Forget cricket diplomacy. A sporting event of the stature of
an India
vs. Pakistan World Cup semi-final is too important to allow diplomacy to get
in the way. To get a sense of what is about to happen tomorrow, when Pakistan
faces off against India in the cricket World Cup semi-final in Mohali, India,
consider this: Over a billion and a half people in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh
and Sri Lanka will likely be watching. That is one quarter of all of humanity
glued to television screens. The ones that don't own TVs-and with astronomical
poverty levels in the region, there are millions that don't-will be watching on
large public screens, at neighbors' houses, in town squares, at restaurants and
at tea stalls. Sure, the peaceful
and conciliatory proclamations from politicians are nice, but neither
Indians nor Pakistanis are going to be watching the match in order to help
deepen relations between the two countries - they'll be watching to cheer their
team to victory. And that is a good thing.
For a few hours tomorrow the people of India and the people of Pakistan will
do the rarest of things, and that is that they will be doing something
together, collectively, with fierce and unrelenting passion. Much of the media
rhetoric in both countries keeps using words like war, battle and nationalism,
and a fair bit of the mainstream coverage of the event in both countries has
shown a distinct jingoism. In truth, however, this cricket match, dubbed by
some as the Greatest
Match Ever, delivers the opposite of the negative vibe of jingoistic
nationalist sentiment. Instead, it opens up space for Indians and Pakistanis to
talk about something other than the 2008 terrorist attacks on Mumbai, human
rights violations in Kashmir, the contentious
debate about the rights to river waters, or the on-going battle
for the Siachen glacier.
For a few hours on Wednesday, as for the few days after we
learned that it would be an India-Pakistan semi-final, the conversation between
India and Pakistan will
be about calmer, more aesthetic, less contentious things.
The conversation will be about India's Sachin Tendulkar-the
Michael Jordan of cricket and one of the greatest batsmen (batters) in cricket
history, if not the greatest. The conversation will be about Pakistan's
Shahid "Boom Boom" Afridi-who was given this nickname by an Indian commentator
for his outrageously powerful and audacious batting style. The conversation will
be about Indian players' traditionally dominant batting abilities, and
Pakistani players' traditionally dominant bowling (think "pitching")
abilities. There are newfound habits and
traits to be discussed too. Indians are keen to demonstrate a ferocity and
assertiveness on the field at which players from previous generations can only
marvel. Pakistanis can't stop admiring the
unprecedented unity of their cricket team-something not even the 1992 World
Cup winning team could claim in the same manner, at least not with a straight
face.
This kind of discussion is a pleasant change, and deserves
attention even in the parts of the world that won't be skipping work tomorrow
to watch the match. Cricket is a complicated game, and writing about it is a
bit of an art, one which political analysts and policy hacks best leave to the
artists themselves (my personal favorites are Osman
Samiuddin and Dileep
Premachandran, both of ESPN's Cricinfo). Unlike any sport that does
reasonably well in the United
States, the purest form of cricket takes
five days to play. The athletes involved take a daily tea break, probably with
crumpets. Cricket is, above all else, the gentlemen's game. And it is refreshing
that for a few days commenters have been and will be focused on gentlemanly
disagreements, about which country has the better cricket team, and some
unavoidable agreements about how certain players, like India's
Virender Sehwag, represent a certain other-worldly
quality, one that leaves Indians, Pakistanis and people around the world in
awe.
None of the major issues between the two countries will be
solved because of cricket. Not now, and not ever in the future. However, there
are policy lessons here for those in the South Asian region who are truly
serious about forging a future that is different from our conflicted, war-torn
and terror-influenced past: Culture and sport do matter. Human exchange and
interaction do matter. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's invitation to the
Pakistani leadership to watch the match with him, and Pakistani Prime Minister
Yusuf Raza Gilani's decision to accept and attend the event, are just the icing
on the cake. What's more important is the humanization of a billion and a half
people that takes place when we look at one another through the lens of
cricket, instead of war. And all it took were some bats and balls, and the
unrelenting genius of South Asian cricketers-Indians and Pakistanis alike.
Mosharraf Zaidi has
served as an advisor on international aid to Pakistan
for the United Nations and European Union and writes a weekly column for Pakistan's the News.
You can find more of his writing at www.mosharrafzaidi.com.
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