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Indo-Pak standoff may continue to eternity

There is nothing more complicated than India-Pakistan relations. Cricket in the form of the IPL has only added more to the disarray. Even as the fiasco of the auction in which no Pakistani player was bought by the eight franchises rages, mixed signals keep coming from both sides of the border.

It would not be out of place to mention here that while people seem close enough to find a lasting solution to the Northern Ireland problem and there is always the hope that the Palestine question might be resolved at some point in history, the India-Pakistan standoff seems set to continue to eternity.

Cricket may have played a diplomatic role in the past when relations were quite frosty at many points in 63 years. But this is one occasion on which the game has done the opposite in fanning discord. So cluttered has the thinking been post-auction that different voices are being heard from both sides of the border, sometimes in the form of one person voicing changing opinions.

The fact of the matter is the IPL teams took a commercial decision not to bid for Pakistani players. Whether this was because of visa uncertainties or purely for security reasons can only be guessed at. The truth is the franchises were unwilling to let any potential problem come in the way of their bottom line. Given the financial stakes, they are not to be blamed.

The other problem with the subcontinent is it tends to get carried away in emotions. There is apparently a lot more feeling than cold reasoning when it comes to most matters and sport, particularly cricket, can trigger huge sentimentality in these areas. That's why the divide always seems bigger than it may actually be.

Take for instance, this matter of the IPL moving to South Africa. Not given security guarantees, the league moved lock, stock and barrel after which the home ministry made a lot of noise about how unwarranted the move seemed. But now that IPL has acted in this manner in the Pakistan player issue, the government is piling on the pressure by saying it would be nice to get the Pakistanis in.

In the days when cricket was subservient to government despite its financial autonomy, the two used to talk in unison. But such a change has come about since the game vaulted the billion dollar barrier since the birth of the IPL. The equations changed so much the league could take such decision as shifting out of the country to run its second edition.

Seen dispassionately, the move to South Africa was justified even if it denied the Indian fan his quota of on-site thrills. An assured schedule not disrupted by the general elections was a priority for the game. What we are seeing now is an IPL-3 struggle that reflects some of the residual animosity even as the league puts its interests above everything else.

When the Sports Minister digs his oar in to complicate the issue by suggesting that the Pakistanis be drafted now, the depth of the divide becomes apparent. No one in his right mind would say that sport and politics should mix. Everyone would welcome an ideal sports world in which the best compete with each other. The question is whether that is possible.

We must tarry a moment to think over where the world has come to in terms of terror threats, etc. Seen against that background, no decision is going to easy even for an individual cricketer with regard to whether to play his game where danger may lurk. The plight of a league can then be imagined. These are serious issues that demand clear thinking, not knee-jerk emotionalism.

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