Comment: Here's to bringing cricket back home!
When cricket comes back to Pakistan, it is not just a game returning, it is an answer to terrorists too that their aim of dividing and conquering us will not work. Photo: OINN
By Yaqoob Khan Bangash
Najam Sethi, Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board, said at a talk last week that only two things bring all Pakistanis together: war and cricket. So obviously we should try that the latter happens more often than the former. The euphoria which has grabbed the country, and especially Lahore, during the matches this week, clearly validates Sethi’s assertion.
In Pakistan, cricket is not just a game.
Peter Oborne, author of two excellent books on Pakistan, has shown that cricket in Pakistan has always been an important political and social tool. From being played in the ‘gallis’, to being played in the elite Aitchison College, and the more inclusive Government and Islamia Colleges, cricket has long bridged class and societal boundaries in the country. You do not need to be rich, or especially coached, to play cricket—a bat and a ball, and almost any open space can become a pitch and ground for the players. In fact, most members of the Pakistan cricket team have not come from the organised cricket academies, but quite literally from the street where they learnt different and more creative skills.
Cricket also removes distinctions of ethnicity and religion. All ethnicities and all religions in Pakistan have played and are playing in the team, and the whole country comes together to cheer them on, without any distinction. There is no ‘I’ll only support the Punjabi players, or that only Pakhtun players are good.’ Fans know that the whole team is one unit and that it rises and falls together. A success of one is the success of all, and a fall of one is the fall for the whole team. The Pakistan cricket team then, in effect, is the whole country in a microcosm.
Historically, cricket has also been important as a diplomatic tool. Called ‘cricket diplomacy,’ tensions between India and Pakistan were once thawed in 1987 when General Zia ul Haq attended a Pakistan-India match in Jaipur. Similarly, General Musharraf also used the pretext of cricket to restart serious bilateral dialogue with India in the 2000s. But more than the diplomatic level, matches between India and Pakistan enabled thousands of people to cross the Radcliffe line to meet, mingle and spend time with people from the other side. Getting to know the ‘people next door’, as the recently retired Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan Dr TCA Raghavan has emphasised, is key to improving relations.
This people-to-people cricket diplomacy has been taking place since the early 1950s when scores of Indians crossed the border for a cricket match in West Punjab, and used the opportunity to visit their old homes, friends and localities. At a time when visit visas were hard to get, cricket visas enabled many to visit their place of birth—their home, which they had to abandon in the mad frenzy of the summer of 1947.
For the past twenty years Pakistan has been a major victim of terrorism. One of the main casualties of terrorism has been sport in Pakistan. From attacks on the Sri Lankan team in Lahore, to blasts at even small scale football matches in FATA, terrorists have specifically targeted sporting events so that they can further terrorise and control the lives of Pakistanis. Since sport epitomises team play and camaraderie, removes distinctions of caste and creed, it is a critical challenge to the worldview of the terrorist.
Therefore, when cricket comes back to Pakistan, it is not just a game returning, it is an answer to terrorists too that their aim of dividing and conquering us will not work. Yes, holding cricket matches and other sporting events will cause inconvenience in terms of road and place closures and enhanced security, but holding them is a sign of our defiance and resolve to stand up against terrorism. Hence, all power to Najam Sethi and PCB for all their work, and here is to more such events!
The writer teaches at the IT University in Lahore. He is the author of ‘A Princely Affair: The Accession and Integration of the Princely States of Pakistan, 1947-55.’ He tweets at @BangashYK.
