Skip to main content

Pakistani Cricketers Anguish Over Kashmir, Or Their Inability To Play In IPL?


Pakistan banned in IPL

From the colonial times, cricket and politics remained an inseparable thing in the Indian subcontinent. Ashutosh Gowariker’s "Lagaan" gives a hint of when did they began mixing together. But the whole episode of Bhuvan’s struggle of not paying the lagaan(taxes) to the British government —at times of monsoon crisis (ghanan ghanan)— becomes small and insignificant, if politics over cricket between India and Pakistan is taken into account in the past few years.

Just a few days before the commencement of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2018, Pakistani cricketers began to shower their ‘alleged’ love and sympathy for Kashmir, now when they know couldn't take part in IPL, they are showcasing their outrage on Twitter —not against IPL— but against Indian army and India as a state.

After the 2008 Mumbai attacks, perpetrated by Pakistan based terror organization 'Lashkar-e-Taiba', the Indian government has put a ban on Pakistani players from participating in IPL, and also severed cricketing ties with Pakistan. The only tournament in which India and Pakistan play cricket is World Cup and Champions Trophy. There were discussions in India even to boycott Champions Trophy. But the conclusion was “why should cricketers and cricket-lovers in India suffer from the actions of the guerrilla army of a rogue state?”

During its inaugural 2008 season, there were 11 Pakistani players inducted in the IPL. However, after buying Pakistani players for a hefty price, the franchise owners had to bear a loss with the ban on Pakistani players post 26/11. Therefore, in 2010, despite being included in the IPL auction, no Pakistani players were selected to play in the league as none of them showed their interest towards them, the prime reason was their insecurity. And after all, there is very little to lose for IPL in barring Pakistani players with the presence of enough world class players who make it exciting.

It began with Afridi’s tweet in which he raised his concern about the situation in the ‘Indian Occupied” Kashmir. Using the word innocent for the Kashmiri militants, who were killed in the valley last week on Sunday in a security operation by Indian armed forces. He also questioned where UN and other international agencies have been and why are they silent, which itself is ironical when UN which reportedly has listed 139 Pakistanis in its list of Terrorist, Afridi is appealing to the UN. It’s like a thief reporting a complaint to the cops.
The response to this tweet was enormous. It was possibly the first time when an active Pakistani cricketer officially chose to be involved in the Indo-Pak politics supporting the terrorist groups working in Kashmir brazenly. Afridi, in spite of hailing from Pakistan, which is also synonymously known as a terrorist state, the all-rounder cricketer, has been able to earn respect in the international cricket. His engagement in the never-ending, sometimes petty, Indo-Pak politics signifies his will to begin a political career in Pakistan, now that he will have to retire from Cricket.

IPL is a fast money generating event for cricketers all over the world. Afridi was sold for an approximate worth of 4.5 Crore of Rupees ($ 675,000) in the first season of IPL. So, his grudge is real & justified.

Among cricketers, Gautam Gambhir’s response was the first and impactful. According to him, what started on Twitter should also end on Twitter.
There were many other cricketers who responded to Afridi’s tweet.

Captain Virat Kohli, unlike his performance on the ground, chose to be politically correct. His response was ambiguous. "As an Indian, you want to express what is best for your nation and my interests are always for the benefit of our nation. If anything opposes it, I would never support it for sure. But having said that, it's a very personal choice for someone to comment on certain issues. Unless I have total knowledge of the issues and the intricacies of it I don't engage in it but definitely, your priority stays with your nation", he said to ANI.


But among all, World Cup-fame former captain Kapil Dev’s response was the most appropriate when he wondered why Afridi was even receiving importance. "Who is he? Why are we giving importance to him? We should not be giving importance to certain people.” I would rate his response a 5-star.

Shoaib Akhtar, who with India’s help, makes good money by pursuing cricket commentary, looks confused. First, he tweeted about the trending Salman Khan case but deleted that later. In his first tweet, he hilariously compared an Indian state of Kashmir with Salman Khan and some of the most troubled regions of the world like Yemen, Afghanistan, and Syria.“Kashmir, wants it to be 'free' like with some of Later, he moderated his stand in his next tweets. The deleted first tweet was only to grab attention.
At last, Pakistani cricketers have only ridiculed themselves. If they want to play IPL or international cricket with India, they should first make their army & ISI people realize that they would not be getting anything with the jihadist militants they create for Kashmir. Doing theatrics on Twitter is no solution and will only serve the purpose of entertaining followers. Also, as long as India plays a role in bringing riches and glory to the Pakistanis —actors, singers, cricketers— they do not feel the need of talking about the so-called uprising in Kashmir. The grumble begins if the perks coming from India is stopped.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Marvels Of Board Exams

AFTER AN EXHILARATING HOLI, comes the boring and haunting board exam, the exam for which no amount of preparation gives an impression of sufficiency. Students across the nation get excited as well as depressed. They are ‘excitingly depressed’. Excited to give the final exam of their school life, to enter into a new world, and depressed thinking what society would say if their marks won't be that good. Sharma Ji’s meritorious child is making things worse. While the level of questions asked in the exams has become easy these days, the quality of students being produced is decreasing, WhatsApp, Social Media and expansion of internet are to blame. The internet and smartphones may help students in their higher studies, but it misfires in case of younger kids. It only serves as a distraction, the biggest of modern times. Earlier, when kids go out to play some sports , it was treated as a distraction from studies. But now, it has been understood clearly that it wasn't seeing...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Story Behind WhatsApp Stirring Campaign To Stop Fake News And Rumours In India

