Tons of articles will be written about the 180 run defeat of
Indian cricket team by Pakistan. That how the captaincy was amateurish, how the
pathetic bowling was surpassed only by more pathetic batting, what could have
been the batting, fielding changes, how the current captain isn’t captaincy
material , or how the match could have been fixed etc etc etc. Post mortem of a
sporting event becomes a waste of time sooner than milk kept out of the
refrigerator goes bad.
I’m not writing about any of it. And no, this is not some
post loss butthurt. The overrated Indian team
can be knocked out in the first round of irrelevant ICC events like this
for the next four years for all one cares. And let those imbecile comparisons
between Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar/ Viv Richards continue. Let the lionization of the Dhawans,
Sharmas, Ashwins and Jadejas continue like they are the best thing to have
happened to cricket . Until the next big loss overseas. Neither am I going by the clichéd reaction of
look how well our hockey team is playing, because it is really funny that no
one in India even remembers that hockey exists unless the cricket team suffers
a humiliating loss.
I’m writing about the
fact that this victory means that a terrorist nation that is the hotbed of a
murderous ideology can wave this victory on our face like a porno star waves
his member at the camera. A rogue country that has to be isolated from every
forum of the world now gets an opportunity to show off, to come into the
mainstream, to invite others to visit their hellhole to play cricket (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOi5PDhB-Tw
)and to legitimise whatever their country and ruling regime stands for (Its no
secret that like most other things in Pak, the army has a huge say in how PCB
is run). This is not about sulking that
India lost to Pakistan. True, it is bad to lose to them, and bad to see your
players humiliating themselves, but thats not the point. The very act of
allowing a terrorist nation in a sporting event is damaging.
Europe has been rocked by jihadi violence, just two weeks
before the final, there was a suicide bombing in London which killed 22. And
now imagine the sportspersons parading their trophy in the same venue, using
their victory to promote the same ideology that has made London, Paris like
cities into swamps.
ICC is the worst sports body in the world for two reasons:-
One because it aims at stunting the very sport it is made
for. There is literally no worthwhile plan to up the standard of the game in
associate member countries (Cricket is played at club level in more than fifty
countries, but no real effort is made to get them to the standard required) of
the ICC like Ireland, Netherlands, Afghanistan, Hong Kong etc which show some
spark of promise. Ireland cricket team remains nothing more than a recruiting
ground for England cricket team. The number of teams are to be brought down to
ten in the further ICC tournaments. Whereas other sporting bodies are trying
all the time to get their sport to be played by newer nations, ICC is going in
the opposite direction.
Two and most importantly, it has been, since more than half
a century, giving legitimacy to a terrorist state via sports glory. A terrorist
state carved out by massacring and raping more than a million Hindus and Sikhs,
a terrorist state owned by a rogue army, a terrorist state which is a gun for
hire by other vested interests to weaken India, a terrorist state which is the
modern day Madina, the epicentre of global jihad industry further made lethal
by the military mullah joint
collaboration.
Cricket like cross border terrorism, is seen by the military
mullah combine as a potent tool to ascertain dominance over kafirs, every
victory over them is a symbolic assertion of superiority. That is why you see
Pakistan team doing sajda in full public view after every victory, especially
over India. Its a shameless , arrogant
in-your-face taunting of “look you filthy infidels, we rule. Allah rules. Not
your stone idols”.
The influx of Tableeghi Jamat into Pakistan cricket dressing
room has for quite sometime now, made the display of Islamic symbols mandatory
, viz namaz by players , beginning every answer by ‘’thanks to allah almighty”
are some examples. Cricketers who don’t tow the line, are simply sidelined .Younis Khan was forced to step down from the
captaincy by fellow cricketers, Shoaib Akhtar too, lost his prominence rapidly
post 2003).
Those belonging to other religions are either made to convert
or are sidelined permanently . Christian Yousuf Youhana, via continous
persuation by the likes of Inzamam and Saeed Anwar became Mohammad Yusuf. Hindu
Danish Kaneria , the highest wicket taking spinner in tests for Pak too lost
his place was unfortunately sunk in spot
fixing row, which again many Pakistani players are accused of .
A low point was
reached in 2007 World T20 final, where India defeated Pakistan and Pakistan
captain Shoaib Malik , a product of Zia era, who was preferred over Younis Khan
to succeed Inzamam as the captain because he was apologised to the world’s
Muslims for the loss. It didn’t matter that the man of the match for India was
Irfan Pathan!
Compare this 1997 clip where Saeed Anwar after his then
world record 194 runs with the last decade and a half Pakistani cricketer
interviews which look more like sermons:-
And look at him today:-
Pakistan players leave no stone unturned to convert the
players in other teams :-
And who can forget this gem:-
SO when you say that India and Pakistan should have strong
ties, what exactly do you want to import to the country?
Why cannot BCCI
simply boycott all ICC events where Pakistan team is involved?
India amounts for 70% of the world’s cricket revenue , hence
this bogey of disciplinary action by ICC holds no weight. The day ICC bans
India from cricket, cricket as an industry dies. Thats a fact.
ICC needs to take action against Pakistan for misusing the
international sporting event for religious events at every opportunity. All
these religious statements and religious symbolism in post match presentation
has to be clamped down. Sporting events have no place for religious symbols and
promotion.
If South Africa can
be banned from all sporting events for 21 years due to apartheid, why cannot
Pakistan be banned for abetting terrorism?
The reason is that like most other institutions in India,
BCCI too is a spineless organization which puts profit and image over national
security and pride. That is why we see no real reaction from BCCI till they are
arm twisted by the govt to avoid playing Pakistan.
Boycott ICC events till Pakistan is a part of it. Play
bilateral series in the meantime. As it is, ICC events have little meaning
today (including the so called world cup) because since the late 1990s, the
number of one day internationals played evert year has increased a lot. Add T20
cricket to it and you see further trivialization of such events.
Isolation doesn’t just mean diplomatic level initiatives. It
has to extend to every field, may it be politics, foreign relations, and public
as well. When you play a match against Pakistan or , you give a message that it
is a country just like us. That we have no problem with it. That it has done no
harm to India. When you employ their actors you are doing a disservice to By
doing this you waste the efforts of our security agencies and diplomacy, you spit on the blood
that our soldiers have spilled, you laugh at the plight of the villagers on the
border who get their homes destroyed by Pakistani shelling. You prove that you are a nation without self
respect which puts entertainment and profit above honour and self preservation.
And you want the world to respect you and want to become a
superpower. Keep dreaming.
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