By IANS,
New Delhi: The uproar in Pakistan over its cricketers being left out of the Indian Premier League (IPL) Thursday led to heated debate in India too with some experts describing it as paranoia and others maintaining that the players were not given a fair deal.
“The IPL is a private affair. It’s their prerogative to decide whom to take and whom not to take. Why bring the government into it?” Satish Chandra, former deputy national security advisor, told IANS.
Chandra, who also served as India’s high commissioner in Islamabad between 1995 and 1998, said he was surprised by the “paranoid reaction in Pakistan and those of bleeding hearts in India”.
They have taken no serious action against terrorists linked to the 2008 Mumbai attacks, he said.
Agreed Uma Singh, professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University’s School for International Studies: “Pakistan is just blowing up the issue and overreacting.”
She speculated that Pakistan’s “overreaction” could also be another way of showing its frustration over its increasing global isolation over terrorism.
Pointing to US Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ warning to Pakistan to root out the Al Qaeda and associated terror groups, Uma Singh said: “We need to remember what Gates said yesterday. Pakistan is feeling very humiliated and isolated.”
P.R. Chari of Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies, a New Delhi-based think tank, also suspected a method behind all the sound and fury in Islamabad.
He said the Pakistani military establishment may be using the IPL issue to “divert” public attention. “What they are really bothered about, there seems to be a kind of universality in shunning the country. They possibly want to divert attention from what Robert Gates said (yesterday).”
Bharat Karnad of the Centre for Policy Research felt a little differently.
He said the government was also in the wrong, because of the “ambiguous signals” it gave to the IPL over the status of Pakistani cricketers if another major terrorist attack happened against India.
Asserting that “India had shot itself in the foot”, he said India as a rising power had to “learn to treat its neighbours well”. “Pakistan has every right to feel humiliated.”
Kuldeep Nayar, veteran journalist and an ardent peacenik, concurred that it was an overreaction on Pakistan’s part but added that there was “enough evidence to show that the Pakistani players were not given a fair deal.”
Nayar, however, felt that the incident would not impact people-to-people contacts in the future.
While Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik said the manner in which the Pakistani players were “insulted” showed that India was not serious about the peace process, a parliamentary delegation’s visit was cancelled with National Assembly Speaker Fehmida Mirza announcing that it was to protest the “treatment meted out” to the country’s cricketers in the IPL tournament.
External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna made it clear that the Indian government had nothing to do with the IPL decision.
In a veiled reminder to Pakistan to act fast against 26/11 accused, the external affairs asked Pakistan to introspect on the “reasons which have put a strain on bilateral ties” and clarified that 17 Pakistani players were given visas.
In the past, both sides have resorted to cricket diplomacy in times of diplomatic tensions and to boost people-to-people contacts.
“Cricket diplomacy has brought people closer in the past, remember,” said Uma Singh. Echoing her remarks, Karnad said, “Cricket is a frivolous thing. But, it has brought Indians and Pakistanis together.”
“Maybe, IPL can find a secondary way to get some of the Pakistani players to get into the teams. They could just admit that they were wrong,” he added.