The Truth about Pakistan

MUCH OF THE commentary on the just concluded Asia Cup is marked by hand-wringing over the descent of India- Pakistan cricket matches into on-field versions of military conflicts between the two nations. The “arrogance” of India’s T20 skipper Suryakumar Yadav in dissing Pakistan is contrasted with the purportedly genteel be­haviour of past captains and the general public reminded that unlike war, where the toll in measured in body bags, the heartbreak of a fan is transient.

The post of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on X after India beat Pakistan three times on the trot to claim the Asia Cup “#Op­erationSindoor on the games field. Outcome is the same—India wins! Congrats to our cricketers” had been reposted more than 1,25,000 times and received more than 41 million impressions by noon of October 1. It elicited more than 28,000 comments, largely expressing approval. The response was proof, if it was needed, that the Indian team’s decision not to shake hands with Pakistan players and its refusal to accept the trophy from an uncouth Pakistani politician fully reflected the national mood.

Modi’s posts are rarely sensational. Rather, they bor­der on the staid, on matters such as the prime minister’s reaction to US President Donald Trump’s Middle East peace deal, greetings on fes­tive occasions, endorsement of sporting success, visuals of public rallies and roadshows and other public functions. Despite a large and loyal fol­lowing, they do not attract the attention for being over-the-top and are a far cry from the jingoism that Modi’s critics accuse him of. But Modi does, more than most other leaders, he understands the public pulse and the need to reject misplaced homilies that draw on a false equivalence between India and Pakistan.

It is not India that confuses politics and sport. In fact, it has put up with the Pakistan state’s misuse of sporting encounters to whip up divisive sentiments in India, whether it is the manufac­tured “Khalistan” tweet storm after Indian bowler Arshdeep Singh dropped a catch in Dubai in 2022 or the abuse of pacer Mohammed Shami by Pakistan-controlled fake profiles. Pakistan players rou­tinely refer to their faith as a motivating factor in matches against India. One went so far as to praise a Pakistan captain for proficiency in arranging prayer rooms on tour and making sure to exclude non- Muslims who might be part of the hotel staff.

No team that dons India colours is above the nation. It is only peculiar, deep-embedded notions that “sportsmanship” and “the spirit of the game” operate in some sort of vacuum, an elevated realm untethered to realities that can hardly be missed, that lead pundits to offer naïve views on India- Pakistan cricket encounters. Rather than confronting the uncomfortable truth about a neighbour who has hardly ever displayed faith in fair play, either on or off the field, self-styled adjudicators of what is good taste tut-tut over the breach of cricket­ing etiquette.

Until the advent of neutral umpires, Pakistan was notorious for deploying umpires—a gent by the name of Shakoor Rana was particu­larly infamous—to load the dice against visiting teams. Blatantly biased decisions and umpires looking the other way as Pakistan quicks over­stepped the crease was the order of the day. More sinister was the misuse of relaxations in the visa regime in 2005 when Pakistan toured India to infiltrate agents trained by the Inter-Service Intel­ligence. The visa policy had to be revised within a year as dozens of Pakistan nationals went missing. In his account to a National Investigation Agency team that interviewed him in the US, 26/11 plotter David Coleman Headley re­vealed how Pakistan agencies and terror outfits exploited the visa regime.

The inability of com­mentators bent on uphold­ing the spirit of cricket to see Pakistan in true colours is rooted in a distaste for nationalist sentiment that they see interchangeably with jingoism and nativism. The expression of such views and attitudes is viewed as a debasement of finer human attributes and refined taste. There is, it is fair to say, a thick layer of fatuousness that clouds the thinking in Delhi’s intellectual salons. A sense of unctuous virtue propels arbiters of “sportsmanship” to pronounce on what is “not cricket.” The sentiment is not unconnected with the dis­comfort of the polite set with the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) advocacy of a rooted cul­turalism. The discomfort lies in the concern that the Indian team’s decisions come across as an endorsement of Modi’s unapologetic nationalism.

India has always hosted Pakistan when International Cricket Council (ICC) tourna­ments have been held in the country with utmost cour­tesy. In the past, former Paki­stan cricketers spent a good deal of their time in India and gifted players from across the border have earned the praise and admiration of Indian fans. Yet, any adherence to a code of conduct is a two-way street. The recurrent terror attacks in India sponsored by Pakistan’s agencies acting in cahoots with their terror allies have made it impossible for bilater­al sporting encounters to take place. It would be an insult to the memories of thousands of Indians who have died due to wars and terrorism inflicted by Pakistan.

Even in the bloody history that marks India-Pakistan re­lations since the two nations were separated in 1947, the massacre of tourists in Pahal­gam on April 22 stands out as a particularly macabre event. The brazenness of the attack and the brutality of shoot­ing dead male members of families after crudely identify­ing them as non-Muslims in front of women and children is an unforgivable atrocity. Pakistan army chief General Asim Munir’s call to Pakistan citizens just days before the Pahalgam attack asking them to never let their children for­get that Hindus and Muslims cannot live together is as plain a declaration of unvarnished evil as might be possible. But the minds of many com­mentators are so enfeebled by turning their face away from truths they find unpalat­able that they have ended choosing to believe what they want to believe. For those who choose the comfort of self-delusion, no evidence will ever be enough.

On the other hand, it is slowly dawning on many in Pakistan that tactics that served well in the past may not do so any more. The Indian team keenly anticipated that shaking hands with Pakistan players would be an act of false bonhomie palpably lacking insincerity. Pahalgam is only a fraction of what Israel suffered on October 7, 2022, but it is deeply seared into the minds of the Indian people. Only the very tone deaf would miss this. The Indian team is not detached from India’s social fabric and its decisions on and off the field suggest that it bet­ter understands what moves the nation than pundits and gurus in ivory towers.