Guest Blogger Asif Akhtar on “cricket diplomacy”

You may want to wish us a “Happy B-airthday” because South Asia Wired is going on air today for the very first time.

Meanwhile I’ve handed over my blogger’s chair for the day to Asif Akhtar, a Lahore based writer and blogger who contributes to The Guardian and the Dawn Blog, he posts regularly at e-scape-artist.blogspot.com and tweets at twitter.com/e_scape_artist.

After over a year of turbulent relations between Pakistan and India there’s talk again of a thaw in diplomatic relations.

Corporate initiatives like aman ki ash, a media centered cultural exchange, are trying to add warmth to the ever cooling relations between the two countries. But I’m sure everyone has noticed how whenever there’s a thaw, things tend to freeze back over as the two governments use each other as scapegoats for every other thing.

I’m not sure about how the Times of India is handling aman ki asha, but its media partner Jang Group/Geo Television certainly doesn’t seem to be in a particularly lovey dovey mood at all; while they air the odd peace commercial, their highly paid talk show hosts are usually ranting non-stop about how evil India is.

And now, even cricket, that supposed great bridge of cultures, has also failed miserably in the IPL auction debacle, where Indian bidders cited security concerns as the reason behind top Pakistani players not getting a bid, while Pakistani officials and media claim it was all done out of spite.

Indeed, as far as our cricket relations go, things haven’t been this bad for a long time.  Less than a decade ago, the term ‘Cricket Diplomacy’ was stamped onto a heartening cross-border phenomenon that saw scores of Indian cricket fans scuttle across the border to Lahore to watch an India-Pakistan one day series after the authorities relaxed visa processes for the tournament.  Cricket fans from both sides enjoyed thrilling matches between the rival sides, and there were no reports of any unpleasant incidents; quite the contrary, the Indian visitors were treated with the hospitality given to house guests.

There were touching tales of cab drivers, and restaurant owners  refusing money from the Indian visitors, and in turn the Indians got a propaganda-free, first hand experience of what life in Pakistan was really  like.  And when they went back to India it was these experiences they took back  with them – stories of connecting with people who had always been billed as their enemy.

These are not the stories you hear about in the mainstream media but after all, this human interaction is only a rediscovery of the fact that we – Indians and Pakistanis – are the children of the same large multi lingual, multi ethnic family.  No matter what anyone says, Indians and Pakistanis really aren’t that different at all, in fact we have more things in common with each other than we do with anyone else.  Though that’s not something our governments would have us believe.

I remember while growing up, intently watching India-Pakistan matches and relishing in the defeat of the Indian team.  For me the Indian cricket team represented the stereotype of Indians that was projected by the media and social conditioning.  They had a formidable team, but I’m now ashamed to admit that I saw the players as wily, conniving, opportunistic, and spiteful.

It’s just how I’d been hard-wired as a Pakistani.

I didn’t actually get to interaction with an Indian person until I went to college in the United States.  I was far from home in an alien world, and it was a revelation to meet Indians who suddenly didn’t seem to be the enemy but just guys with whom I could joke in my own language, enjoy the same food and discuss the same movies that we all loved to hate.

During the four years of college, possibly the greatest test of my pluralistic views was presented by cricket. The World Cup was in full swing and a bunch of Pakistani and Indian students had chipped in for a subscription.  During the Pakistan India match,  I was one of about fifty south asian students huddled up in front of a projection screen.

I don’t remember who won, and frankly it doesn’t matter, but the fact that everyone was able to watch the game, and cheer their own team without any sourness was an eye opener.  Personally I think this whole deal about Pakistanis and Indians not being able to live together in harmony is hogwash.  You can ask any Pakistani or Indian who lives in an ex-pat community and they will tell you that some of their closest acquaintances are the very people their government has always told them is the enemy.  If on a personal level Indians and Pakistanis can time and again, demonstrate their bond,  then  why is it that the two  governments are so determined to be hostile?

At the end of the day the solution isn’t going to come from the government, corporations, or cricket; change is going to come from developing an understanding of the other as more similar than different, and that’s our individual responsibility.

Asif Akhtar