Shakib Al Hasan Granted Permission to Remain with Bangladesh Cricket Team

Shakib Al Hasan, the former Bangladesh captain and lawmaker, has been granted permission to remain with the national cricket team in Pakistan by the interim government that replaced his former boss, Sheikh Hasina. Shakib, who was elected to parliament in January as a member of Hasina's Awami League party, lost his seat when parliament was dissolved after Hasina resigned and fled to India.

The interim government, led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, has appointed Asif Mahmud, a student leader who played a key role in the protests that ousted Hasina, as the de facto sports minister. Mahmud has granted Shakib permission to remain with the team despite his ties to Hasina and the Awami League.

"We presented the team before the sports adviser," said Iftekhar Ahmed, a director of the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB). "He did not oppose the inclusion of Shakib. He said that the team should be formed on merit."

Shakib, 37, was seen training at the Gaddafi Cricket Stadium in Lahore on Wednesday. He had not been seen since Hasina's resignation and joined the Bangladeshi squad in Pakistan straight from Canada, where he was playing in a Twenty20 competition.

Some critics have questioned Shakib's decision to remain with the team, arguing that he should have returned home to explain his silence during the protests that led to Hasina's ouster.

"Shakib cannot avoid the responsibility of mass killings as a lawmaker," said Rafiqul Islam, a former BCB board member. "When students were being killed, he never protested. Many of these students considered him an icon. He should have come home first and gave an explanation why he was silent."

Rafiqul joined a protest on Tuesday outside the BCB's headquarters at Bangladesh's main cricket venue, the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium. He and other sports administrators demanded the ouster of cricket board members they accused of being Hasina loyalists.

"Mismanagement, autocratic behavior, and unbridled corruption put Bangladesh lagging behind in world cricket," the group said in a statement on Monday.

Hasina's party offices have been looted and torched since she fled on August 5, and many members of her Awami League have gone into hiding, fearing violence. Bangladesh's courts, central bank, and other government institutions have been purged of Hasina loyalists since Yunus' interim government took power.

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