State Minister for Youth and Sports Aminul Haque has said the government will not take action against any individual over Bangladesh’s decision not to participate in the T20 World Cup held in India and Sri Lanka earlier this year.
“Punishment alone cannot solve all the problems,” Aminul said at a press briefing on the government’s sports card at the Secretariat on Sunday.
He said an investigation committee formed to examine Bangladesh’s absence from the tournament had indicated that the decision was made because of an individual or his personal wishes.
“But the investigation committee, in the report it presented, clearly tried to say that Bangladesh did not participate in the cricket World Cup because of an individual or his personal wishes,” he said.
Aminul said the government had already made clear that no individual would be allowed to make such a decision on behalf of the country in the future.
“The country belongs to all of us. We have already sent the message that no individual should be allowed to make such a decision in the future,” he said.
Bangladesh did not participate in the T20 World Cup held in India and Sri Lanka in February and March this year, citing security issues following the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government facing a popular uprising.
After the fall of the Awami League government led by Sheikh Hasina, she fled the country for India. During that time, the Indian authorities removed Mustafizur Rahman from an IPL team without giving an explicit reason.
Before deciding not to play the World Cup, Bangladesh requested the ICC to relocate the venue outside India due to the political tension and security uncertainty at that time in India for the Bangladesh team. But the ICC did not accept the request and eventually pushed Bangladesh out of the World Cup.
After the BNP-led government came to power in February this year, Aminul formed a three-member inquiry committee to investigate the reasons behind Bangladesh’s non-participation in the tournament.
The committee said Asif Nazrul, the then sports advisor under the interim government led by Professor Muhammad Yunus, was the person behind the decision. Asif Nazrul himself said it before the inquiry committee was even formed.