New Delhi: Last week, Pakistan discovered a cricketing sensation, but the acclaim was quickly followed by accusations of un-Islamic behaviour.
Seven-year-old Aina Wazir was, until recently, unknown beyond North Waziristan, a hilly region in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) bordering Afghanistan, but then a video of her playing cricket with a group of boys went viral.
Filmed by local citizen journalist and school principal, Zafran Wazir, the clip shows Aina playing cricket on an uneven patch of ground in her home, Shewa village, an area marked by militancy and military operations. Within hours, the video went viral across Pakistani social media. Viewers marvelled at her speed and accuracy; some online even compared her bowling action to that of former South African fast bowler Dale Steyn.
The video was so popular in Pakistan that even North Waziristan lawmaker Mohsin Dawar shared it on his X account. Dawar, a former member of the National Assembly of Pakistan, used the video to highlight both her talent and the lack of opportunity in the region. He also pointed out that Aina’s father died under military custody a few months ago, calling her strength and talent a “testament to his legacy”.
Soon, Aina had the internet rallying for her, with many even urging the Pakistan Cricket Board to ensure girls an children like her be provided with better opportunities. She was hailed as the next cricket prodigy — “a brave Pashtoon who refused to give up”.
Javed Afridi, chairman of the Pakistan Super League franchise Peshawar Zalmi, announced his plans to include young Aina in the upcoming Zalmi Women’s League and promised to provide her with the required equipment, training, and facilities. He publicly asked for her contact details.
For a brief moment, Aina became a symbol of possibility — a young girl from one of Pakistan’s most conservative and conflict-affected districts being hailed as a future star. But the attention carried consequences.
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From possibility to punishment
As the video gained traction, Zafran Wazir, the man who filmed it, was allegedly abducted by local militants who deemed girls playing cricket to be against Islamic values. He was forced to record an apology, later posted on his own Facebook page, VoicePK.net reported.
In the video, which has since been circulated on social media, he can be heard saying, “Our purpose was to show that she is a young girl with good bowling skills. However, the video went so viral that many people said it was against Islamic values and Pashtun traditions. I apologise for this. What I did was wrong.”
He added that he was “with some unidentified individuals” and promised not to upload similar videos again. Photographs circulated after his release showed visible bruises, suggesting that he had been beaten.
But the “apology” soon prompted outrage. Dawar posted on X that the state had “outsourced its writ” in parts of KPK to the Taliban.
“Taliban have abducted Zafran Wazir for recording the video of Aina Wazir forcing him to apologise for his statement. The state has outsourced its writ to the Taliban in Waziristan and other parts of Pakhtunkhwa. This is the horrific reality our people are forced to live in,” Dawar wrote.
Waziristani squash player Maria Toorpakai Wazir, who once disguised herself as a boy while boarding a train in the region, shared that she had been punished “for giving hope to girls across the Pakhtun belt.”
In a post on X, she wrote, “We will not be silenced.”
Aina herself appears largely unaware of the storm around her. Her uncle, Manzoor told VoicePK.net that she began playing cricket when she was three years old, encouraged by her late father, who took her to local cricket games.
Manzoor shared that she now walks nearly three kilometres every day to attend the only functioning girls’ school in the area. Aina also attends religious classes at the local madrasa before practising cricket every evening.
Aina does not follow women’s cricket, but her uncle shared that her favourite players are the fast bowler Naseem Shah and the batsman Babar Azam. Her dream, he recalled, was simple: “I want the government to build a good school for us. I want to get a good education.”
(Edited by Insha Jalil Waziri)