India and Pakistan: friends before foes

Letter June 18, 2017
It is endearing to see sportsmen show respect over the game and players, irrespective of which country they belong to

KARACHI: At a time when India and Pakistan do not leave the tiniest opportunity to take jibes at each other, owing to its 70-year bitter history, former India captain Sourav Ganguly’s stance on the criticism hurled at Pakistan’s captain Sarfraz Ahmed by our very own Aamir Sohail is commendable.

In an interview with a leading Indian channel, Ganguly criticised Sohail calling his remarks “ridiculous.” The former opener had said that Ahmed shouldn’t be too proud after winning against England and allegedly claimed that they had some sort of a pre-planned setting.

Ganguly wasn’t the only Indian cricketer to criticise Sohail and praise the green side for overcoming the odds and working hard to make it to the final. Former India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh held the same sentiments. It is endearing to see sportsmen show respect over the game and the players, irrespective of which country they belong to.

The ICC Champions Trophy this year has seen people across the border uniting to defend us a number of times. Earlier, when our own TV anchors were roasting captain Ahmed for his poor English-language skills, the India twitteratis came together to defend him against a news story published on a popular website in India that called him out for the same.

Perhaps, if borders and the state didn’t divide us, India and Pakistan would have been two friendly neighbours, bearing the fruits of unity.

Aiman Ateeq

Published in The Express Tribune, June 18th, 2017.

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