Our double standards

As long as we require your services, it really doesn’t matter what crime you may have committed; we are willing to accept you for who you are. This is the message that the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) sent out to all when it so desperately reinstated fast-bowler Mohammad Amir back in the One-Day International and Twenty20 squads for the tour to New Zealand. For many die-hard emotional cricket fans in our country, this decision has no moral or ethical bearing. Thus, this article in no way intends to discuss whether Amir deserved a place back in the team or not. I only intend to highlight the shameful double standards that have embedded themselves in our society.

The PCB brought shame to its name when it gave the impression that it has been waiting for Amir like a wife standing outside her house with a bouquet of flowers, waiting for her husband to come home after years spent in prison. The board had pestered the International Cricket Council (ICC) into reviewing its decision to keep Amir out of domestic cricket, and the board got what it wanted when the ICC allowed the pacer to return to domestic cricket at the start of last year, and international cricket six months later. As soon as Amir’s ban was lifted and he was seen performing well in domestic tournaments and in the Bangladesh Premier League, the PCB rushed to reinstate his position in the national side. The board reeked of desperation.

Amir’s return to the national side was bound to happen — that’s not the issue; the manner in which the PCB welcomed his return certainly is. The PCB bullied ODI captain Azhar Ali and batsman Mohammad Hafeez, who had voiced their discomfort in sharing the dressing room with someone who had brought shame to the country, into accepting its decision and even went to the length of getting a letter of approval from all those who did not want the 23-year-old back in the side. This was not necessary.

Azhar and Hafeez have a point. The Misbahul Haq-led team suffered immensely post-2010 due to the acts committed by Amir, Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif. Poor Misbah continued to endure the wrath of millions of angry Pakistanis for five years when all he was doing was cleaning up the mess the trio had left behind.

The fact that the PCB allowed Amir to just strut back into the side without even a slap on the wrist is appalling. The fact that it still so shamefully defends its move is horrendous. But worse of all, the fact that we as a nation have accepted this state of affairs just makes it all the more painful.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 5^th, 2016.