Najam Sethi, editor of Friday Times, a respected Pakistani weekly, is not the kind of person you would find among the hordes in a sports stadium watching a cricket match. Yet, when the Indian team visits Pakistan next month after a gap of 15 years, Sethi wants to be among the thousands who will cheer the two teams in person.
"It will be a treat," the editor, on a personal visit to New Delhi, told rediff.com Chief Correspondent Onkar Singh in an exclusive interview, "to watch a contest between Sachin Tendulkar and Shoaib Akhtar."
India's cricket tour of Pakistan had been virtually called off at one stage. What was the mood like in Pakistan when there was uncertainty about the tour?
The Pakistan Cricket Board and the Pakistani government are at pains to tell the world that Pakistan is back to normal. Terrorism has been crushed with an iron hand. Extremism is on the wane. Pakistan is now as responsible a country as any other. Why not visit us, invest in Pakistan, and play games like cricket with us?
That is why each time a cricket tour gets cancelled, the signals that are sent to the rest of the world are bad from the Pakistani point of view. We are trying to tell the world that Pakistan is not a difficult state. We are normal and back on track. We are anxious to establish our bona fides in the comity of nations.
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I was naturally very delighted with the intervention by Prime Minister Vajpayee who took personal interest in clearing the tour. I was worried what would happen if the tour were cancelled. We had been writing in Pakistan what a great thing the tour would be. We were praising the Indian government. 'Well done' were the words we had used in our editorials and write-ups.
From my point of view, the Indian cricket tour of Pakistan is a part of the peace process initiated by Prime Minister Vajpayee and President Musharraf. This is a confidence-building measure. Cancellation of the tour would have come as a huge setback to this process of normalisation of relations between India and Pakistan. I am glad nothing of the sort happened and the tour will go on as scheduled.
But this is not the first time a team visiting Pakistan has kicked up a row about security. Australia and the West Indies had cancelled their tours. New Zealand left a tour unfinished after a bomb exploded near their hotel.
That may be true, but the New Zealanders have just visited Pakistan. The point we are trying to make is that two years ago perhaps there was some justification in not touring Pakistan because of the situation prevailing in our country. But there is no justification now.
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But isn't it a fact that a number of terrorist groups which do not get along with President Musharraf could make a desperate bid to sabotage the tour?
It is true that Musharraf is the target of attack for a certain section of terror groups linked to Al Qaeda. They are trying to get rid of General Musharraf. There is no doubt about it. They have made two attempts on his life and may try again.
Despite all this, Indians have not been targeted. The Hindus have not been targeted. Even Sikh pilgrims come and go, they too have not been targeted. It was the Westerners who were at risk, particularly journalists who were trying to uncover the Al Qaeda network. Pakistani security agencies have crushed and uprooted some of these terrorist groups.
How do you view Indo-Pak cricket relations?
When you look at India-Pakistan cricket tours, certain things stand out. You have fantastic supporting crowd behaviour. Many years back (in 1998-99) a Chennai crowd gave a standing ovation to the Pakistani cricket team after it defeated the Indians. It brought tears to our eyes to see such wonderful crowd support for our team on Indian soil. This was sportsmanship of the highest order. In Pakistan too we have had situations when the Indian team has been applauded for a wonderful performance on the field.
But this particular tour will be a fierce contest. You may have unruly crowd behaviour like water bottles being thrown on the ground. You cannot rule such things out because you cannot rule this out even in Australia. All cricket matches between India and Pakistan arouse passions. We are emotional people. There may be trouble in the stands. It is part of cricket.
Are you waiting to see Shoaib Akhtar, bowl to Sachin Tendulkar?
I would go miles to see this kind of contest! Frankly speaking I do not go to cricket stadiums. But this time around I will be one amongst the crowds and feel the atmosphere. I would like to see the sight of Shoaib bowling to Sachin, who is a cricketing genius. We have seen him on television, but we have not seen him play in Pakistan in a live situation. Sure, such a contest will be a treat to the crowd. I will be there to watch it.
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Image: Uday Kuckian