A national women's swimming competition due to be held in Muslim-majority Bangladesh has been cancelled after protests from an Islamic group, officials said. Sahabuddin Ahmed, general secretary of the Bangladesh Swimming Federation, said officials agreed to cancel the competition late Monday after more than a thousand demonstrators took to the streets of the host town Chandpur in southern Bangladesh. "The local administration of Chandpur district decided to cancel due to threats from an Islamic group," Ahmed told AFP.
The Islamic group, the Anti-Islamic Activities Prevention Committee, had branded the event to be "un-Islamic" and threatened to shut-down the whole area, he said. A message received from the group demanded that women should not be allowed to take part in the Eighth National Long-distance Swimming Competition out of respect for the religious feelings of the country's more than 100 million Muslims. The men's competition is due to go ahead as scheduled. "We had to compromise in order to maintain a peaceful atmosphere here," Taherul Islam, the chief district administrator told AFP. Four women had hoped to take part in the event.
State Minister for Youth and Sports Fazlur Rahman said he hoped the competition could be rearranged within a few months. "We want to do many things in Bangladesh but because of our social infrastructure sometimes we have no other choice but to compromise. I am hopeful that this will not be the same forever," Rahman said. A similar event was held without disruption last year. In July, however, Bangladesh's first women's wrestling competition was cancelled after threats from Islamic groups. Sporting officials described the cancellation as a "triumph for fundamentalism".
| "I'm hoping that someday Bangla will be a normal country, no longer infested by people whose turbans are way too tight. When that day comes, we'll no longer be disrupted by the illiterate howlings of our native fascisti. People like Taherul Islam will be able to change their names to something more reasonable, like 'Bob' or 'Herb.' Women will be able to walk the streets unmolested, without having acid thrown in their faces by jilted suiters or retarded siblings. Men will be able to smile, play cards, go bowling, and work at productive jobs. The birds will sing, the sun will shine, and God will stop trying to wash our nation from the face of the earth every year because we'll finally have pleased Him." |
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