Cricket diplomacy

This refers to the news reports, ‘India tennis chief to visit Lahore’ (November 18) and ‘Nisar rules out cricket team’s likely tour to India’ (November 16). While India is averse to normalising cricket with us, no one there seems to be noticing – let alone objecting – to the visit of the Indian Tennis Federation chief to Lahore. Indians say that they do not want to maintain sports ties with us, yet they provide no good reason for this attitude.
Unfortunately, the history of cricket between Pakistan and India has been littered with high-profile incidents in which politics has played a major part and influenced the outcome of competing teams. With so much at stake, it is no wonder that cricket is so often politicised. Our cricket heroes become national heroes. National teams become stand-ins for a country’s power on the international stage. Victory counts become a measure of collective worth. We need to engage with India – not along the Line of Control or the Working Boundary – but in the realm of sports. Shahryar Khan and Najam Sethi’s efforts to revive cricket away from the diplomatic galore deserve appreciation. We need not give up on this front. In this context the visit of Indian Tennis Federation president to Lahore is more than welcome.
Naila Mahsud
Peshawar