News and Views

Faint Hope of India's tour of Pakistan

Excitement is rising high as the deadline of November 29 for the final verdict on India's suspenseful tour of Pakistan is approaching. Viewing the situation with optimism the Pakistan cricket Board (PCB), the players and the cricket lovers all over the country are hopeful that the tour will materialize. It is so because apart from the Cricket Boards of the two countries and the general public, the controlling bodies of the game like the International Cricket Council (ICC) as well as the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) were also deeply concerned about the Indian Government's unsporting attitude of not permitting its cricket team to tour Pakistan.

Since the cancellation of this tour amounts to a violation of the international cricket calendar formulated many years before the event with the approval of the ICC, the act of not honoring a commitment purely on political grounds has perturbed the whole cricket world. The sane elements in international cricket are thus putting due pressure on India to honor its commitment. The PCB has already threatened to sue India for damages for the huge financial loss that the Board is likely to suffer in case the tour is cancelled. To strengthen the Pakistan's claim the ICC also warned India about the possible consequences if its team does not tour Pakistan.

The ACC has formed a committee comprising of the presidents of cricket boards of Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Malaysia to approach the Indian government in this regard. Raj Singh Dungarpur a former President of the Indian Cricket Board who acted as an emissary of his board met the Indian High Commissioner in Islamabad to ascertain the reaction of the people on the subject. On his return to India he met the Foreign Minister, apprised him of his findings and tried to convince him that the tour must take place. The Indian Cricket Board on its part is fully in favor of the tour but seems helpless against the intransigence of its government.

In Pakistan there has been a wide spread reaction to the Indian government's attitude towards a purely sports event. Some former Pakistan test players slammed India's decision to block its team's tour of Pakistan, saying that the move would hurt the game of cricket in Asia. They expressed the view that Pakistan and India must continue their sporting links, especially cricket, because the majority of people want to see Pakistan-India play against each other. The legendary Pakistan batsman and a former captain Hanif Muhammad said, "the cancellation of the tour would be a big loss to Asian cricket. If we keep promoting these feelings they would travel down to coming generations damaging the relationship further'. The other players also expressed similar views. Waqar Hasan who appeared in Pakistan's inaugural test in New Delhi said, cricket must not suffer because of political rivalries. Former captain Intikhab Alam is of the opinion that India is afraid of losing to Pakistan on our soil. There cannot be any other reason because they play us in off shore events.

The PCB's threat of severing cricket relationship with India altogether if this tour does not materialize has, however, been received mixed reactions. Those following a positive approach have appealed to the authorities not to snap ties with India in a tit for tart response while those displeased with India's unsporting attitude endorse the PCB's decision to review its cricket relations with India. They have a valid argument in "why should we play them in off-shore events when they are not willing to visit Pakistan?" The cricket lovers in general who anxiously wait for the Indo-Pak contests blame the ICC for inaction. They feel, it is high time the ICC penalized India for not honoring its international commitments.

As I was at the tail end of this article the news tricked out from New Delhi that the Indian government had no plans to review its earlier decision to cancel the cricket team's tour of Pakistan. The Indian Sports Minister Uma Bharti is reported to have said, " I have no idea of any pressure to review the government's decision. Neither has any pressure been imposed nor do we have any proposal to review this. The decision to cancel the tour was taken by the Foreign Ministry and her department supported it." A. C. Mutiah, President of the Indian Cricket Board is also reported to have said that he will abide by the government's decision on the issue.

The Indian government's decision appears to have stemmed from its fear of players' security not knowing that the Pakistani public is anxiously waiting to offer them the best of hospitality. Otherwise too, the Pakistani security agencies are quite capable of looking after the foreign visitors especially the teams. It is, however, not known what transpired in the meeting that Raj Singh Dungarpur had with the Indian Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh after his visit to Pakistan. He must have obviously discussed all aspects of the problem with him. Surprisingly when the Sports Minister expresses her ignorance about all the developments in this regard, one may consider the chapter as closed. The whole episode is, however, not cricket.