A match, and giving peace a chance

The World Cup semifinal match to be played this afternoon in Mohali has already been described as the mother of all battles between the two arch-rivals, India and Pakistan.  It is virtually a grand finale even before the final at the Wankhede Stadium due on Saturday. 

Such is the intensity of emotions that have griped the Indian sub-continent that Indian supporters wish Pakistan team to be bowled out scoring less than 100 runs and Sachin Tendulkar alone scoring these runs to complete his much anticipated 100 centuries.  And Pakistani fans want Pakistan to win the World Cup by defeating India, and in the process build new hopes for the survival of their terrorism-battered and economically staggered country.

Whether India wins or Pakistan’s triumphs, clichéd minds that may like to remind us that it is the game that wins in the end might not be true in this case. Winners in the true style of ‘jo jeeta wohi sikandar’ (who wins is king) will celebrate, throwing to the winds all the caution of sportsman’s spirit. The losers will not only curse their team but in despair will also get deeply annoyed with the agency of God — pundits or mullah’s — for misleading them that it is only their team that will win. Reason has no place where emotions run so high.

It‘s not only the common masses who want their dreams to come true; this might turn out to be a God-sent opportunity for peace-making also.  Prime minister Manmohan Singh, in a statesman-like act of inviting the Pakistani leadership to “watch the semi-final together”, has truly warmed millions of hearts praying for peace. If the ‘peace invite’, transcending all the genuine anger and reactionary hate generated by the inhuman terror act of 26/11, could lead to new vistas of peace-making in the sub-continent, certainly the peace-loving people will like to forget every inaction and tepid governance so far provided by the Manmohan Singh-led UPA regime. Hype has built the hope.

Moving away from the cricketing action, some 600 kilometres away from Chandigarh, in Srinagar, at the time of writing this column, it is drizzling. The local newspaper has carried a photograph of an almond blossom. The scene captured at the famous Badamwari on the foothills of Kohimaran, announces the arrival of the season of flowers and new life — spring after a long winter.

In the flowerbeds of our tiny little garden, yellow tulips have sprouted. One hopes that after many miscarriages and false starts, peace process gestates this time around.  Omens for peace are bright.

With the single step of inviting prime minister Yusuf Raza Gilani, (the Pakistani prime minister was on two-day visit to Uzbekistan and when he was told about the invitation, he had a “broad smile” on his face), Manmohan Singh has taken a big leap of faith in overcoming the nightmare of the Mumbai attacks, which very nearly pushed the two-nuclear armed neighbours to the brink of war.

Hopefully, 26/11 has been left behind as many confidence-building measures (CBM) are under way. India has unilaterally announced to “increase the stay period for people visiting Jammu and Kashmir from Pakistan-controlled Kashmir to six months with multiple entries to encourage people-to-people contact”. And Pakistani president Asif Ali Zardari, as a goodwill gesture, has decided to remit the jail term of Indian prisoner Gopal Dass. Small baby steps indeed, but they infuse hope.

The people of conflict-ravaged Kashmir have seen enough bloodshed in the last two decades. The uprising last summer, in which more than 110 lost people their lives, continues to haunt the people here, the death tally continues to rise even after nine months of the upheaval.  Forty-year-old Haneefa, the mother of a girl, died a few days ago from injuries suffered during a police firing. Whether India and Pakistan will be able to resolve the conflict over Kashmir, or even revive the ready-to-be-signed agreements on Siachen and Sir Creek, is a tough call. Even if two countries decide to remain meaningfully engaged, rabble-rousers crying “khoon ka badla June main” (revenge for blood in June) will be sufficiently discouraged to trigger another unrest in the coming summer.

Awakening me from my dreams of peace, a friend sent a link of newspaper article: “In Kashmir, years of unrest take a toll on mental health: Since 1989, the number of patients at the psychiatric hospital has increased from 1,800 a year to at least 100,000 a year now”. Enough of bloodletting and turmoil, Kashmir cannot wait any longer for peace to come. One hopes and prays for good senses to prevail in Chandigarh.

The writer is a Srinagar-based
columnist and political analyst. He can be contacted at
firdoussyed@yahoo.com