Wrong time for Pak series
Abul Kashem | Monday, 9 March 2009
It was a good thing that the Pakistani cricket tour of Bangladesh was deferred to another future date. As it is this is the month of March. In 1971 this was a momentous month and it has become a very momentous month for us ever since. Would it have been very wise to allow Pakistanis cricket players in at a time when they would have been extremely nervous while we chanted "hell to the Pakistanis" or some such thing? And we have three dates in March: March 1st when they postponed the sitting of the national assembly in '71, the historic speech of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur on March 7 and the Pakistani army crackdown on the early hours of March 26 the same year. For one thing, we probably would be putting the Pakistani cricketers in a tricky situation.
Surely the tour can be held at a later date when it is more conducive with regards to the safety of the players.
But if they had come and some people, fanatics if you like, had demonstrated against the tour and if the matter had got out of hand it would have meant more violence or worse, loss of lives. I think the decision of the government regarding the matter was right.
Thus, the government's decision to cancel, or at least postpone the Pakistani cricket tour is welcome. This is a sombre time for the country. The people have still not got over the shock of the loss of life of our military officers at Peelkhana. Many would have seen the cricket series as an attempt to get people's mind off the horrendous incident that was the Peelkhana tragedy.
Cricket can always be played, international matches held and our people can enjoy the events to their hearts' content. But holding international competitive games at a time when the entire country is trying to come to grips with one of the most monumentally gruesome and sad happenings in the history of the nation would have been inappropriate. Then there is the added question of security for the foreign players. Look what happened in Lahore. The Pakistanis were trying to showcase their security arrangement to the world to show how safe it was to take part in international cricket matches. It all went down the drain. The only thing good to have come out of that incident was that not a single player lost his life.
Surely the tour can be held at a later date when it is more conducive with regards to the safety of the players.
But if they had come and some people, fanatics if you like, had demonstrated against the tour and if the matter had got out of hand it would have meant more violence or worse, loss of lives. I think the decision of the government regarding the matter was right.
Thus, the government's decision to cancel, or at least postpone the Pakistani cricket tour is welcome. This is a sombre time for the country. The people have still not got over the shock of the loss of life of our military officers at Peelkhana. Many would have seen the cricket series as an attempt to get people's mind off the horrendous incident that was the Peelkhana tragedy.
Cricket can always be played, international matches held and our people can enjoy the events to their hearts' content. But holding international competitive games at a time when the entire country is trying to come to grips with one of the most monumentally gruesome and sad happenings in the history of the nation would have been inappropriate. Then there is the added question of security for the foreign players. Look what happened in Lahore. The Pakistanis were trying to showcase their security arrangement to the world to show how safe it was to take part in international cricket matches. It all went down the drain. The only thing good to have come out of that incident was that not a single player lost his life.