Shadow of Politics on Sports

Submitted to: Mr. Naveed Iqbal

Submitted by: Arslan Arshad Kiani (090340)
Shahzeb Imran Ansari (090310)
Madeeha Saleem (090277)
Muhammad Ali (090301)
Hira Naseem (090232)
BEE-2-C

Dated: May 20, 2010

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

First of all we would be thankful to Allah Almighty without whose

blessing and mercies we would never have been able to complete this
project. Projects are the teamwork. This project is refined from
splendid efforts of group members.

We can’t forget the guidance’s and knowledge which our kind

teacher provided us. We were lucky to have such a kind teacher who
taught us with such devotion and zest, which we cannot forget. We
thank him from the core of our hearts.

In the end we would like to thank to all those people who provided us
with useful suggestions, useful data and facility of composing.

Authors

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS
 Introduction.……………………………………………………....... 3
What if this glory gets snatched from us?………… 3
Involvement of politics in sports...................... 4
India Pakistan Rivalry.......................................4
 Political attacks jeopardizing Pakistan India
relationship.................5
 Mumbai attack.................................................................................5
Salient features................................ 6
 Attack on srilankan team..............................................................7
Salient features………………....7
 IPL rejecting Pakistani players...........................................................9
Salient features...........................9
 Shoaib-Sania controversy.....................................................10
Salient features..............................11
 Bibliography.................................................................12

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INTRODUCTION

A sport is commonly defined as an organized, competitive, and skillful physical activity

requiring commitment and fair play. It is governed by a set of rules or customs. Every
country has its own tradition and customs regarding sports. The importance of sports in the
world can be justified by pointing to the fact that after every four years there is an
international sporting event known as Olympic in which different athletes from different parts
of the world come to participate and represent their country. There are different kinds of
sports worldwide. In each country, different sports are played depending upon the interest of
the people of that area. On many occasions, sports and games bring fame to a country by
winning a global tournament or championship.

If we talk specifically of Pakistan, number of sports is played here, but among them, cricket
is the most famous one. Pakistan has produced many world class cricketers on international
level, famous among them are Wasim Akram, Imran Khan etc. Our national team is
considered to be a competitive one in world ranking. It has won world titles such as ‘World
cup 1992’ and ‘ICC World twenty/20 2009’. Cricket is in fact a glory of this nation.

What if this glory gets snatched from us?

It is a common sight that whenever there is a cricket match of Pakistan, people get glued to
their television screens and even go to the stadiums to cheer for their team. Pakistan is
already going in a crisis of extremism and national instability. The grace of our country is
almost diminished. Cricket provides the people something to cheer about, and provides them
with an enthusiasm of calling themselves a proud Pakistani. Winning or losing is part of a
game, but have you ever heard of losing before even playing a match? How come sports of a
country get affected? There are two options:

 Lack of talent:

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 This option can hardly be true. Talent never dies where there are elements to mould
the talent of any individual. It is natural for someone to be talented, and the bounties
of nature aren’t that limited.
 Lack of Resources

This can be one of the reasons but any nation having international recognition in a specific
sport cannot get financially crippled, as this is one of their source of generating revenue.
Both of these options do not affect a great deal. So let’s study something with broader aspect.

INVOLVEMENT OF POLITICS IN SPORTS

Sports and politics should not be intermingled. Politics in fact robs the sports of its
innocence. This is commonly the most dangerous element affecting the sports. There have
been recently many cases of match fixing in games. Politicization just makes sports a money
making machine, where aren’t used as a sportsman but are forced into play as business men.
If we talk specifically of cricket, some teams likes to win games not by playing well, but by
playing politics. To give you a fair idea of what we are talking about, let us consider India-
Pakistan rivalry in cricket.

INDIA-PAKISTAN RIVALRY

The rivalry began with the partition of India in 1947, the Independence of Pakistan and the
subsequent Kashmir dispute which followed afterward between the two countries. This
dispute has affected both diplomatic and political relations, and on the pitch the same
animosity between the two teams can be felt. A match between the two countries is often
equated with war.

