Brothers in arms, sports and films

The desire for a visit across the border runs deep in Peshawar, which surprisingly, has a rich heritage of sport.

While football is the most popular, the first hockey Indo-Pak Test drew a record crowd at the Lala Ayub Stadium yesterday. But then, there have been several Olympians from the capital of Sarhad — Brigadier Abdul Hamidi, who led Pakistan to gold in 1960 Olympics, his cousin Manzoor Junior, the gutsy defender Qazi Muhib and many more. Cricket comes way down, though Shahid Afridi comes from these parts.

Peshawar isalso the Mecca of squash. All the Pakistani greats from Roshan Khan to Qamar Zaman, Jehangir Khan and Jansher Khan were born in a village on the outskirts of the city.

Qasim, the cab driver, pointed out the buildings in the sadar area, which once belonged to those who migrated to India after the partition and insisted that the Indian fans were partisan and not as sporting as the Pakistanis.

“But I am not into sports. I love Indian films. Dilip Kumar and Shahrukh Khan are my favourites. After all, they are our people,” the Pathan says with pride.

A striking feature of Peshawar is the sizeable population of Sikhs here, who, however, keep a low profile.

In fact, an Indian Sikh journalist, with his colourful turban, was the centre of attention during the first match. Cheer-leading ChachaMalik Ata Muhammed is the Percy Abeysekara of Pakistan. This hockey freak, popularly known as Chacha and Ata, is a regular feature at all hockey matches in Pakistan. Flag in one hand, and a cap in another, he can beseen running around the stadium revelling in the cheerleader’s role.

The former Railways employee has a free pass to all matches and enjoys access even to the team bench.

One of the Pakistani journalists revealed that the late President Zia-ul-Haq offered a motorcycle to Ata for his devotion to hockey.And the Ata said, “I can’t afford petrol, so give me a cycle”.