Cricket diplomacy leads to new Indo-Pakistani contacts
New Delhi (AsiaNews/Agencies) – The prime ministers of India and Pakistan met today in Chandigarh (Punjab) ahead of the World Cup cricket semi-final between the two countries. In both countries, people are waiting excitedly for the match whose outcome could influence the fate of the two governments.
This is the first time the two sides are playing each other since the 2008 Mumbai attacks by Pakistan-based Islamist militants that killed 165 people. India believes the attack was planned with the aid of elements in the Pakistani military, a charge Islamabad has vehemently denied. Since then, relations between the two traditional rivals have been tense.
Yousuf Raza Gilani flew in overnight, heeding a personal invitation by the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in what some have dubbed “cricket diplomacy”.
The two leaders arrived together to the stadium in Mohali, near Chandigarh. They both greeted the two teams, and spoke with the players (pictured).
With a loud applause, the public greeted them as well as International Cricket Council (ICC) President Sharad Pawar as they stepped onto the field. After a walkabout, the two leaders sat together in the VIP box to watch the game. The stadium was under tight security with planes banned from the sky overhead.
The match comes after the two countries agreed to have their respective teams investigating the 2008 attacks visit each other in order to fight the shared threat posed by terrorism.
In February, the two parties had agreed to renew peace talks (the two fought wars over Kashmir) with all issues on the table. Pakistan's foreign minister is set to visit India in July to review progress.
Cricket is the national sport in both India and Pakistan. The game between their respective teams in the World Cup semi-finals is a major event in two nations. Both had poor showings in the most recent competitions.
Previous matches also saw unpleasant incidents. In 1989, Pakistani fans threw stones at Indian players during a match in Karachi. In 2000, Hindu nationalists dug up the cricket pitch in New Delhi to protest against the Pakistani team’s visit.
Analysts believe that an Indian victory could help Prime Minister Singh who is facing a hung parliament, following allegations of corruption against his government and many street protests.
About a billion people are expected to watch the match. In Pakistan, the authorities declared a half-day holiday to allow fans to watch it. At the same time, many businesses in both countries shut for the occasion. In India, many streets were empty when the match started. Tickets for the game were sold out long ago, and only those willing to spend ten times the original price could buy any at the last moment.
Members of the two teams vowed they would play with the maximum of fair play, even though they also said they were certain of victory.
Fans were less diplomatic, noting that this was “the biggest sporting rivalry in Asia if not the world”.
Experts note that the match has a larger following than the Super Bowl, the championship game of the US National Football League (NFL), because of the politics, history, nationalism and religions of the two nations.
The winner will play against Sri Lanka for the final next Saturday, in Mumbai.
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15/10/2015
