The Indian cricket team is currently visiting Pakistan as part of a five-week cricket tour. This visit is by no means an ordinary sports tour. For the first time in nearly 15 years, one nuclear-powered neighbor is visiting another on a grand scale.
The bone of contention between the two countries concerns the north Indian state of Kashmir over which India and Pakistan have fought two of their three wars. The relationship reached dangerous levels after India broke off diplomatic ties with Pakistan following an attack on the Indian Parliament in 2001. International pressure forced the two sides to back off from the near war scenario. Peace talks have been underway since last fall, and hopes are pinned on cricket as yet another step toward reconciliation.
Meanwhile on another continent, here at the UT Indo-Pak relations were furthered in their own unique way by Pakistani student-couple Assed and Tanya Jehangir when they offered their Indian neighbors, Satyendra Tomar and his wife Shashi, free access to their cable television so that they too could enjoy the cricket series.
Satyendra Tomar (India), EEMCS, explains, `Of course I want to see our team win, but if we lose I would applaud the Pakistani team's strengths. It will definitely step up the peace process - where else can one see people of both countries holding each other's flags?'
Khurrem Jehangir (Pakistan), WWG, usually considers cricket with India as separate from politics. But this time he hopes that the series will indeed mend the relationship. He says, `I think that more important than winning is the fact that we can see the two exciting teams play together.'
Makarand Pimplapure (India), TNW, observes, `Cricket is akin to religion in both countries. Nationality ceases to be an issue for cricket lovers. I am sure Indian players are very popular in Pakistan as are Pakistani players in India. I am happy that the Indian team is visiting Pakistan; other countries have declined for security fears - so it is a monumental goodwill gesture. But, I hope the media does not create unrealistic expectations about the gains from this visit.'
Imran Fazal (Pakistan), TNW, declares, `I don't know about the peace process, but this kind of interaction should be encouraged since people from the two countries can visit each other. I meet Indians at the UT and it is nice to know their views on different issues. Understanding and appreciation can develop only when people from both sides can move in and out of each other's countries without fear or trepidation.'
Will this `cricket-diplomacy' succeed? Hopes are raised by precedent, recalling `ping-pong diplomacy,' when, after two decades of hostility between the US and China, a visit by American players to China for a table-tennis tournament successfully thawed their frosty relationship.
