OTHER VOICES

Let sport rule over politics...

There is no early resolution in sight of the tiff between Pakistan and India over the staging of a cricket series. The sports authorities have been referring to it as a “bilateral contest” — a series that doesn’t involve any other side.

There has been no bilateral cricket between the two countries for almost five years now since Pakistan toured India for a few limited-over games in the winter of 2012.

India has sternly told Pakistan to shed all thoughts of such an engagement in the near future, going so far as to say that “cricket and terrorism cannot go together”.

This is a very strong stand, yet Pakistan has no option but to persist in its approach of pursuing a series with India...

Of late, it has been trying to exert pressure on the BCCI to pay $70m as compensation for not honouring its promise of having regular cricket series.

The Pakistan Cricket Board cites an MoU in which the BCCI agreed to regular cricket matches between 2015 and 2023. The 2014 agreement appears to have been signed in return for Pakistan’s backing India’s inclusion in the Big Three running the International Cricket Council...

Anyone who believes in the original promise of sports, and who would like to see better relations between India and Pakistan, would be only too ready to encourage cricket matches between the two countries.

Those who have rejected any thought of giving sportsmen on both sides a chance to find a way of reducing tensions are not doing anyone a favour.

The emphasis has to be on the ability of the game to influence relations between countries, instead of it being the other way round.

— Dawn, Pakistan