A women's football team from India, invited to play exhibition matches with their Bangladesh counterparts, had to leave home without playing the last game in the face of stiff resistance by some religious fanatics.
The team from West Bengal went back
home yesterday.
A religious group forced the cancellation
of the match in Netrokona, a district north of the capital, saying "women
playing football is degrading and obscene," The Daily Star reported today.
It said Towhidi Janata (devout persons), a little-known group kicked off its hate campaign on Tuesday, a day before the match and threatened to stage a sit-in outside the Netrokona ground if the match between the visiting West Bengal team and Netrokona XI was not called off.
The visiting team, which arrived here on January 18, was scheduled to travel to the northern district from the capital to play the last game of their three- match tour.
The panic-stricken visitors rushed to India via Benapole border last evening, the report said.
The paper quoted Indian team leader
Shankar Das as saying "it is unfortunate that we have to leave Bangladesh
earlier than expected. The girls were really scared now knowing the reason
behind the cancellation of the match".