Women’s World Cup: What is Sana Mir row on 'Azad Kashmir' all about?

The Sana Mir controversy, which erupted during a Pakistan-Bangladesh league game of the ICC Women’s World Cup on Thursday, is set to stir the pot further ahead of the India and Pakistan face-off in Colombo on Sunday. Social media in India, as well as a section of the media, are up in arms seeking removal of the former Pakistan captain from the TV pundits’ panel for her ‘Azad Kashmir’ remark, but there has been no update from the world governing body so far.

The curiosity value of 39-year-old Sana, the first woman cricketer from Pakistan to be inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame earlier this year, has gone through the roof. On her X handle, Sana issued a clarification on Friday to explain her reference to the national team’s medium pacer Natalia Pervez and felt that the issue was being politicised.

‘’It’s unfortunate how things are being blown out of proportion and people in sports are being subjected to unnecessary pressure. It is sad that this requires an explanation at public level,’’ she wrote.

Sharing a screenshot from a leading cricket website, where Pervez’s birthplace is mentioned as ‘Bandara, Azad Jammu & Kashmir’, Sana said her intention was only to highlight the player’s background and resilience.

‘’My comment about a Pakistan player’s hometown was only meant to highlight the challenges she faced of coming from a certain region in Pakistan and her incredible journey. It is part of a story-telling we do as commentators as to where the players come from. Please don’t politicise it…There is no malice in my heart or any intention to hurt my sentiments,’’ the former allrounder wrote.

The clarification, without being apologetic, explains Sana’s position, but the contentious point here is the mention of ‘Azad Kashmir’, a term used by Pakistan to refer to ‘Azad Jammu & Kashmir’ (AJK) or ‘Free Kashmir’. India considers the territory as a disputed one and refers to it as ‘Pakistan-occupied Kashmir’ (PoK), while the UN and other international bodies often use ‘Pakistan-administered Kashmir’.

Interestingly, a search on the concerned website on Friday showed the birthplace of Natalia as ‘Bandara, Pakistan-Administered Kashmir’, raising questions as to whether a change had been made in the backend in view of the controversy. The background of Sana, a Kashmiri, means she is certainly not ignorant about the significance of ‘Azad Kashmir’, more so in the politically surcharged atmosphere after this year’s military escalations and attempts to weaponise India’s victory in the Asia Cup.

'Azad Jammu & Kashmir', incidentally, seems to be accepted usage on the concerned website, which contains scores of ‘Azad Jammu & Kashmir Region’ cricket team schedules and results, while the ICC app also posts news of AJK cricket on a regular basis. It’s in this context that Sana’s comments on the pace bowler need to be viewed: “A lot of these players are new, Natalia comes from Kashmir… Azad Kashmir, but has played most of her cricket in Lahore.’’

It remains to be seen how the ICC, an Indian stronghold with Jay Shah and Sanjog Gupta occupying the positions of chairman and CEO respectively, handles a sensitive situation such as this. There has been an unsavoury precedent of Zainab Abbas, a member of the ICC digital team, being sent home during the 2023 ICC World Cup in India after lawyer-activist Vineet Jindal alleged that she had posted ‘derogatory and provocative’ comments on Hinduism earlier.  

Sana, of course, is no lightweight as she is one of the most illustrious players ever to represent Pakistan in women’s cricket. She made her ODI debut against Sri Lanka in December 2005 at Karachi and T20I debut four years later against Ireland in May 2009.

She has played 120 ODIs and 106 T20Is, amassing 1,630 and 802 runs. She has also bagged 151 ODI wickets and 89 T20I wickets.

Sana also created history by becoming the first Pakistan woman cricketer to take 100 wickets in ODIs and was the no. 1 ODI bowler in 2018. Pakistan also bagged two Asian Games gold medals in 2010 and 2014, respectively, under her captaincy.