You might have seen many intense cricket matches, but the PAK-INDIA matches are the
most exciting ones. They are considered to be the mother of all matches. The reason why they
have become so popular is because they do not just play it as a game but they give their very
best to win it with their dedication. India and Pakistan have a clear history of rivalry in
politics but in a way they shrug off their anger in these matches. That is the reason that their

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win ratio over each other is 50%. These matches are fought and fought well and many a times
these matches go to the last over making the audience breathless with excitement.

But is it necessary that the political ties between the two countries remain stable

for the matches to continue?

India has proved its negative stance in this respect. A series of events took place which not
only ended the PAK-INDIA relationship but defamed Pakistan’s cricket to a great deal.

Political attacks jeopardizing

PAKISTAN-INDIA cricket relationship

Mumbai attack (The beginning of things to go worse)

Attack on Sri-Lankan team (A move to disgrace Pakistan cricket)
IPL rejecting Pakistani players (An act of pure jealousy by political elements)
Shoaib-Sania controversy (Very immature of Indian politics to highlight a personal
matter thinking it as an attack on their sports)
Indian Politicians degrading Shahrukh khan on taking side of Pakistani players

We will give you a brief history on these events along with some observations to support our
arguments:

MUMBAI ATTACK
On the evening of November 26, 2008, television programming all over the world was
interrupted with the breaking news that Mumbai was virtually under siege. Mumbai is one of
India’s and the world’s largest cities, with a population of 18 million

Ten to twelve locations were identified as targets by eyewitness observers, all located in the
wealthy areas of town. They included the “Taj Mahal Hotel”, “The Oberoi /Trident

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Hotel”, “A Chabad (Nareeman) House (an orthodox Jewish organization), two hospitals

(Cama & Albless Hospital), a train station; the, “Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus” the

Leopold Cafe and A domestic airport and a police station.

In several of the locations, attackers opened fire. In the hotels they took hostages, seeking out
foreigners and especially British and American citizens. Grenades were set off in other areas.
The Taj Hotel was hosting a parliamentary conference and a number of visiting dignitaries
were ensnared in the violence, but none were harmed.

A total of 166 innocent citizens from India, U.K., U.S.A, Israel and other countries were
killed and 304 citizens were wounded. Government, as well as private property, totally
valued at approximately Rs. Forty one crores and seventy two lacs was destroyed (excluding
the Taj Mahal Hotel).
The identity of the attackers was not immediately known. An e-mail claiming responsibility
and signed by the "Deccan Mujahedeen" surfaced shortly after the attack. This group is not
known, and may be associated with more established groups who have committed other
terrorist attacks in India, claiming retaliation or revenge for Hindu attacks or, more broadly,
long term discrimination.

Indian politicians have been quick to point the finger at Pakistan. Gujarat state Chief Minister
“Narendra Modi” accused Pakistan of allowing terrorists to use its soil as a terror launch

pad. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh blamed terror groups backed by India's
"neighbors," a reference to Pakistan. Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee said "elements in
Pakistan" were behind the Mumbai attacks.

Salient Features:

India openly blamed Pakistan for this fiasco, thus India’s tour to Pakistan

scheduled from January 13 to February 19, 2009 got cancelled.

2008 Champions Trophy was shifted from Pakistan because of security

concerns.

India loaded the blame on Pakistan to save their own arse from the fear of

cancellation of their future home tours.

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 It was thus politics that got involved and jeopardized the game of cricket

making thing worse than ever.

ATTACK ON SRILANKAN TEAM

Any act of terrorism leaves behind not only dead bodies, damaged infrastructure and blown
up buildings in its wake, but also a sense of dread, fear and panic.

In recent years, the sports have also been deeply affected by brazen terrorist attacks,
especially in the sub-continent region that comprises India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and
Bangladesh. Foreign teams are reluctant to play in these countries and matches and tours
have been cancelled. This has deprived the local people of seeing their cricket stars compete
against visiting teams on their home soil. In countries where cricket is considered as
important as religion itself, it is indeed a hard blow.
Terrorist activities or threats are not new to the game of cricket, but for the first time the blow
has been delivered where it hurts the most.

