ISLAMABAD Spectators stampeded the field after Taliban religious police interrupted a soccer game to arrest several Pakistani players for wearing a shorts-an outfit that violated Talibans strictest dress code, Officials said Monday.
The raid came Saturday during the final match of a series between Pakistani and Afghani soccer clubs in the Southern Afghan city of Kandahar, said Maulvi Hameed Akhund, a Taliban official. Twelve Pakistani players who were wearing shorts “were arrested because they violated the Islamic dress code,” Akhund told The Associated Press.
Afghanistan’s ultra-orthodox Taliban rulers have imposed a harsh interpretation of Islamic law in the 90 percent of the country under their control. After the game was halted, many of the several hundred spectators stampeded the field. Scores of people were injured, according to a Pakistani. Urdu language daily newspaper, The Jhang.
Five players on Pakistan’s 17-member team escaped arrest. The 12 taken into custody were released Sunday after their heads were shorn in punishment. Maulvi Mohammed Hasan, the Taliban’s governor in Kandahar, later apologized. ‘They were our guests and shouldn’t be treated like this,” he said. The Taliban’s long list of rules include not wearing shorts or short sleeve shirts in public – even sportsmen are required to wear the traditional baggy pants and long tunic. Men also are not allowed to shave or trim their beards and must attend the mosque to pray five times a day. Anyone cam t defying the rules can be publicly beaten.
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