New hopes for a better India-Pakistan relationship
It is welcome news that India and Pakistan have agreed to resume direct sporting relations, including cricket games, after a nearly three-year hiatus.
It is not as much as the spirit of sporting that matters in the decision. It signals a political will in both New Delhi and Islamabad to improve bilateral relations.
According to reports in the Indian media, the decision as to when exactly to begin sporting interaction with Pakistan has not been made. The reports come two weeks Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh invited his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani to watch their respective teams play in the semi-final of the Cricket World Cup Mohali.
It was indeed a groundbreaking gesture and the latest turn in what has come to be known as cricketomacy in the sub-continent.
It is no secret that India and Pakistan play cricket with each other as if they were waging war. Winning or losing against each other is a highly emotional issue on both sides of the border as could be seen from fan behaviour before, during and after cricket matches between India and Pakistan.
While the two sides have met for international cricket matches in the last three years but have not played each other in India or Pakistan for nearly three years. The last games were held in 2007-08, when the Pakistani team visited India.
Cricket in Pakistan suffered badly after a gun and grenade assault on the visiting Sri Lankan cricket team in March 2009. International cricket teams refused to visit Pakistan to play any match the attack.
The assault also saw Pakistan stripped of its right to co-host the 2011 Cricket World Cup. And Pakistani players are kept out of the prestigious Indian Premier League, a point that the Pakistani cricket captain, Saeed Afridi, highlighted in recent comments carried in the media.
True, no aspect of any Indo-Pak relationship can be seen without the backdrop of the political divide between them. Cricket is an area where this is better pronounced than most others.
India suspended sporting ties with Pakistan following the November 2008 attacks in Mumbai which were attributed to Pakistani gunmen. New Delhi’s stand was that the government of Pakistan was not doing enough to curb militants plotting and carrying out attacks against Indian targets.
India has also accused Pakistani groups of staging bomb attacks against Indian missions and companies in Afghanistan.
The Islamabad government rejected the charges and asked India for concrete evidence of Pakistani involvement in the attacks so that action could be taken against the perpetrators.
Well, the continuing argument over this issue would get the two countries nowhere. Both are spending massive amounts — relative to their economies — on maintaining a high state of alert along their borders, including the line of control in Jammu and Kashmir. It is elementary that such funds could be used to better serve the people of the two countries if they were to reach a comprehensive agreement on their bilateral disputes. However, there are political forces on both sides that want to perpetuate the state of conflict and that is the biggest challenge facing the two governments.
The bitter dispute is also preventing the two countries from close co-operation in various fields that would benefit both and indeed the region.
The world can only hope that there is enough and strong political will and drive in New Delhi and Islamabad towards moving to settle their differences which pose severe handicaps to the aspirations of development of the people of India and Pakistan.
It is not as much as the spirit of sporting that matters in the decision. It signals a political will in both New Delhi and Islamabad to improve bilateral relations.
According to reports in the Indian media, the decision as to when exactly to begin sporting interaction with Pakistan has not been made. The reports come two weeks Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh invited his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani to watch their respective teams play in the semi-final of the Cricket World Cup Mohali.
It was indeed a groundbreaking gesture and the latest turn in what has come to be known as cricketomacy in the sub-continent.
It is no secret that India and Pakistan play cricket with each other as if they were waging war. Winning or losing against each other is a highly emotional issue on both sides of the border as could be seen from fan behaviour before, during and after cricket matches between India and Pakistan.
While the two sides have met for international cricket matches in the last three years but have not played each other in India or Pakistan for nearly three years. The last games were held in 2007-08, when the Pakistani team visited India.
Cricket in Pakistan suffered badly after a gun and grenade assault on the visiting Sri Lankan cricket team in March 2009. International cricket teams refused to visit Pakistan to play any match the attack.
The assault also saw Pakistan stripped of its right to co-host the 2011 Cricket World Cup. And Pakistani players are kept out of the prestigious Indian Premier League, a point that the Pakistani cricket captain, Saeed Afridi, highlighted in recent comments carried in the media.
True, no aspect of any Indo-Pak relationship can be seen without the backdrop of the political divide between them. Cricket is an area where this is better pronounced than most others.
India suspended sporting ties with Pakistan following the November 2008 attacks in Mumbai which were attributed to Pakistani gunmen. New Delhi’s stand was that the government of Pakistan was not doing enough to curb militants plotting and carrying out attacks against Indian targets.
India has also accused Pakistani groups of staging bomb attacks against Indian missions and companies in Afghanistan.
The Islamabad government rejected the charges and asked India for concrete evidence of Pakistani involvement in the attacks so that action could be taken against the perpetrators.
Well, the continuing argument over this issue would get the two countries nowhere. Both are spending massive amounts — relative to their economies — on maintaining a high state of alert along their borders, including the line of control in Jammu and Kashmir. It is elementary that such funds could be used to better serve the people of the two countries if they were to reach a comprehensive agreement on their bilateral disputes. However, there are political forces on both sides that want to perpetuate the state of conflict and that is the biggest challenge facing the two governments.
The bitter dispute is also preventing the two countries from close co-operation in various fields that would benefit both and indeed the region.
The world can only hope that there is enough and strong political will and drive in New Delhi and Islamabad towards moving to settle their differences which pose severe handicaps to the aspirations of development of the people of India and Pakistan.
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