appeal against the sanction...'' It was ''according to a source close to the situation who wished to remain anonymous ahead of any public announcement being made''.
ICC regulations prevent cricketers from displaying messages of political, religious or racial causes during international matches. However, players can wear black armbands to mark deaths of former players, family members or other significant individuals after taking prior permission from the governing body.
ICC had said that Khawaja did not take required permission from his Cricket Australia or the ICC. ''Usman displayed a personal message (armband) during the first test match against Pakistan without seeking the prior approval of Cricket Australia and the ICC to display it, as required in the regulations for personal messages,” ICC statement had said. ''This is a breach under the category of an other breach' and the sanction for a first offense is a reprimand.'' Khawaja had also arrived for a training session on December 13 with ''all lives are equal'' and ''freedom is a human right'' inscribed on his batting spikes and had reportedly planned to wear them during the inaugural Test.
''The ICC asked me day two (of the Perth Test) what (the black armband) was for, I told them it was for a personal bereavement. I never ever stated it was for anything else,'' Khawaja had said.
''I respect the ICC and all the regulations they have, I will be asking them and contesting them … From my point of view, that consistency hasn't been done yet. The shoes were for a different matter, I'm happy to say that, but the armband (reprimand) made no sense to me,'' he added.
Khawaja also denied that he had ''any hidden agendas'' when he arrived for a training session with inscriptions on his batting spikes, apparently in reference to the war in Gaza.
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Rahul on compromised mission, has links with pro-Pak elements: Nitin Nabin
Patna (PTI): BJP president Nitin Nabin on Wednesday launched a blistering attack on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, accusing him of undertaking foreign visits without informing central security agencies, and having close links with “anti-India and pro-Pakistan” elements.
Nabin charged Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition, with being on a “compromised mission” that began with his great grandfather and first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and “continued through generations”.
The BJP president’s comments come amid a row over the Indian Youth Congress activists staging a shirtless protest at the AI Summit in Delhi last week, with the slogan “PM is compromised”, an allusion to the proposed trade deal with the US allegedly under pressure from the Donald Trump administration
“Today, I wish to expose the compromised mission of the Nehru-Gandhi family, which has traded national interests for personal gains. I wish to expose Rahul Gandhi, who is trutting about like a babbar sher (lion),” the 45-year-old Bihar MLA, who was made the BJP president a month ago, told reporters.
Nabin raked up Nehru’s alleged reference to the country’s burgeoning population as a “liability” and the defeat in the 1962 war with China, and charged Indira Gandhi with “giving up Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, after defeating Pakistan in 1971” as examples of the “compromised mission”.
He also alleged that Rajiv Gandhi, the father of Rahul and a former Prime Minister, had made use of the Bofors gun deal to “fatten up his personal bank balance”.
“The compromised mission continued under Rahul’s mother Sonia Gandhi, who functioned as a ‘super prime minister’ from 2004 to 2014, compromising the authority of the top constitutional post,” the BJP president asserted.
Nabin slammed Rahul Gandhi for “undertaking 247 foreign visits, without informing security agencies back home”.
“All this has been a part of Rahul Gandhi’s compromised mission,” said Nabin who also accused the Rae Bareli MP of having close links with “anti-India, pro-Pakistan and China” elements abroad, including billionaire George Soros, US Congress member Ilhan Omar and Kenyan financier Shakir Merali.
“Rahul Gandhi is a poster boy of negative politics. But the people of the country, especially the youth, have seen through his game and they will not be misled by his rhetoric,” Nabin added.
