After long,the balance in the Pakistani press has tipped towards good news. Courtesy,Pakistans victory in the World T20 championship at the legendary Lords cricket ground. Mohammed Malick made an incisive analysis of Pakistans moment of glory in The News on June 22. For the first time in months,the people have come out of a perpetual pall of depressive gloom. Millions poured out on the streets to celebrate as a nation. They danced on the same streets where they had been mourning their dead,lighting candles for martyrs of extremism. For one beautiful day,it felt great to be mentally free,felt proud to be a Pakistani. Nobody cared about suicide bombers,Taliban were passe,drones could go drown in the Atlantic,life was cricket being measured not in days or hours but in six-ball overs.
The team Pakistan defeated at Lords became the cause of their fall from world cricket when the Sri Lankan team was attacked in Lahore earlier this year. The bus driver who braved bullet injuries and drove them to safety on that fateful day was reported by Dawn on June 22 as hailing Team Pakistan: We desperately needed this victory because theres so much happening around our country, said Mohammad Khalil. Sri Lanka is our friend and it will remain our friend,but I wanted Pakistan to win todays match.
Its not just the press or the people who are gushing over this vicotory,but also the ruling class. The News reported on June 22: The president has announced Rs 1 million each for captain Younis Khan and all-rounder Shahid Khan Afridi, said Salman Faruqi,secretary-general to the president. All the remaining members of the Pakistan cricket team and others will get Rs 0.5 million each. And each member of the team will be decorated in a unique way worthy of the occasion, he said.
Daily Times appeared to celebrate the reported celebrations in Srinagar. On June 22,it carried an interesting report: Srinagar erupted in celebration as Pakistan beat Sri Lanka and scores of Kashmiri youth poured on to the streets and lit firecrackers. The youths also chanted pro-Pakistan and pro-freedom slogans as Indian paramilitary troops stayed in their bunkers,witnesses said. Thousands of Kashmiris were glued to their TVs to watch the tense final. It is a great victory and one day I hope we will merge with Pakistan, said a die-hard Pakistani cricket fan,Muhammed Yaseen.
