Politics and sports

Denying entry to Pakistani shooters into their country exposes Indian jingoism

Politics and sports are two different worlds that even spell differently. But that doesn’t matter to India, because for them they are one. The war hysteria being promoted in India after the Pulwama attack in Kashmir already didn’t make any sense when they blamed Pakistan for anything and everything going wrong for them, but denying entry to Pakistani shooters (keep in mind, sports shooters) into their country to participate in an event in New Delhi has further exposed the Indian jingoism.

The Indian Olympic Association hopes to present bids for hosting multiple sporting events in the coming decade, with their eyes majorly set on 2026 Youth Olympics, 2030 Asian Games and the 2032 Summer Olympic. However, their ‘discriminatory attitude’ against Pakistanis may just have cost them all those opportunities.

The International Olympic Committee has suspended all of their applications to host future events, also urging other international sports federation to boycott India when it comes to serving as a host. The war hysteria created by India will lead to nothing but destruction of their own reputation in the sporting world, and it would be safe to say that soon India may face isolation in the sporting world since they want Pakistan out of every competition they want to be a part of.

The chief administrator of the Board of Control for Cricket in India has also proposed that they will be taking their case to the International Cricket Council not to allow Pakistan into the ICC 2019 World Cup in England and Wales; someone however needs to show them facts so that he talks sense that Sarfaraz and Co are Champions Trophy winners, and a World Cup without the Men in Green isn’t possible.

All in all, India needs to realise that they cannot and should not force the issue whenever they reap the rewards of their wrongdoings in Kashmir, and more importantly they should learn to keep politics and sports apart.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 24^th, 2019.

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