By clinching the World T-20 title, Pakistani cricket team gave the nation an eagerly-awaited joy. This laudable victory becomes more significant for a country where the morale of the nation is down and hopes are literally sunk in tears.
The national cricket team has really made us proud. Everybody is enjoying this victory and so are our parliamentarians. The MNAs also celebrated this victory by inviting the entire team to visit the National Assembly proceeding on Thursday. Our parliamentarians paid tributes to Younis Khan-led team that has won the 20-over edition of cricket world cup. This victory has come at a time when the Pakistan desperately needed a relief from the vicious circle of hearing bad, bad and bad news.
I will not go into detail what the MNAs said while paying tributes to the team. The Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani made some funny comments during his speech in the National Assembly. "I was kicked out of the school cricket team after I played a prank on one of my class mates," he said in light mood. "After entering the politics, I came to know that every one is expert in pulling the chair you are having," he said.
Don't take the Prime Minister's comment seriously. Presently he is not facing any challenge to his office. Nobody is interested in throwing him out from the Prime Minister office. He is the only head of the government that has the backing of the opposition. He is the unanimous leader of the house. The opposition had reposed confidence in him- a privilege seldom occurred in the past and would hardly take place in future in Pakistan politics.
There is no need to divide the Pakistan cricket team in different ethnicities. The team, which represented Pakistan, has won for the whole nation. Some MNAs did try to dig out some kind of identification of the players with different provinces.
Captain Younis Khan belongs to Mardan, the place where most of Swat IDPs have taken refuge after the government launched military offensive against the militants. But he has won for Pakistan and not for Mardan or the NWFP. Umar Gul, the most wicket taker in T20 championship, belongs to Peshawar's Nawa Kali, but he played for the country. The outside world does not know about Nawa Kali. They know Umar Gul as a player of Pakistan cricket team.
The player of the semi-final and final Shahid Afridi definitely belongs to Khyber Agency, but he was mainly brought up in Karachi. He played for Pakistan and he won for it. The performance of wicket-keeper batsman Kamran Akmal and belated entrant in the team Abdul Razzak, must also be seen in the same context.
There is one point, which could be raised after Pakistan's historic victory in England. I do not raise the point for glorifying the players who are from the NWFP. Pukhtuns or Pashtoons are generally considered hard-liners. Internationally, they are known for harbouring al Qaeda and terrorists.
In these lines, we cannot reject or verify the authority of such claims. But we can safely say that these claims are more theoretical than practical. Such claims were strengthened when the religious parties clean swept the general elections in 2002.
The international community must know that Peshawar, the capital city and other parts of the NWFP have produced classical players in squash, cricket and other games. Not only this, this region has also produced the actors and artists who earned international acclaim in TV dramas and film industry not only inside the country but in India as well.
Nawa Kali, the birthplace of Umar Gul, is also the same for the former renowned squash players like Hashim Khan, Qamar Zaman, Jehangir Khan and Jansher Khan. Bollywood stars Dilip Kumar, Amjad Khan, ancestors of Kapoor family, Shah Rukh Khan etc are taking the Peshawar blood in their veins. The well-known singer and composer Adnan Sami Khan also belongs to the same city. Pakistani film industry prominent entertainer late Rangeela was also a Pukhtun.
The outside world must be told that Pukhtuns are, in no way, part of any conspiracy to destabilise Pakistan and the world. The militancy and terrorism were imposed upon them through local and international conspiracies. There must be an end. The time has come that the world must understand the Pukhtuns. The global powers must be geared up to differentiate between Pukhtuns and the terrorists.
The so called militants and their leaders look to be the enemies of Pukhtun culture in first place. They are destroying Pukhtuns because in 1980s the military dictator General Zia-ul-Haq strengthened the religious elements to weaken the nationalists. Even the largely-held liberal General Musharraf used the same people for his own nefarious designs.
We were told by Zia that the nationalist parties were taking money from abroad to disintegrate Pakistan. Now the same is told about the militants. The confusion still persists despite the fact that the accused are changed. Just remove this confusion and Pakistan and the world will hear a lot of good news from this Pukhtun region.