Monday, March 14, 2011

Aman ki Aasha : An India-Pakistan Peace Initiative !

There have been many ‘Peace’ initiatives between India and Pakistan since 1947. So many talks, back channel diplomacy and frontal attacks. But nothing succeeds like Cricket between the neighbors who are perpetually at loggerheads on the Political front.
There have been so many epic encounters. There was a complete psychological domination of India by Pakistan since Thishappened. It took a complete change of generation for India to emerge out of this rut. The tide perhaps changed after the arrival of Sehwag. Unfortunately Indo-Pak Cricket has become a rarity these days.
Pakistan believe India have let them down and blame India for everything that goes wrong with their Cricket, Country and everything else. India on the other hand have become too scornful of the way Pakistan Cricket is being run. There are nincompoops on both sides. Unfortunately the worst of them all runs Pakistan Cricket.
Butt from the Front !
So how do we find long lasting Peace ? Are we wrong if we expect our kids should grow up in a better world ? Is it unreasonable to expect Pakistanis to idolize Afridi and not Kasab ?
There is a place for ‘Peace’ and we don’t want both countries to go into pieces. This is what they call “Aman Ki Aasha” ! ‘Peace process’ means there should be a lot of ‘Give and Take’. So far we have seen a lot of give and take, but all in wrong manner. Pakistan have consistently ‘Given’ us terrorists, insurgents and bombs. And successive Indian administrations have ‘Taken’ almost everything lying down.
This has to change and we should have some meaningful exchange. And here is my principal suggestion !
‘Give and Take’ means what they don’t have, we have to give them. And what we don’t have, they have to give us.
You shake a tree in Pakistan and fast bowlers will fall down. A survey has shown that approximately 67% of all Pakistani men are fast bowlers. Of them, 34% are found to be world class. But they simply can’t play all of them. Even if the best of their lot end up fixing matches, spots and then screwing themselves, they still have enough fast bowlers to supply not only to India, but perhaps to the entire Cricket playing world.
And what do we in India have ? Almost 33 years old Zaheer and Nehra and then nearly 128 years old Munaf Patel. Sreesanth doesn’t inspire confidence in his Captain who prefers Chawla hemorrhaging runs to Sreesanth bleeding runs.
So we know what we want, right ?
Give us this guy and a few more. We don’t mind exchanging 2 batsmen [Including Rohit Sharma] for one bowler. Except the current core, we can let Pakistan choose any batsman they want. Well, we will not give Che, just like they wouldn’t give us their core.
And here is a ‘Mega Bonus Offer”…
We will give Pakistan, Dinesh Karthik, Parthiv Patel and Naman Ojha. If KAkmal is the only wicket-keeper Pakistan can bring to the World Cup, we know what they are lacking and we have to help them out. Any of the above mentioned can keep better than Yuckmal, even blindfolded. And Pakistan can finally ‘Drop’ Kakmal and do so forever.
So what will Kakmal do ? Pakistan can send him to Afghanistan to Coach the Afghan junior team. He will help them only with batting. They should never allow him to wear a Wicket-keeper’s glove; never again. Just carry out these moves and there will be ‘Peace’ on either side of the border !
Govind Raj Shenoy for DieHard Cricket Fans

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