After the government's timely reprimand to the ridiculously popular messaging app famous for reducing the barrier of distance between people, making business communication and note sharing easier — all with high privacy; and equally infamous for propagating provocative messages, fake news and rumours which, on several occasions, have resulted in the creation of a violent and murderous mob even costing lives of many, and then showing middle finger to the law enforcement bodies along with the judiciary, the app now appears to be taking things a little more seriously. The government, on last year, had slapped the Facebook-owned WhatsApp with legal notices with a clear warning that it would consider the messaging platform as an abettor in the spread of toxic rumours resulting in disharmony among citizens with law and order problems for the state, and will have to face the legal consequences in failing to put adequate checks for the same. As the world's largest democracy w...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Whistle For The 2019 Political Battle Is Blown And The Bahubali Ready

ON THE VERY FIRST DAY OF 2019, with an exclusive interview to the ANI, Narendra Bahubali made his intentions crystal clear. That the Bahubali is not gratified with just one term and is ready to battle for the another. For the critics, it would be interesting to find out if there is going to be any Katappa or it’ll be a Katappa-less battle. Ok, let's be serious. Politics is a serious subject, no? Let’s talk about Smita Prakash who seems to be Mr Modi's preferred choice of journalists in order to move and shake the political discourse of the nation. Speaking of her, I must tell you, the lady is a very great listener. To interview someone like Modi, you need to be a good listener rather than a good speaker. Because, you know, he goes on and on… and on. Eventually, he ends up wooing you. Though not if you have some predefined political goals or loyalty to a particular party. The interview was much-needed from him to upgrade his party’s morale for the bigger battle ah...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Great Indian Bank Fraud - A Look Into PNB SCAM

India’s second largest bank, PNB, has been duped with a massive amount of 11400 cr by a billionaire jewellery designer Nirav Modi, now a fugitive. Before being named and investigated in the mega- bank-fraud, the celebrity designer has been featured in Forbes India's Richest People List 2016. Not to mention, Mr Modi has been seen in the World Economic Forum summit at Davos with PM Modi himself. It explains his network. There must be multiple levels of corruption involved in Nirav Modi scam — from the highest management in the bank to bureaucracy, all must have colluded together to make this scam come true. Netas, too, are part of big businessman-banker nexus as they are the ones who fund the election campaign secretly. To reiterate, political parties fundings still do not come under the scanner of RTI. Indian Banking Exposed PNB, in a statement, said that fraudulent transactions took place in one of its branches in Mumbai with their apparent connivance. A single br...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Official Arrival Of #MeToo In India

American civil rights activist and founder of neo-feminist movement #MeToo, Tarana Burke asked women to open up about sexual harassment they've experienced in the past, or facing it right now. She said, “ You don’t have to tell your story, you just have to say Me Too. ”  Since then, there have been shocking accounts of women describing their unfortunate experiences, and thereby holding a mirror to the civilised society. They range from stories of assault to stalking to intimidation. With each further account making clear that there was a systemic pattern of abuse and silence. Now as a hashtag, #MeToo symbolises solidarity and support of thousands and is today one of the most momentous contemporary movements globally. The reason for the success of this movement, obviously, is the popularity of social media and the involvement of many well-known people mainly from the entertainment industry of Hollywood. MeToo Arrives India Now, it seems that MeToo has arrived India. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Does India As A State Obliged Towards Her Citizens For Providing Them Employment?

As the Modi-led BJP government has failed to rescue India from Job crisis in its five-year term, the question is whether the government has done enough to maintain the equilibrium in the job market of the country? And whether or not the government should be held liable for creating this crisis in the first place? Screenshot from movie 3 idiots Article 41 {Right to work, to education and to public assistance in certain cases} under DPSP says: “The State shall, within the limits of its economic capacity and development, make effective provision for securing the right to work, to education and to public assistance in cases of unemployment, old age, sickness and disablement, and in other cases of undeserved want.” The DPSP cannot be enforced by any court, but the principles laid down in this part are nevertheless fundamental in the governance of the country, and it should be the duty of the State to apply these principles in making laws. We also need to look back to Mo...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Sensational Case of Salman Khan and Black Bucks, After Two Decades Justice Served?

Before beginning, I would like to reiterate that Salman Khan is just a cinema star, nothing more nothing less. So leave celebrity worship aside and try to be pragmatic. Salman Khan’s past was nowhere similar to his modern-day superhit films. Infamously known as the bad boy of Bollywood, he has been directly involved in criminal cases of pretty grave nature. Hit-and-run case , in which he allegedly under the influence of alcohol ran his car on the footpath in which one person was killed and four got injured. In that case, first his driver was made a scapegoat but a little while later, things became murky the result of which Khan was acquitted by the Mumbai HC in 2015. His relationship with Aishwarya Rai (Bachchan) fetched an excellent TRPs to our media, first with and rumours about their relationship, then with confirmed rumours, and even after the break-up, when former miss world accused him of harassing her. Black Bucks/Chinkara poaching case , about which this post is all abo...
Post a Comment
Read more