Pakistan couldn’t participate in the 11th Junior World Cup in the Indian city of Lucknow. The final of the tournament is being played on Sunday (today).

According to the FIH, the PHF had failed to meet the official deadline for submitting the travel documents of its players and the team management. Malaysia (the first reserve) replaced Pakistan in the tournament.

The FIH’s stand was completely baseless as the PHF had submitted Visa Application Forms along with the relevant documents pertaining to visa formalities well in time on October 24.

The No Objection Certificate from the government of Pakistan had also been obtained on time but still India did not issue visas to Pakistan’s contingent.

Ironically, India provided visas to the Malaysian team in just three days.

When Pakistan hockey team last visited India, for the SAF games in February this year, the visas were issued within 12 days of application.

It is also pertinent to mention that the PHF was ready to send the team despite the prevailing tension along the Line of Control between Pakistan and India.

The PHF hadn’t even asked any special security for the Pakistan junior squad in India.

Pakistan’s stance was in conformity with Nelson Mandela’s famous words, "Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire. It has the power to unite people in a way that little else does. It speaks to youth in a language they understand. Sport can create hope where once there was only despair. It is more powerful than government in breaking down racial barriers."

Yet, the FIH, with an Indian as its President, excluded Pakistan from the Junior World Cup. It was all designed.

This unfair treatment was meted out to a country which has been a great benefactor of hockey.

Pakistan appeared on the world map as a new nation in 1947 and made an immediate mark in hockey.

From 1948-1984, Pakistan reached at least the semi-finals of all the Olympics (nine) and the World Cups (five). The country’s record of four World Cup victories is still intact.

It wasn’t merely the successes -- the style captivated the world. In the 1994 World Cup in Sydney, the hosts Australia had been ousted in the first semi-final by the Netherlands. No one left the stadium as Pakistan were to face Germany in the second semi-final. A random survey among the crowd enquired if they would come for the final. The unanimous answer was, "only if Pakistan makes it".

For around half a century, Pakistan and hockey were synonymous akin to Brazil with soccer.

It wasn’t merely the on-field show. The country contributed to the sport in many ways.

On the sidelines of the 1968 Olympics, there were rumours that some team disciplines might be dropped from the future editions.

PHF president Nur Khan proposed to FIH that in order to have its place among the elite sports disciplines, hockey should have a World Cup as in soccer.

The FIH hierarchy was very reluctant. It said, "Ours is an amateur sport. The FIH and the national federations don’t have the resources for a regular World Cup."

The far-sighted Nur Khan told them, "Once the idea of the World Cup comes to the fore, the interest of the national hockey bodies would put the FIH in a quandary to choose the host country." And he was right. The magnificent trophy for the hockey World Cup, one of the most beautiful for any sporting event, also came from Pakistan. Pakistan was also instrumental in introducing several other major tournaments such as the Champions Trophy, Asia Cup (both men and women), Junior Asia Cup (both men and women).

Many opine that the ‘No off side rule’ has brought revolutionary change in the sport of hockey. It was a Pakistani, M H Atif, who suggested this in his capacity as the Chairman Hockey Rules Board. The idea initially evoked controversy. After a study period, the off side rule was abolished at all levels in 1996. It proved to be a huge success in making the game more attractive with less stoppages, more circle penetrations and increased attempts on the goal, and in turn getting more sponsorship and TV coverage.

Els Van Breda, a former president of the FIH, remarked, "The game of hockey would always be indebted to Atif for the ‘No Off Side Rule’."

Arguably, Pakistan’s services to the game of hockey are more than any other country. Moreover, Pakistan has always been a great supporter of Indian hockey.

India were in danger of being omitted from the hockey competition of the 1988 Olympics. It was M H Atif, the Pakistani vice president of the FIH, who ensured India’s participation -- a fact endorsed by Indian Olympian Muneer Sait, who has also served as the national selector as well as tournament director during international events in India. Muneer Sait says, "Two Asian countries, Pakistan and South Korea, had been named. India, who had finished 12th at the World Cup in 1986, were not initially considered. It was Atif who prevailed upon the FIH to include India as well. Atif had contended, ‘Korea is in the competition as the hosts while Pakistan are there as the defending Olympic champions. Neither is participating as Asia’s representative. Hence, India has to be there as the Asian representative’."

Pakistan’s hockey-loving people always want India to do well. They see their neighbours as fellow torch bearers of the sub-continental style of hockey -- a style that has fascinated the whole hockey world for almost a century.

All this makes Pakistan’s ouster from the Junior World Cup upsetting not only for Pakistanis but also for the true lovers of this sport in any part of the world -- India included.

PHF is fully justified to ask the FIH not to allot any future event to India. With an Indian sitting as the FIH president, the grievance might not be addressed. The only recourse left is to take the matter to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland.