Letter to the Pakistan cricket team

ALIGARH: I am a Kashmiri, from Indian-administered Kashmir, a supporter of the Pakistani cricket team like all other Kashmiris — yes, Kashmiris support Pakistan cricket team. You brought laurels to Pakistan after defeating England in the 1992 World Cup final. When I was a child, my elders celebrated Pakistan’s victory with much enthusiasm. With a hope that you would do it again, we supported you in the 1996 World Cup when you could not even make it to the semi-finals. We supported you in the 1999 World Cup when you lost the final. We cheered for you in the 2003 World Cup even as you made an exit after the first round, and even when you lost to Ireland in the 2007 World Cup. We cheered for you, but to no avail. We were beaten, taunted, harassed, arrested, warned, expelled, criticised for being losers, and tagged as ‘two-faced’ but we still didn’t stop cheering for you.

We prayed for India’s victory — the worst a Kashmiri can do — against Ireland in the current World Cup in the group stage so that you may be able to qualify for the quarter-final. When any other team thrashes you, when they celebrate your defeat, we feel helpless. People in Pakistan can reprimand you over your losses. But here things are different. We can’t afford to evince our emotions in the face of a disheartening defeat. Please understand our complications. Here we are treated like ‘half-wits’ for supporting a country that is not our own, and looked upon as deceitful. For God’s sake, please stop politics and play cricket. You are a team, be one. Don’t make us feel that 12 teams led by three captains are playing on the same field at the same time. We cheered for Pakistan in the quarter-final against Australia with a new ray of hope. But that was dashed as well.

Nayeem Showkat Khan

Aligarh Muslim University

Published in The Express Tribune, March  23^rd,  2015.

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