Why Karachi?
IT ALL started half a decade ago. Kashmir had been a flashpoint yet again, and artillery had been exchanged in a mountainous retreat called Kargil. Inevitably, India backed out of a scheduled tour to Pakistan. Then 9/11 happened and New Zealand refused to visit.
Hot and dry (both climate- and beverage-wise), Pakistan was never a choice destination on the cricket calendar; the new geopolitical climate provided foreign teams all the excuse they needed to skip visiting. With momentum favouring those with cold feet, the West Indies found it easy to back out of touring Pakistan, successfully demanding to play in a third country. In Pakistan, a cricket-starved public waited patiently.
Then the unthinkable almost happened. By 2002, the shock of 9/11 had abated enough for New Zealand to be persuaded to finally fulfill their obligation to tour Pakistan. But on May 8, the morning of the second Test match in Karachi, a suicide bomber blew himself up in front of the team’s hotel. The target was a naval delegation from France staying at a hotel across the street, but the players were close to the blast and some had their windows blown out. The match was abandoned and the New Zealand team quickly flew out of Pakistan. Australia, due to tour later in the year, played Pakistan in Colombo and Sharjah instead.
International cricket returned to Pakistan shortly afterwards, but visiting teams have continued to make Karachi a sticking point. It is baffling to see Karachi being singled out, when in fact the new climate of fear is a global phenomenon. The city has had its share of suicide bombers, but so have central London and downtown New York. Security experts invoke risks and probabilities when justifying the greater threat felt in Karachi, but try using that logic with families who lost loved ones in 9/11 and 7/7. Naturally, the fans are feeling angry. When Javed Miandad, the quintessential Karachiite, gave a press statement not long ago that Pakistan should refuse to play in London when they tour England next summer, the idea resonated widely.
There are many reasons why visiting teams should stop discriminating against Karachi. A Karachi-dweller’s love for Karachi is no different from a Londoner’s love for London. It is a city of 14 million that sleeps and wakes like every other place in the world, where the business of life goes on no matter what. Facilities for visitors — airport, hotels, restaurants, taxi service, health care — are world-class. There is an active nightlife, even if it is behind closed doors and by invitation only. There are parks, clubs, gyms, golf courses, shopping malls. Stocks are in good health, property prices are soaring. Expatriate communities are present from western countries including Britain; the numbers are not large, but those who live and work here deny having problems.
Cricket sits in the city’s foundations. This is where Saeed Anwar learned to thread a ball between gully and point, where Zaheer Abbas discovered the magic in his wrists, where Javed Miandad first began to look opponents in the eye. Since 9/11, Karachi has staged four ODIs (New Zealand, Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka) and two Tests (Bangladesh in 2003 and Sri Lanka in November 2004). Everything has gone off without a hitch. Even so, the Pakistan government offers visiting teams watertight security arrangements at the level of heads of state. That’s as close to a guarantee as you can get in this business.
England should also have some respect for history. It is the only team to ever defeat Pakistan in a Test at this venue, over a period spanning 38 matches and 40 years. That victory, coming in fading light on the final day of the Test back in December 2000, famously marked a turnaround for England’s cricketing fortunes. Karachi’s been a good host for them. Hospitality is a highly cherished value in these parts, and when the goodwill is spurned it causes ill feeling that helps no one.