Security and cricket

It is in interest of state of play between nations that World T20 matches involving Pakistan are played as scheduled

The triangle formed by cricket, India and Pakistan is part of the genetic identity of the subcontinent. The game is in the national DNA of both countries and is the field of play on which the two countries act out the rivalries that otherwise manifest themselves in conflict of a deadlier kind. The upcoming World Twenty20 is eagerly anticipated by both nations and, given the back-history of an attack on a visiting cricket team to Pakistan and the levels of tension pre-existing between the two, security is high on the agenda. Thus it is that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has asked the interior minister send a team to India in order to evaluate the measures taken to protect the Pakistan team for the duration of their visit.

A host of factors impinge on the quality or otherwise of the bilateral relationship, and with talks between Pakistan and India at something of a crux in the wake of the attack on the Pathankot airbase that had its origins in Pakistan, it is important that there be no further rocking of the boat. Thus it is distinctly unhelpful that Virbhadra Singh, chief minister of India’s northern state of Himachal Pradesh where a match involving Pakistan is to be held, refused to provide security to the national team. It is due to be played at Dharamsala and it is being suggested that it should be moved. It should not.

Internationally in these unsafe days, it is common practice for nations to send a security assessment team ahead of international fixtures in a range of sports, and not only cricket. Common courtesy demands that each state pays close attention to the security and safety of visiting teams, and churlish behaviour such as that exhibited by Mr Singh is ungentlemanly to say the least and not in the spirit of the game. It is in the interests not only of the game of cricket as an international sport but the state of play between nations that the World Twenty20 matches involving Pakistan are played as scheduled. Play up, play up! And play the game!

Published in The Express Tribune, March 6^th, 2016.

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