Irfan Pathan with his brother Yusuf after India’s historic T20 title win in 2007. (Source: Twitter)
Former India pacer Irfan Pathan on Tuesday spoke out on debate around racism and said “it is not just restricted to the skin colour” and that a person could also face be racial abuse on the basis of his/her religion.
“Racism is not restricted to the colour of the skin.Not allowing to buy a home in a society just because u have a different faith is a part of racism too,” Pathan wrote on Twitter.
Racism is not restricted to the colour of the skin.Not allowing to buy a home in a society just because u have a different faith is a part of racism too… #convenient #racism
— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) June 9, 2020
“It is an observation and I don’t think anyone can deny this,” Pathan told PTI explaining his tweet.
In the wake of Floyd’s death, several international cricketers have come out and spoken on the issue of racism in the game.
Former West Indies captain Darren Sammy alleged that he was racially abused by some of his Sunrisers Hyderabad teammates during the 2014 IPL.
Responding to it Pathan, who was a part of the SRH squad in 2014, had said that he was unaware of such incidents.
Speaking to the indianexpress.com he had said, “If something like that would have happened then it would have come to notice or a team discussion would have happened on the topic. I am not aware of any such incident and he (Sammy) has to take responsibility for his comments,” said Pathan.
“But I have seen some issues in domestic cricket where our brothers from South India have to face chants based on their appearance when they travel up north. I think the real issue is education and society needs to learn.”
“We still haven’t talked much about racism in India. Sometimes we even call names to our brothers and sisters from the northeast. This problem is deep-rooted and will only go away when we start educating our sons and daughters and that needs to start with proper schooling and parenting.”