Sydney, Mar. 5 (ANI): The father of Australia's first self-identified Aboriginal cricketer, who is campaigning against former Australian Prime Minister John Howard's appointment as the International Cricket Council vice-president, expects that pressure from India and other cricket playing countries will eventually lead to "racist" Howard's removal from the post.
"If he is removed, it will be karma for the harm and hurt he has inflicted on the Aboriginal people of this country," the Sydney Morning Herald quoted Gillespie, as saying.
Jason Gillespie's dad and Aboriginal Legal Rights Movement CEO Neil Gillespie has urged the ICC to reconsider its decision, apart from writing to the boards of every Test-playing nation to condemn Howard's appointment.
"I am amazed that anyone would nominate Howard in view of his continuing discrimination publicly exhibited against Aboriginal people by denying access to justice to our mob," he said.
"I don't know what the Australian and New Zealand officials were thinking in jointly nominating Howard," Gillespie added.
In the text of his letter, Gillespie condemns Howard for failing to apologise to the stolen generations, abolishing the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission and not supporting the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and said his time as prime minister "was characterised with his appalling treatment of Aboriginal peoples of our nation".
"I have sent this email to each of the main cricketing nations hoping someone will see reason and recognise this person is not an appropriate choice to head an organisation that comprises a majority of black nations because of his stance against Aboriginal people," he said.
"His approach to refugees was nothing short of disgraceful," he added. (ANI)