{"id":34980,"date":"2023-12-13T13:01:05","date_gmt":"2023-12-13T13:01:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/pakistan-born-aussie-batter-usman-khawaja-vows-to-fight-gaza-message-ban\/"},"modified":"2023-12-13T13:01:05","modified_gmt":"2023-12-13T13:01:05","slug":"pakistan-born-aussie-batter-usman-khawaja-vows-to-fight-gaza-message-ban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/pakistan-born-aussie-batter-usman-khawaja-vows-to-fight-gaza-message-ban\/","title":{"rendered":"Pakistan-born Aussie batter Usman Khawaja vows to fight Gaza message ban"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Pakistan-born Australia batsman Usman Khawaja said on Wednesday that the statements he wrote on his shoes in support of the people of Gaza were not political, adding he would fight the International Cricket Council (ICC)\u2019s ruling that he cannot display them while playing.<\/p>\n

During training this week, the 36-year-old opening batsman had hand-written slogans \u201cFreedom is a human right\u201d and \u201cAll lives are equal\u201d on his footwear.<\/p>\n

Khawaja, who is Muslim, wanted to wear the shoes for the opening<\/a> Test starting on Thursday in Perth against Pakistan, his birth country.<\/p>\n

However, the ICC Code of Conduct forbids players wearing, displaying or conveying messages through arm bands or other items on clothing or equipment without prior approval. Messages related to political, religious or racial activities or causes are not allowed.<\/p>\n

Australia captain Pat Cummins said on Wednesday that the Pakistan-born opener had agreed not to display the messages during the match when it started on Thursday, but Khawaja later posted an emotional video on the social media site X.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs freedom not for everyone? Are all lives not equal?\u201d Khawaja asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo me personally it doesn\u2019t matter what race, religion or culture you are.
\nI\u2019m just speaking up for those who don\u2019t have a voice,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ICC have told me that I can\u2019t wear my shoes on field because they believe it\u2019s a political statement under their guidelines,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t believe it is so \u2014 it\u2019s a humanitarian appeal,\u201d he added. \u201cI will respect their view and decision but I will fight it and seek to gain approval,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

When asked for comment on Wednesday, the ICC directed reporters to the relevant regulations which make clear that the global governing body is the final arbiter of what is allowed and what constitutes a \u201cpolitical, religious or racial cause\u201d.<\/p>\n

Cricket Australia said that it supported the players\u2019 right to express their opinions.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the ICC has rules in place which prohibit the display of personal messages, which we expect the players to uphold,\u201d it said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Four days ago, Khawaja shared a video on Instagram from the children\u2019s charity Unicef from Gaza.<\/p>\n

In the post, he commented: \u201cDo people not care about innocent humans being killed?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cOr is it the colour of their skin that makes them less important? Or the religion they practise?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In his message on Wednesday, Khawaja noted the fierce reaction his stance had caused in some quarters.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut let\u2019s be honest about it, if me saying all lives are equal has resulted in people being offended to the point where they\u2019re calling me up and telling me off, well isn\u2019t that the bigger problem?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In 2014, the ICC banned England all-rounder Moeen Ali from wearing<\/a> wristbands saying \u201cSave Gaza\u201d and \u201cFree Palestine\u201d during a home Test.<\/p>\n

The ICC did, however, allow players to \u201ctake the knee\u201d before international matches in support of the \u2018Black Lives Matter\u2019 movement in 2020 and 2021.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Australia\u2019s Sports Minister Anika Wells gave Khawaja her full backing.<\/p>\n

\u201cUsman Khawaja is a great athlete and a great Australian. He should have every right to speak up on matters that are important to him,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has done so in a peaceful and respectful way. He has done so as an individual and expressed an individual opinion that does not compromise the Australian cricket team\u2019s obligations to the ICC,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pakistan-born Australia batsman Usman Khawaja said on Wednesday that the statements he wrote on his shoes in support of the people of Gaza were not political, adding he would fight the International Cricket Council (ICC)\u2019s ruling that he cannot display them while playing. During training this week, the 36-year-old opening batsman had hand-written slogans \u201cFreedom […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34981,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.dawn.com\/large\/2023\/12\/131749484470339.png?r=175110","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[192],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-islamabad-news"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34980"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34980\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}