Tanzim Hasan apologises to BCB for offensive Facebook posts

Monitoring Desk

DHAKA: Bangladesh quick Tanzim Hasan has had to apologise to the BCB for a number of offensive Facebook posts from the past, which resurfaced after his international debut at the Asia Cup last week. Some of the posts date back to 2014, and BCB cricket operations chair Jalal Yunus said Tanzim was repentant about his posts and took full responsibility for them.

At least four posts, which are now deleted, became viral shortly after his ODI debut against India on September 15, when he picked up wickets in a Bangladesh win.

In a Facebook post from September 2022, he wrote in Bangla: “A working woman will not allow her husband or children to have their way with her; she loses her charm, destroys her family, her purdah, and the society.”

In April this year, Tanzim, now 20, shared a photo, purported to be from 1954, of a burqa-clad woman travelling in a rickshaw, possibly with her family, and called it the “golden past”.

In another post (date unknown), Tanzim wrote: “If you marry a girl who mingles freely in the university, you can’t get your child a demure mother.”

In 2014, when he was 11 or so, Tanzim had shared a post about not celebrating Bangladesh’s Victory Day, which is on December 16.

The posts were reshared in the last four days and became a topic of discussion on social media and television news and shows in Bangladesh. Women’s right activists, writers and journalists criticised Tanzim for his posts.

Yunus, who is also a BCB director, said that he spoke to Tanzim about the matter on Monday.

“The cricket operations committee spoke to Tanzim Sakib on behalf of the Bangladesh Cricket Board,” Yunus said at a press conference at the Shere Bangla National Stadium on Tuesday. “The media committee also got in touch with him. We informed Tanzim about the discussions surrounding his Facebook posts. He said that he didn’t write those posts to hurt anyone. He wrote it for himself, not targeting anyone. If those posts have hurt anyone’s feelings, he said he was sorry.

“He said that the posts he has made about women, he takes full responsibility. He said that he is not a misogynist. We have warned him that if he posts something on Facebook in the future, the BCB will monitor him.

“We are keeping an eye on this area [his mindset]. We will monitor him. His family is concerned too. They didn’t expect such a situation. They are also sorry. We have given him a warning because he is a young player, and a World Cup is ahead. If he does something like this again, we will take action against him. If there’s a [psychological] problem, we will provide support.”