Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s invitation to Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani – or Z and G as they are being referred to, perhaps for security reasons – to attend the World Cup semi-final match between India and Pakistan held in Mohali (Punjab) on Jan 30th, has set the cat among the pigeons. Or at least among the cricket fans and the security services.
Now that G has agreed to come and play, criticisms are flying thick and fast about what possible good can come out of cricket diplomacy amid the frenzy of fans willing to exchange a kidney for a ticket to see the match or wait three days in line to get a ticket. Match-fixing emerged as the major concern of the Pakistani security Minister who is keeping close tabs on who the players talk to, when the would have thought the outcome of the bilateral talks should be the worry.
The Indian press has been full of useful information regarding security arrangements – which political, corporate and Bollywood honchos are going to be in Mohali and where their aircraft will be parked, etc., so people with bad intentions do not have to work hard to gather the stuff. Equally helpfully, the Maldives has released someone arrested on suspicion of planning an attack at the match venue. We have already been warned by our intelligence agencies that an undisclosed number of terrorists, possibly with similar ideas, have been evading arrest for weeks now. The presence of our Prime Minister and G at the match may act as a deterrent to both match fixers and terrorists – in that order.
Meanwhile Vijay Mallya, one of India’s cricket barons, tweeted that he neither understood nor appreciated media hype and speculation on the India-Pakistan game. Amazing, considering that he works very hard to generate media hype for his nice beer, airline and poorly-performing cricket team.
The Foreign Secretaries and Home Secretaries of both India and Pakistan are rushing to meet each other and prepare an agenda for the meeting of the two prime ministers. What was originally intended to be a meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the two countries (as agreed to in February at the SAARC meeting in Thimpu) to discuss the progress, or lack thereof, of the bilateral relationship will have to suffice as the substance of the discussion between the Prime Ministers. In a matching, appropriately small gesture, G will bring with him one Indian held in Pakistan for twenty seven years for having inadvertently crossed the border into Pakistan.
As the excitement and the betting about the India-Pakistan semi mounts, the refrain at Mohali is: where have all the tickets gone? Pity the poor residents of this nice suburb of Chandigarh covered, like Libya with a no-fly zone. Pity also the millions of fans all over the world who couldn’t care less about the politics and really just want to see a fair and hard-fought game – if only the Indian media knew.
Neelam Deo is Co-founder and Director, Gateway House: Indian Council on Global Relations; She has been the Indian Ambassador to Denmark and Ivory Coast; and former Consul General in New York.
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