Of cricket and our obsession with Pakistan-bashing

Last week, midway through the cricket match between India and Pakistan, I fell asleep. Out of boredom or tiredness or both, I cannot say. By the time I woke up India had won the match comfortably, by the biggest margin ever in a world cup against Pakistan, and while I was happy with the result, I began dreading what would happen next. I switched on the television with trepidation and found Pakistan bashing on in full swing. Some TV channels were harsher than the others, some advertisements were less subtle than the others, some TV show hosts were less loud, but the message I got was quite clear: when it comes to patriotism Indians cannot look beyond Pakistan. Abusing and maligning our neighbour is our national obsession. How we talk about Pakistan is a measure of how patriotic we are. Pakistan defines our national character.

To be sure, Pakistan is arguably the only nation in the world in direct conflict with India but what I don’t seem to understand is why any interaction between the two nations even on a sporting field be treated as war?

I do not for a minute deny the facts on the ground when it comes to India’s relations with Pakistan. Today we are in possession of credible evidence that Pakistan was directly involved in the horrific terror attack in Mumbai in November 2008, that Pakistan for decades has been funding terror activities in Kashmir, that for a long time to bleed India with a thousand cuts has been the fundamental tenet of Pakistan’s foreign policy towards India.

However there is no denying that the anti-Pakistan rhetoric plays an extremely important part in another national obsession: self-deception. As an example consider Kashmir. Almost as a rule now I do not discuss Kashmir with anyone over drinks or dinner. It makes me look and feel like an idiot and I am tired of hearing “why don’t you go to Pakistan” as a response to anything I say to point out the failings of the Indian State in treating its citizens in Kashmir fairly and without prejudice. It is true that Pakistan trained the youth of Kashmir to fight their own state, it is true Pakistan provided the youth with the guns and grenades, but it is also true that it was dissatisfaction with the Indian State, a deep sense of disappointment and a feeling of ‘no way out’ that drove thousands of willing youth across the border for training in terror. As a reporter I have had the opportunity to visit Kashmir on numerous occasions and every time I have spoken to people there I have got a sense that something very wrong has been done to them, something that the Indian State will never acknowledge and as a consequence will never be able to set right. Every time we hurl an abuse at Pakistan we overlook an uncomfortable fact about our own nation, every time we hurl an abuse at Pakistan we feel better for our own follies, for our own shortcomings and lack of serious decision-making.

The anti-Pakistan rhetoric covers up India’s failure to take any solid action against Pakistan. Our foreign policy towards Pakistan is a study in confusion. We really don’t know how to go about solving our problem and almost always we tend to blame Pakistan for it. Our politicians get elected to power on an anti-Pakistan agenda but when they assume power they appear as confused as the former incumbent.

As a nation that calls itself a cultural superpower, a mighty player on the international scene, discovering our national identity in bashing Pakistan doesn’t seem like the harbinger of the future we’ve all been collectively dreaming about.