It’s not the first time Pakistani sportsmen have been denied participation in a major sporting event held in Modi-ruled India. The national junior hockey team was unable to feature in the Junior Hockey World Cup in Lucknow because of visa issues while Pakistan’s kabaddi team was kept away from the sport’s World Cup in India using similar tactics.

It would be an understatement to suggest that the political relations between Pakistan and India are strained. But that has been the case for the best part of our post-Independence history. The two neigbours have fought wars and continue to be hostile towards one another. Cross-border sporting exchanges did suffer in the past but it seems that the Modi regime has decided to keep Pakistani sportspersons away from India. That’s certainly a problem for Pakistan. The thing is that over the years, Indians have used their financial muscle to make cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai etc into major sporting destinations. India yields enormous influence in international sporting bodies like the International Cricket Council (ICC), International Hockey Federation (FIH) and World Squash Federation (WSF). It can win the hosting rights to major cricket, hockey and squash events almost at will. And from where I see it, it can also decide, with the exception of cricket, to keep Pakistan out of such events.

You can criticise India for mixing politics with sports and for misusing its growing influence in international sports to undermine Pakistan. But the real responsibility lies on the shoulders of our own sports authorities. Over the years, they have grown so spineless that they can’t even take on their Indian counterparts. They have also grown so clueless that they can’t even garner the support of the international sports fraternity. It’s a sad decline considering that there was a time when Pakistan’s sports officials provided leadership in sports like cricket and hockey not just at the Asian level but at the international level. Visionaries like Nur Khan put Pakistan sports on the path to glory. His successors have since taken us off it.

Across our sporting spectrum, one can see incompetence, infighting, vested interests and lack of professionalism. Our sports bodies work like mafias and are more interested in serving self interest than anything else. In a way, it’s not very different from the rest of the world. Top officials running cash-rich organisations like FIFA enjoy lavish lifestyles, unpublished salaries while operating with seeming impunity. In their smaller domains, our sports chiefs do the same.

They travel the world, all expenses paid. They hire and fire people, almost at will. They cater to their whims and fancies. And the best part is that there is no accountability. That is why it is hardly surprising that while the Indians continue to isolate our sportspersons, we are yet to even begin devising a strategy that help us counter their offensive tactics. The way things are going, Indian influence in the world of sports will continue to grow. More and more international sports events especially in games like cricket, hockey, squash and kabaddi will take place in India. The Indians, unless they have a change of heart, will continue blocking Pakistan’s participation in such events. What is Pakistan going to do about it? Continue taking it lying down like it has done so far or maybe put up a fight?

From my experience, I would say that there is little likelihood of anything more than a little hue and cry, happening in the aftermath of yet another setback. There will be threats about taking the Indians to court and maybe we will even follow through but the fight won’t be fought the way it should be. There will be no concrete efforts to resolve this issue once and for all. Not that our officials don’t want to do it. Unfortunately, they aren’t capable of planning and executing anything that demands vision, professionalism and hard work. After all, it’s not those qualities that got them where they are today. And they are there today not to fight all those long drawn battles. They are there to travel the world, all expenses paid and things like that.

When small men attempt great enterprises, they always end by reducing them to the level of their mediocrity. Napoleon Bonaparte got it right. Our sports chiefs inherited a great enterprise. They have succeeded in ruining it.