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Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Postponement: Not in the spirit of the game
Editor The News London
LONDON: The ICC’s decision to ‘postpone’ the Champions Trophy which was scheduled to start in September in Pakistan, is a disappointing one, although it is far from surprising or unexpected. Once England and Australia had refused to play, the tournament was always going to be in trouble, showing that much of cricketing power still lies with these two countries in spite of India’s recent financial cricketing might.
The use of the word ‘postpone’ here is a bit of an euphemism for it is unlikely that the war against terror in Pakistan or, for that matter anywhere else in the world, can be won in a year. SO although the ‘postponement’ still gives Pakistan some hope, it is not likely that this tournament is going to be played in Pakistan at all.
The history of this postponement leaves a rather unpleasant taste in the mouth. The ICC’s original assessment was that Pakistan was safe to play and after all, the Asia Cup had been successfully held in Pakistan only a couple of months ago.
On this basis, Pakistan had majority support within the ICC that the tournament should go ahead in Pakistan and the ICC therefore decided that the tournament would go ahead in Pakistan.
Some of the players associations then came out with a private assessment that was different and used that to voice their apprehensions about playing in Pakistan and the ICC ultimately succumbed to these apprehensions. In doing so, the ICC has kicked the assessment of its own security officials in the teeth and has not enhanced its authority in any way.
The simple and obvious way of going about this would be to say that while the tournament would go ahead, individual players could make their own decisions whether to tour or not. But the boards should have been bound to send a representative team, failure ot do so attracting a thumping fine.
There is also a political angle to this. The situation in Pakistan deteriorates when the Taliban and their ilk are being hit hard by the Pakistani security forces. The recent suicide bomb strikes in Pakistan are directly related to the gains that the government has been making against the extremists in the tribal areas.
We are told ad nuaseum that the fight against terror is a global fight and that it effects everyone; if it does, everyone should be showing a little more solidarity with Pakistan, especially since a huge bulk of public opinion in Pakistan already feels that this is the West’s war, not PakistanÌs. This, it would seem, would have been an excellent opportunity to stand with Pakistan and reaffirm the global commitment to the war on terror by people from a range of different countries coming to Pakistan and taking part in a high profile sporting event.
The shying away from Pakistan gives exactly the sort of message that should not be given — namely, the global community telling Pakistan that while it may be just us much our war as yours, you do the dying and if there is any risk involved, count us out. That nebulous entity known as the spirit of the game has undergone many changes of late, but it couldn’t have changed to that extent.
The Taliban, of course, have not reacted to the postponement at all, confirming that such events are not in their focus and enforcing the argument that the PCB and Pakistani authorities have made all along that cricket has never been a target of the terrorists and that therefore it would have been perfectly safe for the Champions Trophy to go ahead in Pakistan.
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ISSN 1563-9479 
