THIS is what you get for pressing for freedom of expression. There was an age when everything was so uncomplicated.

There would be one official announcement, a single policy statement for everyone around to adhere to and follow. Gen Pervez Musharraf has left but he leaves behind his media to produce confusion by mixing up all kinds of remarks in one bowl round the clock. No one knows what the cacophony is about as those who strictly follow the old golden principle of keeping most of it to themselves fade out in the wake of these loud and often senseless advances of the marchers who must not just speak but speak out strongly.

Every now and then, we hear an official in the old mould trying to establish the writ of the governmental word. Say it is Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan since he does have that conventional look about him. He stands by the podium and tries to clear the air with an authoritative talk about the subject at hand. The minister’s colleagues in the party and cabinet are ready to swear by his integrity. They say if he has committed himself to something he will go ahead with it. For example, if Chaudhry Nisar has pledged to move Interpol to bring Gen Musharraf back to Pakistan in the unlikely case that the general’s presence is thought to be necessary here he will not renege on it.

Every now and then, we hear an official in the old mould trying to establish the writ of the governmental word.

But then the minister is an exception to the rule, someone who stands out not least because his cabinet colleagues are not forthright in making promises and keeping them sometimes. Due to the Pakistani media’s obsession with a favourite technique, the flashback, many of these ministers are heard declaring the most dire consequences for themselves — if Gen Musharraf were given a special deal that allowed him to escape the rigours of Pakistani law.

It is now recalled, with some amusement and a mock shake of the head, how some of these PML-N stalwarts had vowed to make the ultimate sacrifice. They said they would have nothing more to do with the people and the party if General Sahib was allowed out through some dark opening.

As they now cling to power insisting they had set conditions for their, in some cases much-needed, premature retirement from politics, they are subjected to boos by the crowd. All they needed was to be a little more careful in their assertions then to be potentially less embarrassed now.

Or they could use their freedom to not express now. They have this freedom just as those before them had it. It is a freedom which is quite useful when a storm is to be avoided and a row is not to be created. Only these politicians must do a Shahid Afridi on us every evening in a bid to outdo others in prime-time theatre.

We know they can be more cautious than Shahid Afridi when they want to be and it is only on selective current emotional subjects that they tend to get carried away. Normally, in these circumstances they wouldn’t quite like to discuss Kashmiri support for Pakistan unless it is Kashmir Day or a similar occasion that justifies the ceremonial statement. Afridi, on the other hand, chooses to express before the game and acknowledges the Kashmiri fans inside the Mohali stadium for the Pakistan-New Zealand match.

The rest was foregone. Afridi was apparently too exhausted following the statement he had, in all seriousness, innocently made to have too much of an influence on the match afterwards. It was the Indian cricket board which chastened the Pakistan captain, the probable assumption being that in that country they are still stuck with recognising the Pakistani (men) cricketers more as sportsmen than politicians.

What has been relayed by the media in the name of freedom of expression suggests otherwise. The cricketers representing this country — members of the men’s team let it be emphasised again — have their sessions. They have playing sessions and then they have long stretches where they concentrate purely and solely on subjects that are routinely placed in the category of politics, one brand or level or another. Even Intikhab Alam now must have an audience for his seething anger — through media leaks of his secret reports. From the team the habit travels right up the hierarchy in the Pakistan Cricket Board where people from other professions are brought together by a joint urge to take the game to ever newer heights.

Indeed, it could be these highly placed sources of inspiration in the PCB who have set the formula for hitting out that is then followed by the impressionable members of the team. The kind of statements attributed to the likes of Afridi and Umar Akmal routinely could not have come about without this tradition that puts low premium on keeping at least some things hush-hush for the time being.

One educating consequence of the trend involving PCB officials and the national players is the open, one-of-a-kind exchange that recently took place in full public view. It was about the long unresolved and extremely critical affair — Umar Akmal’s place in the batting order. It was the player versus the gentleman no less than the one who heads the board.

The batsman, who has frequently been found practising his expressive skills on Gaddafi Stadium guards and traffic wardens in Lahore, believes he should be batting at a higher position than he has been allowed in his disappointing career to date. It is obviously too important a subject to escape the scrutiny of patriotic Pakistanis and plain professionals. It is clear that Akmal is not too receptive to the standard solutions this world can offer. Maybe we need to pacify him with the final Pakistani line that teaches us submission in the face of the impossible. This is how it is going to be for you, Akmal, until the independence of Kashmir. Only the freedom to cheer Pakistan won’t do.

The writer is Dawn’s resident editor in Lahore.

Published in Dawn, March 25th, 2016