Sport, for many, means physical fitness. But for the determined little persons of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa it is also a way to assert their existence and to raise a voice for their rights and wider social acceptance.

The 39-year-old social activist Rahmat Elahi Khattak is an active member of the community of dwarves of district Karak. In 2004, he started a campaign to mobilise other members of his community to get involved in social activities, which included sports. As the head of a union council in his village today, he wants to encourage short-statured persons to achieve high goals in all fields of life.

And one of those fields is the Karak Cricket Ground where Karak Zalmi, a team of dwarf cricketers, faced several teams including PSL’s Peshawar Zalmi for the first time in December 2017. The matches were the idea of the local administration which wanted the height-challenged to feel worthy and confident enough to come forward and display their talent.

Members of the community of dwarves in KP may be short in stature, but their passion for cricket is enabling them to achieve much bigger dreams

Ali Rahman Buneri, a senior police officer, offered the teams to play cricket at the ground. “I organised the dwarves cricket match on humanitarian grounds so that lovers of the sport and philanthropists could watch them play and extend the deprived community support in their endeavours,” he says.

The occasion saw Karak Zalmi defeating Peshawar Zalmi. They also emerged victorious in another match against Buner XI who also had all normal height players. Now they have received an offer from another similar team, Swat XI, to play a match with them.

Going to the Karak Cricket Ground to play a match there in front of a live crowd was more than a dream come true situation for Intezar Khattak. Anticipating a unique cricket match, the spectators there, too, were charged up and the players were accorded a warm welcome. The match turned out to provide wonderful, memorable moments, leaving many among the crowd absolutely stunned.

Khattak says that cricket is a popular game in Pakistan and it can be used to attract the attention of the general public so that it can appreciate their strength. “I had thought the spectators in the stadium would ridicule us. But they gave us a standing ovation,” he says.

District Karak has many dwarves which include women. Still, officials in the Social Welfare Department of KP say that not a single dwarf has shown up for registration there in the category of disabled persons.

The plight of female dwarves in Karak is said to be the worst. Most of them are unmarried and have been disowned by their families, as is often also seen in the case of the transgender community. Despite being academically qualified, with a few master’s degree holders, these dwarves complain that depart­ments in the KP government deny them their two per cent quota in jobs and other incentives which are given to special persons.

Being a part of the same community, Zardad Bulbul, a popular TV artist and head of the Pakhtunkhwa Arts Council, says that cricket can be a great way of boosting the morale of little people while also getting them some attention, which in turn can help them get their rights. With this in mind, he formed the Peshawar Fankaar Zalmi outfit and contacted the Karak Zalmi team for a cricket match in March. Once again the venue fixed for the match was the Karak Cricket Ground. And Bulbul’s Peshawar Fankaar Zalmi defeated Karak Zalmi on their home ground.

“It was a 10-over match where our side won the toss and elected to bat first,” says Bulbul. “We made 134 runs in the 10 [allotted] overs losing just two players. In reply, Karak Zalmi could only put on 119 runs as they ran out of batsmen.

Our bowlers got all of them out,” he says with pride.

It was a very exciting experience for them. “We have been proving that we may be short in stature but have great strengths and vision,” he says while showing photographs of his team with himself holding their trophy.

Bulbul says he has previously also run campaigns for the rights of dwarves but the cricket match idea has been the best of them all. He wants to take the team to all KP districts through the private support of his fans.

Speaking about the strengths of dwarves, he says one of his colleagues, Malak Shahab Khattak, would soon be leaving for China for his PhD in Genetic Engineering. “Many among us are master’s degree holders but are still denied their rights by the authorities. But cricket is something different. As the people watch our game with interest they may also listen to what we have to say about how difficult it can be for us to live among those who look down on us. It may help change many things here,” he says.

“Dwarves in other countries have careers. They also don’t have to go through so much hardship in finding a life partner. But out here we are considered sub-human and ridiculed and discriminated.

“We can also play other sports but cricket is our favourite sport. We are big fans of Shahid Afridi and Usman Shinwari,” he says.

Bulbul also shares his plan to form a women’s cricket team, comprising female dwarves in the future. “Our first step would be to collect verified data of the exact number of female dwarves in KP before forming a cricket team for them. There may also be teams of other sports, if that is what they would like,” he says.

Bilal Babar, 22, is a Pashto film actor and also a part of the Peshawar Fankaar Zamli. Sharing his views about his favourite game, he says that dwarves can inspire the public to recognise their talent in more than one field. He also appealed to the KP authorities and Fata secretariat to sponsor cricket campaigns for the rights of under-privileged people. “Our captain has received several invitations from cricket lovers of different KP districts but the lack of resources does not allow us to take our talent there. I dream of a day when the cricket team of dwarves would achieve high targets and our campaign for our rights becomes a big success story,” he says.

Meanwhile, the Director-General of KP sports, Junaid Khan, says that registration of cricket teams with clubs is the sole prerogative of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). “However, the dwarves may get their team registered with the KP chapter of the Pakistan Olympics Association.”

This way his department can sponsor sports events including cricket tournaments being held by dwarves at the provincial level. “I stand committed to extend any help to the little persons,” he says. “The promotion of sporting events is my top priority. And you don’t have to be registered to enter in such events,” he adds.

Published in Dawn, EOS, April 29th, 2018