Victory has many fathers

The quickness with which we are able to politicise any issue, event or a person is truly an art that is dividing the nation in ways that we are unable to encompass. While the divisive politics over Nobel laureates Malala Yousufzai and Abdus Salam is quite unfathomable, the recent ICC Champions Trophy victory of Pakistan reflects a post-polarised society hungry for point-scoring and hijacking credit for any success.

For a decade when Pakistan’s cricket performance was abysmal, the blame was thrown around to everything and anything in the vicinity of cricket and politics. The late US president John F Kennedy rightly said, ‘a victory has a thousand fathers, defeat is an orphan’, paraphrasing Count Ciano. Such is the case in Pakistan that the team had barely won, and the propaganda machines over the social media were already under the content publishing stage.

If we go by the social media channels of major political parties, the first one to claim credit was the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). While one can no doubt give Najam Sethi some credit to be the pivotal figure in the cricketing change in Pakistan, PML-N’s social media activists jumped two steps and gave credit to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for his prayers at the Holy Kaaba to be the real reason why Pakistan won the ICC trophy. How else do you explain the bail not moving despite the ball hitting the wicket?

Since Maryam Nawaz is also an ‘heir apparent’ some credit to her had to be also given for her prayers in making sure Pandaya was run out. Good governance, management and an experienced PML-N team, as promised, delivered the ICC trophy — the players on the ground were a mere formality. Imagine, people in the US giving credit to President Barack Obama for winning the Olympics. Yes, it is that real, and they should.

Since Pakistan won the ICC trophy by defeating India, how could the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) not jump the train? From the key advice given by Imran Khan to Sarfraz, and the video of Sarfraz swinging his arms in anxiousness like Imran Khan during the toss is a sign for those that can see — the PTI also let the imagination run wild. For the PTI, however, it was not just taking the credit but also making sure that the PML-N is not able to take the credit.

But why end at that when it turns out that Sarfraz is a Mohajir. MQM channels jumped on the bandwagon claiming victory by a Mohajir. The Mohajirs are the underdogs, subject of political and social discrimination from the Punjabi elite — but here is Sarfraz (a Mohajir) that is a true pride of Pakistan — a not so subtle message that one can see on social media through MQM channels.

In such a great moment for Pakistan, the ISPR social media activists also made their point. Remember the military/discipline training that our cricket team received? The push-ups? Well, there were no push-ups this time after the victory, but there were indeed platonic push-ups and credit needs to go where it is due — always.

Politics aside, moments into the victory and Bahria Town big-wigs announced residential plots and one million cash for the players. Behind every success, military or cricketing, there is a hidden hand that promises rewards and a retirement plan. Victory is supposed to unite people, allowing everyone to claim some portion of the credit. However, in politically charged societies victory creates more division.

The ICC win was a ‘see-I-told-you’ moment for so many that the hard work, efforts of the coach, excellent batting and bowling of cricket players dwarfed in comparison to the prayers, critical advice of politicians, the Mohajir factor and promise of plots. Who needs cricket anyway when politics is our national sport?

Published in The Express Tribune, June 25^th, 2017.

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