Pakistan simply unplayable

By Meenakshi Rao

(March 04, New Delhi, Sri Lanka Guardian) One of the saddest moments” have started recurring too alarmingly. From Mumbai to Lahore, terror mongers, nurtured by an eternally in-denial Pakistan, have only grown in impunity and outrage.

Much after the dust on this one settles, like it has on Mumbai, no questions would get a clear answer. Ask what the Sri Lankan team was doing in a raging war zone where all teams, including India, had refused to go, and you will get uncomfortable with reality — cricket reality, power reality and political reality.

A bankruptcy-ridden, Government-propelled Sri Lankan team was pushed into Pakistan with big heads in ICC, the Lankan Government itself and the moneybags of the game talking high of the need to support Pakistan Cricket in its worst time and the power of cricket diplomacy. What they meant was telecast rights, huge sponsorships and, of course, not let the golden goose sit idle — even in the world’s most dangerous arena.

The wanton decision by Arjuna Ranatunga and a determined Lankan Cricket Board pushed ahead the tour to Pakistan ignoring the simple fact that cash issues cannot be played out at the risk of its players.

For once though, India had the prudence to call off its tour. As Rajeev Shukla of the BCCI took the occasion to reiterate: “The Indian stand of not going to Pakistan stands vindicated now.” Eternal appeasers, not conversant with reality and not too bothered by the fallout of risk-taking, had been suggesting that the game should never be abandoned and that playing cricket in Pakistan would be the best healing touch post-Mumbai. Imagine what would have happened had a Tendulkar or a Dhoni faced these bullets instead?

Yes, the Lankan players survived in the incident but Pakistani cricket died. Its players, long reeling under the banana instructions of a chaotic cricket establishment, see this as last nail in the coffin for Pakistan cricket.

Espousing Pak’s cause would drop out of ICC agenda. After all, this is the first terror incident that has struck the game and ICC chief Haroon Lorgat, much like Lankan president Mahenda Rajapaksa, would have nothing to say in defence of their decision to give the players a near death experience.

For now, they are saying all shrapnel and bullet injuries are minor. But what this will do in the long run to Mendis’ arm, Tharanga’s chest, Vaas ‘ thigh and Sangakkara’s chest is anybody’s guess, especially in times when optimum fitness is required to confront the game.

The incompatibility of modern-day Pakistan to hosting any foreign event now lies completely disrobed. This was no white team touring the nation. This was no Indian team with which the terrorists may have had issues. This was Lanka which has not been on the radar of the ultras on any count till now. This shows how uncontrollable the situation in Pakistan is, much more complex and much more irretrievable than the one confronting the Pakistani Cricket Board.

As for cricket, the dent in the game is huge. It not just sounds the death knell of a till now lively part of subcontinental cricket but also points to apprehensions about the holding of the 2011 World Cup which is to be hosted by India, Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Lanka is in constant strife, Bangladesh fresh from a mutiny, Pakistan in the hands of terrorists and India vulnerable to all these explosives around it. Also, the IPL inaugural in Jaipur is just 248 km from Lahore, and it is round the corner too. The security needed for such a popular event would be even God’s worst nightmare in which shifting of venues and dates may not help.
-Sri Lanka Guardian