The Bangladesh Cricket Board on Saturday apologised to journalists after an on duty reporter covering Bangladesh’s home series against South Africa was assaulted by members of security committee. BCB’s security chief major retired Hossain Imam said they will arrange ‘counseling’ for the security committee members, popularly known as walkie-talkie force, to avoid similar incident.Sekandar Ali, a senior sports reporter of Bengali daily Alokito Bangladesh, was assaulted by two members of security committee as he went to cover Bangladesh’s training session at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium.
Sekandar said the security men wanted to see his accreditation card, but until then the BCB did not supply it to anyone.
‘I showed them my newspaper identity card but they were not convinced. All of a sudden they started pushing me, which left me dumbfounded,’ said the seasoned sports journalist.
BCB’s media committee chief Jalal Yunus said they are ‘sorry’ for the incident and promised to take appropriate action.
‘It is certainly unexpected and we will ensure that there is a permanent solution to this problem,’ Yunus said.
Till filing of the report the BCB could not identify the perpetrators.
The walkie-talkie force, unique in the cricket world, faces widespread allegation of misbehavior and corruption during the international series.
While the job is essentially handled by members of the regular security forces in other Test playing countries, Bangladesh takes help from this group of people, who often use their political backing to get appointed.
It was learnt that the group has no proper training for maintaining security. More puzzling is that they do not have any uniform or valid identity card. The only way to identify this all powerful group is the walkie-talkie that they carry in their hands.
They often allow their near and dear ones inside the ground, leaving players and all other stakeholders in embarrassing positions.
People are often seen taking selfie with players when they are busy in training.
Bangladesh captain Mashrafee bin Murtaza, who was a witness to Saturday’s incident, regretted it.
‘There is a protocol for everything,” Mashrafe said at the start of his Saturday’s pre-match press conference.
‘We all have accreditation cards even when entering the dressing-room. It is quite unfortunate that someone was physically assaulted. It is not desirable,’ said Mashrafee.
‘At the end of our last match [against India] a lot of people came inside the ground, possibly from outside. Foreign players will feel insecure if such things keep happening,’ he said.
‘I saw it happening in the last series. I am sure those in charge of the security will look into it. All of us should maintain discipline.’
-With New Age input
