October 5, 2003

By allowing the South Africans to ignore Karachi and Peshawar, the PCB has set a dangerous precedence

UST how much confusion prevails in the decision making corridors of South African cricket can be judged by the fact that no one really knows who took the decision to call off the tour. On the night the news broke that the South African team had started unpacking their bags a day before they were to depart, Rameez Raja was under the impression that it was the players who had contrived to have the tour called off whereas another version coming through from PCB was that it was the South African cricket board who had called off the tour.

What was at once laughable and annoying was that it was being reported that someone in the SACB had heard about a blast from a news source and, without even talking to the PCB or even touching base with the ICC, had called the media and announced the decision. As Mr Omar Kureishi commented, whoever is that mystery man should be put under investigation. There is room for suspicion that this could have been a deliberate attempt to malign Pakistan, even sabotage the tour. I am told that even the President of the Board did not know about the cancellation, though I am sure that is a report that may have gone through a little extention of the truth. But I’m sure that not everyone in key positions was on board.

Someone out there is either living life on the edge or is about to, once the enquiry is finished. And if there has been none, then it really should be initiated. Otherwise, the South African Cricket Board can be rightly blamed for taking the issue of Pakistan’s self respect too lightly. This was not something that can be shrugged off by saying: “Oops... I didn’t read the fine print of the news story.”

What the SACB should also realize is that they have made themselves into something of a joke in the international cricket boards. Their three-member team had given the green signal, Mike Proctor was singing praises with the security arrangements in Pakistan and their High Commissioner felt there was no danger to the team. And this was a few hours before the news came from Johannesburg that the tour was off. Does that mean that the SACB has no communication in place at the South African embassy here for an emergency issue emanating from Pakistan?

Though one should have empathy for the PCB in such a situation but they have unnecessarily been put in the dock by the South Africans for agreeing to a tour without two of the major cricket centres. It’s like agreeing to come to a party only if two of the people who live there won’t be among the hosts.

Already, there have been mischievous mutterings that South Africa is coming not to Pakistan but to one of its provinces. It is here that I feel the PCB should have stuck to its original policy of ‘No Karachi and Peshawar, No Tour’. I think the PCB would have won their $2.1 million in the ICC arbitrary court, so that would have offset the losses.

I can see the point that Rameez made that they are worried more about the excitement of cricket dying down than the financials, but he has to note that half the country is going through exactly that feeling anyway, even if the South Africans come. Is cricket more important than standing by each other?

Karachiites have been taking this snub for the sake of the country. Life goes on here just like any other city. In fact sectarian killings have taken place in most major cities of the country, especially the Punjab. It is there that all the matches are going to be held. The South Africans have come here before and are aware that Karachi is not really Robben Island where people can be locked away for the tourists to have a ball at the beaches of Cape Town.

There are air, road and rail links. If someone wants to be nasty to the South Africans he can do it anywhere in Pakistan. And the list of probable cities includes Johannesburg and Cape Town. In some ways South Africa is more of a terrorist threat to cricketers. No one from the West has ever been mugged in Pakistan in the fifty years that we have entertained teams from the ‘civilized world’ as they are known for.

And yet Pakistani players have been mugged and manhandled in South Africa in 1994, though admittedly they shouldn’t have been where they were. And when we were there during the World Cup in March 2003, the official tour guide for the media had warnings asking media people not to go out after dark, and to travel in groups!

Further, it was mentioned that if anyone approaches you with a bad intent, do not resist!

The houses in Johannesburg there all carry barbed wire with live electricity on top of the eight feet high walls. There may not be a sign outside the gate about who lives there but there will always be one advertising the security company that protects the house.

In one of my friend’s houses in Johannesburg, all the four wheels of his Mercedes were stolen from just such a compound in the dead of night in an area that is supposedly one of the better patrolled areas in the city.

All this is not to in any way denigrate the magnificent country that South Africa is and the natural friendliness of the people, both original natives and the settlers that now make up South Africa. It is only to point out that it is the perceptions that are making Pakistan, and especially Karachi, stand out as places that are dangerous than the rest of the world.

In the 24 hours that followed the initial announcement from South Africa that the tour was off, I received three phone calls from radio stations there asking about what was the general perception here. It were some of the questions, put to me, that made me aware of the perceptions prevailing there as far as we were concerned.

One of them was whether we Pakistanis were thinking of the South Africans and other ‘white’ countries as racists considering that they were the ones most refusing. My answer was that the country that most mourned their losses in the last four World Cups after the South Africans themselves, were the Pakistanis. That is just how much we love them for their cricket. And that is how popular they are.

I also pointed out that we are so crazy about cricket that we care not where they come from as long as they play exciting cricket. And really, I have never seen a placard in the crowd anywhere in Pakistan that has taunted any culture or country.

The other question someone put was whether the Pakistanis had realized that ever since the 1999 coup the teams were avoiding coming here and no one had come other than Bangladesh. That shows that they are linking terror to the government which is ridiculous. My answer to that was that since October 1999 Both Sri Lanka and even England had been here. It was after 9/11 that the problems began, which again had nothing to do with Pakistan government or its people.

I think it is about time that we decide that we are not going to play in certain countries that don’t tour here. If any country can consider itself under threat of bombing from a terrorist organization, as they keep claiming, well then let’s not go there for the safety of our players.

We can’t really allow this to go on. By accepting not to play in Karachi, Quetta and Peshawar we are in a way admitting that there are problems there. There is a case for the Karachi Chamber of Commerce & Industry in this. If the PCB accedes to such requests, foreign investors will read into these decisions and go elsewhere in the country.

The PCB can keep denying that there is no danger but if they agree not to host matches here, it does lead to admittance by a semi-government organization that some of it is true. PCB should guard against playing into the hands of internal and external interests who want to manipulate the investment in Pakistan.

And considering that the head of the PCB is an army man and the patron of PCB is the Chief of the Army who is also the President of Pakistan, it is quite an embarrassment for the people of these cities.

Is cricket bigger than the self respect of the nation? Does the PCB realize that this decision can have other, bigger repercussions for the country? Let us carry on for the sake of the game for the moment, but let’s decide on a policy statement. They are both as loyal to Pakistan as any of us, but both the Chairman and CEO of the PCB should quickly have an understanding with the government on future lines of action. This is a matter of national interest now, not just cricket.

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