Opinion Dr. Singhs cricket diplomacy
In inviting Pakistans civilian leaders to witness the World Cup cricket semifinal at Mohali next week,Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has rolled the dice again.
In inviting Pakistans civilian leaders to witness the World Cup cricket semifinal at Mohali next week,Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has rolled the dice again. Much like his predecessor and the BJP leader,Atal Bihari Vajpayee,Dr. Singh is not willing to give up on Pakistan.
Whether the PMs initiative is successful or not,the opportunity that the India-Pak world cup semifinal presented was too good to be missed. That the match was taking place in the Punjab–which arguably might hold the key to eventual Indo-Pak reconciliation– added a very special dimension to the occasion.
Cricket diplomacy is now very much a part of Indo-Pak diplomatic tradition. In 1987,Gen. Zia ul Haque invited himself to witness a cricket match in India as part of his effort to defuse tensions following a military confrontation. Gen. Musharraf did much the same in April 2005,when he wrangled an invitation from Dr. Singh to witness an Indo-Pak cricket match in Delhi. The talks during that visit produced the basis for a serious bilateral negotiation on resolving the dispute over Jammu & Kashmir.
This time it is Indias turn at cricket diplomacy. Dr. Singh today wrote separate but identical letters to Pak President Asif Ali Zardari and the Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani inviting them to join him at Mohali on March 30.
There is huge excitement over the match and we are all looking forward to a great game of cricket,that will be a victory for sport, Dr. Singh told Zardari and Gilani.
For Vajpayee,persistence paid off. Will Dr. Singh will be lucky this time?
Recall Vajpayees invitation to Gen. Pervez Musharraf in 2001 to visit Delhi and Agra to renew the dialogue between the two nations that was stalled in the wake of the Kargil war in the summer of 1999.
After the terrorist attack on the Parliament in December 2001 and the prolonged military tensions between the two countries during much of 2002,Vajpayee had once again extended the hand of friendship to Pakistan in the summer of 2003.
Vajpayee himself visited Pakistan in January 2004,a visit that finally produced a new framework for the peace process. Dr. Singh,who succeeded Vajpayee in the summer of 2004,ran with the ball to produce one of the most productive phases in the history of Indo-Pak relations.
In retrospect,the period 2004-07 that saw all-round improvement in bilateral relations,was too good to last. Musharraf,who began to lose political ground from March 2007,was ousted from power by 2008.
The attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul in July 2008 and the outrage against Mumbai in November 2008 applied massive brakes on the peace process.
Sine his return to power in May 2009,Dr. Singh has made repeated efforts at reviving the peace process,despite the lack of progress on Pakistans part to punish the plotters of the Mumbai attack.
Although India and Pakistan are all set to begin a full round of consultations at the official level next week,there is no expectation at all of a major movement forward.
In gambling with a big political gesture,Dr. Singh has little to lose. If Pakistan responds positively he would look a winner; and if Islamabad does not,Dr. Singh can claim he has done all he could to move the peace process forward.
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