Hasina welcomes women cricket team's Pakistan tour

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina says questions should not be raised over Bangladesh women cricket team’s tour of Pakistan.

“Why won’t they go there to play?” she shot back at a media conference on Sunday when asked about the tour.

The government okayed Bangladesh women cricket team's tour of Pakistan last month, despite other countries backing off over security concerns.

Dhaka's decision triggered much criticism on the social media.

“We can face any situation,” the prime minister said. “Our girls went there to play cricket. They should be praised for their courage."

The media conference was held over the prime minister’s recent US visit to attend the UN General Assembly.

Hasina said the Bangladesh team had shown courage by touring Pakistan, which she described as a “feudal and conservative society”.

The tour, she said, would “encourage Pakistani women” as well.

She referred to Bangladesh’s 1971 Liberation War with Pakistan and that the two countries had diplomatic ties.

“We’ll go there for sports or other programmes… We’ll go there as the victorious nation,” she said, adding, “We went there and played [cricket]… that’s it.”

The prime minister told the journalist, who had asked the question over the cricket tour that Bangladesh's women should be praised.

“It’s not right to raise questions like ‘why did they go there’ out of fear,” she said.