Opinion Printline Pakistan

No sporting matter

Cricket supposedly transcends all barriers between India and Pakistan,but the recent IPL misadventure has dealt a strong blow to already shaky Indo-Pak relations. Daily Times quoted former cricketer Abdul Qadir on January 21: “It is time the PCB organised its own league. If need arises we should hold this league even at a neutral venue and try to invite as many Indian players as possible to give out a clear message we don’t mix sports with politics.” Former captain Zaheer Abbas said: “The fact is the IPL is a private enterprise and if their franchises are not willing to take our players what can anyone do? But there is no doubt that our players and Pakistan cricket have been humiliated and insulted at such a big forum in a planned manner… Our players and officials should also not go to India for any reason. But if we want a betterment of ties with India then we should just keep quiet.” he said. Former pacer Sarfraz Nawaz was more vocal in his take on the auction. “I think IPL and the Indian government have lost a golden opportunity to help improve ties between the two countries. I really do believe there were political reasons behind the way our players were snubbed at the auction and it is most unfortunate.” Giving a diplomatic twist to this sordid saga was Pakistan ‘s office,one again,as Dawn reported on January 22: “ The Foreign Office said that the exclusion of Pakistani cricketers from the bidding process of the IPL ‘is a decision influenced by variables extraneous to sports.”

No reconciliation yet

The controversial National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) has been resurrected,extending the drama over the exonerated beneficiaries from Pervez Musharraf’s era. An editorial in The News on January 19 said: “Precisely a month after the Supreme Court declared the NRO null and void the federal government has filed a review petition against the verdict. Its move suggests complete desperation given the government had opted not to defend the controversial law in the court when the case first came up for hearing. It now claims,rather lamely,that the short order delivered by the apex court on December 16 goes against previous rulings in the matter and that various mistakes were made. Constitutional experts seem to agree that the chances the petition will be accepted look,from the government’s point of view,rather bleak. No definite error in the SC verdict has been pointed out while the government’s change of lawyer is also a violation of SC rules which lay down that the same lawyer presenting the case should file the review petition.” Daily Times on January 20 was crisper,predicting trouble for Zardari: “The Supreme Court held that criminal cases could not be withdrawn in the name of reconciliation as it declared the NRO never to have existed and against the constitution… The judgement cited the example of Filipino dictator Ferdinand Marcos,whose laundered money was brought back from the safety vaults of Swiss banks,adding the example could be taken as a reference.”