Photographs shown in Pakistani newspapers and on television showed players from the national team hugging a female Argentine liaison officer on the eve of their final against New Zealand at the Champions Challenge last month.
“Hugging a lady is against our culture,” Jamshed Dasti, chairman of the National Assembly’s standing committee on sports, told reporters.
“The pictures were unethical and against our culture and prove that players and officials were not controlled.”
The Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) had defended the players, saying the pictures were taken at an official function and were put on social networking site Facebook by the Argentine official.
Forward Rehan Butt, pictured hugging the woman, was fined 100,000 rupees (1,175 dollars), while coach Shahid Ali Khan and manager Asif Bajwa, also secretary of the PHF, were fined 588 dollars (50,000 rupees) each.
“We have fined Butt because he is a role model as an international player and the coach and manager because they failed to ensure the proper conduct of the players,” Dasti said.
Pakistan is a conservative, mostly Muslim nation, where many women do not shake hands with men who are not family members and cover up in public.
Pakistan’s hockey team lost the final to New Zealand 4-2, failing to qualify for the Champions Trophy, field hockey’s premier tournament.
Ejaz Waseem, a reporter who first published the pictures, said he hoped sporting stars would take note of the fines.
“I got these pictures from the net and printed them in the newspaper and after this fine I hope players will not break our traditions,” said Waseem, a reporter for Urdu Point.
Pakistan’s hockey team, three times Olympic and four times world champions, have seen a slump in the last ten years. They have failed to win a major title since their World Cup triumph in Australia in 1994.
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