It was March 3, 2009 when terrorists attacked Sri-Lankan cricket team when they were here
for playing a series of matches.

A columnist wrote in time magazine that:

“In a commando-style operation, a dozen gunmen attacked the Sri Lankan cricket

team in the heart of Lahore, Pakistan's cultural and political hub, at 8:45 Tuesday

morning. The attackers fired rockets, grenades and multiple rounds of ammunition

at the team's bus and the police escorting it, killing eight people and injuring six.”[1]
Six Sri Lankan players and a coach were injured and eight persons, most of them policemen,
were killed when a dozen heavily armed 14 terrorists attacked the team’s bus near Gaddafi
Stadium in Lahore.
Assured of security reserved for VVIPs, Sri Lanka chose to play in Pakistan when the
cricketing world at large saw Pakistan as a pariah state. They chose to play in a country
whose very mention invokes images of the most gruesome violence in the minds of everyone
outside Pakistan. Incidentally, Sri Lankans paid for their bravado for volunteering to visit
Pakistan when India withdrew.
[1] Omar Warraich, March 3 2009)

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Several said that Al-Qaida or some terrorist party was involved in this case, but it has been
clarified by Pakistan’s intelligence that India’s party “RAW” was involved.

Salient Features:

A month after the March 3, 2009 attacks, the ICC stripped Pakistan of the 14

matches it had been scheduled to host for the 2011 World Cup.

Before Sri-Lankan team arrived in Pakistan, India warned them not to tour

Pakistan, but Sri-Lankans did not give a heed to them and this hit India as a

big slap on the face.

"Cricket is the lifeline of Pakistan and we want to expand it”. The terrorists

by attacking the Sri Lankan players in Lahore have not only brought ill-

repute to Pakistan but have killed cricket in Pakistan.

When India refused to visit Pakistan in 2009 tour, Ejaz Butt; Chairman PCB

has said Pakistan lost at least 40 million dollars over India's tour

cancellation and feared an annual 70-million-dollar loss in television rights

if teams continued to refuse tours.

Planning to avenge Sri-Lanka and Pakistan, India waged the attack of

March 3.

It looks like India was fed up degrading Pakistan politically so they thought

to attack Pakistan’s most valuable possession, and that was cricket.

Despite the troubles at home, Pakistan achieved a stunning victory in the

ICC world twenty20 tournament, and became a champion.

It is quite clear now that Pakistan as a cricketing venue is all but dead for

the next couple of years. This is very sad for the whole nation.

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IPL REJECTING PAKISTANI PLAYERS
IPL short for “Indian premier league” is in fact a twenty over’s cricket tournament which is
held in India every year in which cricketers from all over the world are invited to play. IPL
rejected all Pakistani players for its 3rd edition to be played in India. At that time Pakistan
was the world twenty-20 champion. No franchise of IPL showed their interest in Pakistani
players.

11 Pakistani players were excluded, including 7 Pakistani cricket team players, Kamran

Akmal, Misbah ul-Haq, Abdul Razzaq, Umar Gul, Sohail Tanvir, Shahid Afridi, and

Rana naveed who had IPL contracts.

A BCCI official “Lallit Modi” declared that no Pakistani player would play as they had
failed to obtain their visas before the deadline for confirmation of participation.

In response Pakistani officials said:

"The players have applied for visas but the clearance hasn't come from the Indian side.”

At that time both countries’ cricket officials blamed one another. However, this crisis dates
back to the year following the terrorist strike against Sri Lankan cricketers in Lahore, the
International Cricket Council decided that Pakistan would not stage matches at next year's
World Cup. They were meant to host the tournament along with India, Sri Lanka and
Bangladesh. The 14 matches due to be played in Pakistan were reallocated, with the Indians
taking the lion's share.

