RETROFIT by Sandeep Bamzai: Forget being Miss Goody Two-Shoes with Pakistan

THE OBSESSION to be Miss Goody Two-Shoes with Pakistan is something that leaves me completely exasperated. Why can't we take a stand, a position and then not renege?
 
This stand should be one of non-negotiation with a terrorist state. Pakistan, sorry Panickistan, as it is known in the world of cricket, has become Toxicistan over time, a failed state which cannot accept the reality of the vivisection in 1971. Nor can it accept the fact that Kashmir escaped its grip in 1947. This hard-nosed reality of not being able to pouch Kashmir has left its psyche brutalised and shattered.
 
Hence this business of constantly pushing the envelope, pursuing an agenda of death by a thousand cuts, knowing fully well that it cannot be condemned for the same crimes again and again. And as fundamentalism leaves its own backyard scarred, it takes the plea that it is the worst sufferer due to terrorism. Practitioner and sufferer, the theatre that is modern day Pakistan cannot get more absurd.
  
And what about us? Out maneuvered and out thought, we are maladroit and inept in our response to Pakistan. In the last few years, the only time we were willing to offer a riposte to Pakistan came in the first flush of the December 13, 2001 parliament attack when we mobilised troops to the western border. That it took an eternity for the troops to move is another story altogether. The moot point is that Pakistan is replete with Janus-faced people in authority and double speak determines their discourse with India. 

How long does it take to isolate Pakistan? Why can't we hang them out to dry, lead an international coalition to bring a sporting embargo to bear against them? Instead we choose to play cricket with them at a neutral venue. What are the compulsions driving this move. They can't be pressure from ICC, since India is the ICC? Is the Modi Government then reopening dialogue with Pakistan and using cricket as a tentpole in soft diplomacy. Completely unfathomable for almost daily one hears of bloody encounters in Kashmir and LOC violations. 

The Mumbai attacks were a watershed, a defining moment in the history of the two nation theory. That is when India should have stopped all engagement with Pakistan. Between the parliament attack in 2001 and the 26/11 attacks, the last vestige of Pakistan's brutal war against India was thrown into stark relief. India's response to Pakistan has to be considered at all times; after all when a nation decides to wage war, then it should be given fitting repartee. The fact that both nations are nuclear power states only makes the equation more cumbersome. Yes, one doesn't want war, but what one is seeking is a clear-headed policy while dealing with Pakistan. 

Sporting Embargo

The Gleneagles Agreement was unanimously approved by the Commonwealth of Nations at Gleneagles, Auchterarder, Scotland. In 1977, Commonwealth Heads of Government agreed, as part of their support for the international campaign against apartheid, to discourage contact and competition between their sportsmen and sporting organisations, teams or individuals from South Africa. It was a remarkable achievement and arguably a first of its kind sporting moratorium.

The Gleneagles Agreement reinforced their commitment, embodied in the Singapore Declaration of Commonwealth Principles (1971), to oppose racism. This commitment was further strengthened by the Declaration on Racism and Racial Prejudice, adopted by Commonwealth leaders in Lusaka in 1979. The Commonwealth was a relevant body to impose a sporting ban on South Africa because several of the sports most popular among white South Africans are dominated by Commonwealth member states, for example cricket and rugby union. It worked like a charm and isolated sports loving South Africa for years. The lure of the Krugerrand brought many top sportsmen and women to South Africa while the moratorium was in place, but this was never official.

Here is the exact text of that defining charter:

The member countries of the Commonwealth, embracing peoples of diverse races, colours, languages and faiths, have long recognised racial prejudice and discrimination as a dangerous sickness and an unmitigated evil and are pledged to use all their efforts to foster human dignity everywhere. At their London Meeting, Heads of Government reaffirmed that apartheid in sport, as in other fields, is an abomination and runs directly counter to the Declaration of Commonwealth Principles which they made at Singapore on 22 January 1971.

They were conscious that sport is an important means of developing and fostering understanding between the people, and especially between the young people, of all countries. But, they were also aware that, quite apart from other factors, sporting contacts between their nationals and the nationals of countries practising apartheid in sport tend to encourage the belief (however unwarranted) that they are prepared to condone this abhorrent policy or are less than totally committed to the Principles embodied in their Singapore Declaration. Regretting past misunderstandings and difficulties and recognising that these were partly the result of inadequate inter-governmental consultations, they agreed that they would seek to remedy this situation in the context of the increased level of understanding now achieved.

They reaffirmed their full support for the international campaign against apartheid and welcomed the efforts of the United Nations to reach universally accepted approaches to the question of sporting contacts within the framework of that campaign.
Mindful of these and other considerations, they accepted it as the urgent duty of each of their Governments vigorously to combat the evil of apartheid by withholding any form of support for, and by taking every practical step to discourage contact or competition by their nationals with sporting organisations, teams or sportsmen from South Africa or from any other country where sports are organised on the basis of race, colour or ethnic origin.

They fully acknowledged that it was for each Government to determine in accordance with its law the methods by which it might best discharge these commitments. But they recognised that the effective fulfilment of their commitments was essential to the harmonious development of Commonwealth sport hereafter.

They acknowledged also that the full realisation of their objectives involved the understanding, support and active participation of the nationals of their countries and of their national sporting organisations and authorities. As they drew a curtain across the past they issued a collective call for that understanding, support and participation with a view to ensuring that in this matter the peoples and Governments of the Commonwealth might help to give a lead to the world.

Heads of Government specially welcomed the belief, unanimously expressed at their Meeting, that in the light of their consultations and accord there were unlikely to be future sporting contacts of any significance between Commonwealth countries or their nationals and South Africa while that country continues to pursue the detestable policy of apartheid. On that basis, and having regard to their commitments, they looked forward with satisfaction to the holding of the Commonwealth Games in Edmonton and to the continued strengthening of Commonwealth sport generally.

This is what Indian diplomacy should have tried to achieve instead of once again giving in and playing Pakistan in a bilateral series.

I don't buy the argument that BCCI is an autonomous body which  has to honour ICC commitments.

This has to do something with the current political establishment. Which defies any explanation because they have practised and pursued an aggressive anti-Pakistan policy since they came to power. Somebody has to do some explaining. But the silence is deafening.

(Sandeep Bamzai is a sports junkie, editor & author. Currently a Visiting Fellow at ORF.  Disclaimer: The views expressed are solely those of the author in his private capacity and do not in any way represent the views of The Fan Garage)