Millions in India woke up to a different news story this 1st of Jan 2010. Families in India whose morning begin with the usual Indian cup of tea and the evergreen ‘Times of India’, this 1st of Jan had an interesting news item to make that cup of morning tea even more relishing- "Aman ki Asha" - the latest venture by The Times of India and The Jang group of Pakistan. It is a bold initiative to, as they call it “…energize the process of peace between India and Pakistan.” Incidentally, India-Pakistan relations happen to be a case study of my research. I have tried to be as objective as possible in this quest to understand the intricacies of their relations. Sometimes research is not about reading twenty odd books and describing the facts which have already been captured in those pages of the book. Research is also about talking to people to understand and analyze an issue closely. After reading the Times of India, every individual I spoke to was upbeat about this initiative. One even went to the extent of saying, “could not have expected a better article for the first day of the year than this.”
It was not my intention to write on a topic as clichéd and controversial (especially if you are in the sub-continent) as India-Pakistan relations as a comeback article for my blog, after months of stoic silence. But I could not help vent out my disappointment at the way the two sides are hooked into a war of words. On the one side we talk about an initiative like Aman ki Asha and on the other side we have repeated diatribes hurled against the political establishments of the two countries by the political elites,thanks to the recent IPL controversy. All through the years of discord between India-Pak, it was sports and cultural diplomacy that provided some hope of a common chord amidst the political maze riddled in the haze of suspicion. Now unfortunately its sports that has stirred a hornet’s nest and awakened the hawks in the foreign policy establishment of both the countries. The doves have been driven away in the cacophony of conflict largely due to the baggage of history.
I still remember how cricket was an uniting force in 2004 when our PM Dr.Manmohan Singh and the the then Pak President General Musharraf together saw the cricket test match between India-Pakistan in Islamabad. Most of you will also agree with me when it comes to the thrill of an India-Pakistan cricket match.But now cricket divides us. The IPL controversy has had its ‘cascading effect’. And this conjures up a dismal picture for many Pakistanis and Indians like me who believe that tit-for-tat strategy will never hold water.An example of the cascading effect- Pakistani govt. has cancelled the scheduled visit of its team of the Election Commission and Parliamentarians to attend the diamond jubilee celebrations of our Election Commission in India.Even in the Jaipur Literary Festival,sparks flew among the dignitaries from both the countries,with Aasma Jehangir,Chairperson of the Pakistan Human Rights Commission saying openly,"how would you feel if we did the same?" Really,what would have been the Indian reaction had Indian cricketers not been granted visa by Pakistan ? Commoners in India and Pakistan swear by cricket.For them Afridi is more popular than a Matthew Hayden.Who then is responsible for this IPL decision,which would have always had political repercussions ? All of a sudden are all the Pakistanis players out of form ? Why no takers then ? I have never been a supporter of the IPL particularly.It has institutionalized the commercialization of sports in India.When sports like hockey and athletics are cash starved,look at the price a cricketer is paid for the IPL season. And now the IPL is vitiating the relation between India and Pakistan.Why cant some sensibility prevail in our gestures ? Was it not enough for terrorism to stop the forward movement of our ties that now even sports is acting as a speed breaker. For both the countries,defense has already eaten into our developmental expenditures for long.Lets not channelize the funds that could be for bread towards the guns.As Amitabh Bacchan says in one of the ads for Aman ki Asha- "...in lakidon ko zameen par hi rehne do,dilon pe mat khichon..." ( let these lines be there on the ground and not in our hearts).When Rahat Fateh Ali Khan and Kailash Kher; Hari Haran and Ghulam Ali Khan can pitch their voices together for peace why turn the cricket pitch into a war ? Necessity is to wage a war against war...a war for peace.