Cricket for Karachiites is no less than Eid
KARACHI: Pakistan witnessed history being made on March 25th — the same day another historical event took place 26 years apart. In 1992 Pakistan won its first World Cup in cricket and in 2018, it brought back the same game to a city that had been deprived of it for the past nine years.
Karachi, the country’s financial hub, hosted the final match of the Pakistan Super League’s third edition with so much fervour and joy that people unaware of the city’s history, might think the festivities were perhaps for something as grand as Eid. But cricket for Karachiites is no less than Eid. However, this festivity and joy didn’t come without a price — a price that was paid by the needy and poor in the country.
The lockdown of some of Karachi’s important roads leading up to emergency wards of big hospitals such as Aga Khan University Hospital and Liaquat National Hospital caused delays in ambulances reaching to hospitals with patients. While some enjoyed with much fervour the celebrations of the PSL, others struggled to reach hospitals in time. This is not to say that the security protocol was unnecessary but it should have been planned more pragmatically so that it would have caused no troubles for anyone.
Perhaps, during the West Indies and Pakistan’s three-day T20 series that is set to be played in Karachi from April 1st to April 3rd, the security protocol should consider the wellbeing of all the citizens in the city of lights and devise a road plan that is less troublesome.
Hina Khan
Published in The Express Tribune, March 27th, 2018.
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