Sports ties, specifically cricket ties, between India and Pakistan are getting worse due to the ongoing tussle over the Asia Cup. The BCCI had announced that India would not travel to Pakistan to take part in the upcoming Asia Cup. In response, the PCB said that Pakistan would also boycott the World Cup, which is scheduled to happen in India this year in October-November.
The BCCI and PCB locked horns over the Asia Cup. While Pakistan is determined to host the Asia Cup, India is unwilling to send a team. Notably, Pakistan will host the 2023 Asia Cup in September, but the Indian squad won’t likely go if the PCB doesn’t give up the hosting rights.
According to some media reports, the PCB also made it clear that if the BCCI cannot get clearance from its government for the Asia Cup, Pakistan will also not travel to India for the ODI World Cup.
While India is blamed for not keeping sports apolitical, Pakistan exposes itself, as it has a dark history of making sports a political matter. Their own politicians have done it in the past. Who can forget when Pakistan won a match against India in the T-20 world cup in 2021, and the then Pakistan interior minister Sheikh Rashid said that Pakistan’s win against India was a “victory of Islam.”
The world knows their hatred against Israel and Jews. Earlier in 2000, Aisam Ul-Haq Qureshi of Pakistan teamed up with Amir Hadad of Israel, which triggered a massive controversy in Pakistan. The Pakistani establishment had asked him to break his pair with his Israeli counterpart due to the bloodshed in the Middle East. The Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) threatened to impose a ban on him and asked him to ditch his buddy as his doubles partner.
During the Soviet Afghan War, in protest against the Soviet Union’s military invasion of Afghanistan, Pakistan also abstained from the 1980 Moscow Olympics like other NATO nations.
Previously, in the late 1970s, Pakistan supported a ban on South Africa because of its apartheid policy. But when it comes to imposing a ban on Pakistan’s players and artists in India over their policy to support terrorism against India, they said sports, art, and culture are the tools of peace between two neighbouring countries.
Much before the terrorism in Kashmir and Punjab, a Pakistani politician and former player had threatened India in the late 1960s. The first hockey world cup was set to be held in Pakistan in 1969, and Abdul Hafeez Kardar, a former cricketer turned politician, protested India’s participation in the Hockey World Cup This incident delayed the World Cup for a year. The Federation of International Hockey had to shift the venue from Pakistan to Spain, and the tournament was held in 1971.
Meanwhile, hatred for India is not limited to the sports community; even Pakistani artists who have made a name for themselves in India spit venom at the country.
However, a number of intellectuals from Pakistan and India have pushed for their participation in the IPL. However, even as of 2009, the efforts have not been fruitful. Sports, art, and culture, according to the intellectual brotherhood, should be unrelated to politics.
Last but not least, why are they now asking India to behave differently when Pakistan has successfully used sports as a vehicle to advance its political agenda throughout the years and maintain its interest? The moment is now for Pakistan to admit its hypocrisy in combating terrorism and radicalism, which has been separating it from the rest of the world.
Despite the fact that critics on both sides of the border frequently blame India for fusing politics with sport, art, and culture, they neglect to mention the fact that Pakistan is currently getting a harsh dose of its own medicine because India is withholding engagement from Pakistan until it stops cross-border terrorism.
Since decades, Pakistan has exploited sports to determine its political agenda, both domestic and external. Their estrangement from the Indian Premier League is entirely their own.
Their estrangement from the Indian Premier League is entirely their own. They incite enmity towards various nations, races, and religions. Their leaders spread their extreme Islamist ideology over the world using cricket as a vehicle.
Cricket in particular has been used as a diplomatic instrument between two neighbouring countries over the years. General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, a former president, travelled to India in 1987 to see a cricket match in Jaipur. He employed “cricket diplomacy” to break the two nations’ armed standoff.
Despite the fact that critics on both sides of the border frequently blame India for fusing politics with sport, art, and culture, they neglect to mention the fact that Pakistan is currently getting a harsh dose of its own medicine because India is withholding engagement from Pakistan until it stops cross-border terrorism.
