EDITORIAL: It’s no surprise that India was able to pull its weight and influence on the ICC (International Cricket Council) and wriggle out of its commitment to participate in Champions Trophy matches in Pakistan.
And now the hybrid model novelty, which means that Pak-India matches will now be played at neutral events, counts as the last nail in the coffin of hopes that some manner of normalisation might be possible between the estranged neighbours.
The only real winner in all this is far away from the world of cricket; and that is the domestic political agenda of India’s ruling party, which counts on spewing anti-Pakistan sentiment to whip up support at home.
Some thought that BJP’s underperformance in the last Indian general election, compared to its previous two victories, would have impressed on it the futility of employing hatemongering as a political strategy. But, clearly, that is not the case. In fact, New Delhi has now gone a step further and also soured non-political interaction between the two countries even more than before.
The real losers, on the other hand, are not just cricket fans that relish nail-biting Pak-India clashes but also common people on both sides of the border, so many of whom live just around or under the poverty line, whose lives could and should benefit enormously from improved bilateral relations, especially more trade. Now, for the longest time, it’s the Indian government that has stood like a brick wall in the way of normalisation. And, to make matters worse, it squarely rules out any chance of improving anything about the relationship.
It rejects any form of foreign mediation, calling the breakdown a bilateral matter, and then it refuses to sit down and discuss outstanding issues with Pakistan, especially critical ones like Kashmir. It’s clear, then, that it wants to advance the status quo for as long as possible. That’s understandable, because it suits outfits like BJP just fine. Yet given that its stranglehold on Indian politics is now slowly loosening, things might change in the longer term; though not much good news is expected anytime soon.
To its credit, PCB (Pakistan Cricket Board) negotiated a similar arrangement for the Pakistani side as well. India is due to host high-profile events in coming years, and now Pakistan will not play there either. Once again, how this benefits anybody, especially anything related to the sport of cricket, is hard to see. Yet such is the influence that India’s large and lucrative market wields on global affairs, sports being no exception, that it manages to get away with its childish tantrums.
PCB must now focus on making the Champions Trophy a success. It helps that the team’s performance in the one-day format has started improving as well. For far too long, for one reason or another, local fans have been deprived of both high-level international cricket and the sight of seeing their team win regularly like the old days. For the Champions Trophy to bring the two together would count as an unforgettable achievement indeed.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024