Not so incredible India

Sports and politics are never far from one another on the subcontinent, and the rivalries that run deep in the world of international cricket have the potential to spark unrest. Pakistan beat India in a match that was held on March 2 and there has been trouble ever since. The Swami Vivekanand Subharti University (SVSU) in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, had suspended 67 Kashmiri students for celebrating the Pakistan win, later charging several of them with sedition. The charges were later withdrawn. Now, the Sharda University in Uttar Pradesh has expelled six Kashmiri students from their hostel after clashes broke out between them and students who were supporting India. It is reported that there were no injuries but the campus continues to simmer.

Students can be volatile for many reasons, sport rivalries being just one of them. Where there is a long-standing basket of disputes underpinning the rivalry as with India and Pakistan, it must be expected that there will be incidents such as this from time to time, but both the universities concerned and the Indian government itself have been unduly heavy-handed. Even the consideration of the laying of charges of sedition — which is close to treason on the scale of possible charges that can be laid in respect of anti-state actions — is wholly unjustified. Fires have been fanned rather than dampened and given that the collective memory of incidents such as this rarely ever fades, this will have done nothing to advance the always sputtering peace processes being pursued by our government. Whilst we may be critical of some aspects of the performance of the Sharif government, it has from the outset pursued a peaceful agenda with India. India has not always been as positive in its responses as might have been hoped for, and the last thing both countries need is a spat over a cricket match being elevated to the status of diplomatic incident. Let cool heads prevail in India and dial back on the rhetoric.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 12^th, 2014.

Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.