India must tour Pakistan

From Sreepradeep Pinapati, Australia
Following the cowardly and horrific terrorist attacks in Mumbai, the finger of blame is immediately, instinctively and some may say, conveniently, pointed at Pakistan. The purpose of this article is not to debate the merits of the endless and somewhat ludicrous conspiracy theories that are put forth on cricket blogs (pakpassion.net for one) by paranoid Indian and Pakistani fans alike, but to analyze the cricket relations between India and Pakistan from now on.

Forgive me for bringing cricket at this most sensitive and inappropriate time, but give me a chance to explain my reasoning before I am endlessly bombarded by posts declaring how I gave a few meaningless cricket matches more precedence than the terrorist attacks on Mumbai. When my colleague and I were discussing the attacks, he responded with a deadpan expression on his face that so perfectly and eloquently summarized the resilience of Indian, and to a greater extent, human spirit - "Mumbai will return to normal the very next day as that's just the kind of place it is".

India is burning over the fact that terrorists had Pakistani connections and some have gone as far as saying an open war on Pakistan is the only option. Safe to say, India will not nuke Pakistan as America nuked Hiroshima and Nagasaki in response to the Pearl Harbor bombings. However, the common consensus is that India should have nothing to do with Pakistan and should cut off all cricketing ties with immediate effect. How such a move will bring accountability to those who committed such atrocities or bring closure to Indians and Pakistani's, barring religious, cultural and ethnicity differences, caught up in the Mumbai bombings is anyone's guess, with your guess as good as mine.

If India do cut off cricketing ties with Pakistan and cancel the upcoming tour to cricket deprived Pakistan as a strong indication of their intentions, it will leave Pakistan, like Zaheer Abbas said, as "orphans in the international cricketing community", conveniently overlooked and forgotten.

It is a well known fact that the BCCI are the power brokers of International Cricket who use their financial muscle to pull off stunning power play moves that smaller and comparably weaker boards can only dream off - Not bad for a nation that was considered a minnow, financially, for the past 50 years or so. In regards to the "postponed", more or less a synonym for the "cancelled" Champions Trophy, make no mistake, India's stubborn backing of Pakistan in their futile attempt to stage the Champions Trophy on schedule is what gave Pakistan the opportunity to hold the tournament same time next year. If India and Pakistan give each other the silent treatment, as the media would have us believe, what happens to the Champions Trophy? Will it go ahead? What about the 2011 World Cup? Will countries continue to boycott the matches held in Pakistan but not India, for the next 2 - 3 years leading up to and including the 2011 WC even if Pakistan fork out a fortune on unprecedented level of Commando - type security that India are willing to provide to the English Cricket Team?

Pakistani fans have long argued that Pakistan is as safe as India, but are irked over what they claim as "hypocrisy and double standards" when foreign countries tour India but alienate Pakistan, in the same way an individual feels alienated, lost and helpless when bullied by fellow peers. Assuming for the moment that India is as safe as Pakistan, touring teams find India the more attractive proposition simply because of the wealth it generates - a simple risk - reward proposition, really. Even at this moment, teams will turn a blind eye to touring Pakistan but will think hard before refusing to tour India.

Besides political tensions and the fact that the two countries are arch rivals who continue to squabble over the disputed region of Kashmir, India have stood by Pakistan. If India abandon Pakistan, then, in effect they have left Pakistan cricket to suffer a slow, painful death with no hope of respite. Commentators have sympathized with India's current predicament and have suggested that Cricket will suffer. I respectfully disagree. The only country that will suffer more than anyone else will be Pakistan, who, after these attacks have lost their biggest backer in the BCCI. Players will opt out of coming to India, but that is no more than a short term knee jerk reaction. As an ardent Indian cricket fan, I am happy to report that Indian cricket will resume business as normal as soon as Reg Dickason okay's the tour