The exclusion of the players also created much controversy in India, leading to televised
debates on this subject, with some IPL franchise holders expressing unhappiness about the
decision. That also included the Bollywood superstar Shahrukh Khan. However, his
comments in favour of Pakistani players so incensed Hindu fanatics that there has been a
boycott of his latest film “My Name is Khan” in Mumbai.

Salient Features:

India found the opportunity to degrade the Pakistan cricket and its players

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 India was already jealous of Pakistan’s winning the world twenty/20 tournament
India although bombarded excuses one after the other, but it was clear that they
had done this on purpose out of pure jealousy.
India’s famous actor “Shahrukh Khan” took side of Pakistani players and called
this action as “unjust” which led to many controversies in which he was asked to
apologize, BCCI which he didn’t do. His movie “My name is Khan” at that time
would have been affected but it was a brave move by him.

SHOAIB-SANIA CONTROVERSY
Everything is fair in love and war but this time love is in the air across the border. Now that’s
what is called the real upset in sporting world. The news of the year came out of the blue
from former Pakistan cricket team captain, Shoaib Malik who is now officially married with
Sania Mirza, the star tennis player of neighbouring India.
It was never going to be a low-profile affair. When the 23-year-old Indian tennis star Sania
Mirza emerged from her Hyderabad home to announce that she was marrying Shoaib Malik,
former Pakistan cricket captain, she must have done so with a degree of trepidation.

Negative attitude shown by the government and public of India

The protestors condemned Sania Mirza’s decision to marry a Pakistani cricketer and
raised slogans against her, the Central Government and the Andhra Pradesh Government.

They demanded the tennis player be deported from the country. They also demanded
the federal government to take back all the awards given to her.

“We also demand that the highest awards such as Padma Shri should be taken back

from her immediately and we want to deport her from India.”

[1] Senthil Kumar, an activist of Makkal Katchi party

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There were demonstrations in India, and Sania Mirza’s picture was burnt on the streets of Bhopal,
where activists from the rightwing Hindu nationalist Vishwa Hindu Parishad party vowed to stop
her competing at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi later in the year. Yet on the other side of the
border, the reaction was notably more enthusiastic. There was dancing in the street outside Malik's
house in his home town of Sialkot.

And in a culture where male chauvinism is practically compulsory, that is precisely what has
happened in the case of the Malik-Sania marriage. The Pakistani boy is perceived to have
won the Indian girl, and Indian male pride is hurt.

At last after a lot of controversies Sania Mirza weds Shoaib malik on Monday 12th
April 2010

Salient Features:

This incident was another display of India’s pure jealousy towards Pakistan.

As Sania Mirza fell in love with Malik, it seemed that, the whole India began

to fall out of love with her. And that was just because Malik is a Pakistani,

and Indians love promoting racism

Another fact which we gather from here is that a sportsman’s personal life

was targeted and it was talked of getting her deprived of all her winnings

just because of her own personal decision which she has every right of

making.

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Bibliography
The eastern tribune.
http://www.awamimarkaz.com/2010/03/pakistan-cricket-reels-year-after-sri-lanka-
attacks/
Ezine@articles, The impact of Pakistan security situation.
http://ezinearticles.com/?ICC-World-Cup-2011---The-Impact-of-Pakistans-Security-
Situation&id=3819914
Deadly memory; Article.
http://www.lankabusinessonline.com/fullstory.php?nid=128910081
Daily Times.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\03\03\story_3-3-2010_pg13_8
Zimbio.com. Daily News
http://www.zimbio.com/Watch+Live+Cricket/articles/14084/Pics+Terrorist+Attack+
Srilankan+Cricket+Team
Sport on sub-continent threatened after attack on Sri Lanka cricketers.
http://blogs.reuters.com/sport/2009/03/03/sport-on-sub-continent-threatened-after-
attack-on-sri-lanka-cricketers/
Arjun pori blog.
http://arjunpuri.wordpress.com/2009/03/04/attack-on-sri-lankan-cricket-team/

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