KOLKATA: Should cricketing ties with Pakistan resume or not?

The question kept India engaged in a heated debate on Thursday, the sixth anniversary of the Mumbai terror attacks on November 26, 2008.

Provoking the debate was the news that the Indian government would give the green signal to a bilateral series in limited overs cricket against Pakistan at the neutral venue of Sri Lanka.

The nod had not come till the time of writing this report. Shaina NC, national spokeswoman of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), said during a debate on News X channel that the external affairs ministry was weighing the issue.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) sent a formal request on Wednesday to the country’s foreign office for permission to play Pakistan next month.

People on the streets were divided on the issue, with one school saying cricket and politics should not mix, the other saying resumption of cricketing ties was an insult to people killed in terror attacks.

Retired soldier Col V.N. Thapar described the revival of cricketing ties an “insult to the nation” and asked: “Is this the day chosen to resume cricket diplomacy? This is an insult!”

But BCCI treasurer Anurag Thakur justified the board’s stand saying India stood to attract heavy penalties from the International Cricket Council (ICC) if it reneged on its commitment.

26/11 Irony

The debate also played out on television channels, with broadcaster “Times Now” flashing headers such as “26/11 Irony” – in reference to the Mumbai terror attacks that left 167 people dead.

It also flashed a photo of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, wanted in India in connection with multiple blasts in Mumbai in 1993, with the poser: “Play Cricket for This?”

“Times Now” then talked of the financial windfall that the short series would spell for the two boards, and wondered if financial considerations were driving the BCCI.

It said the lion’s share would go to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) as the “host” – INR 500 crore (INR 80 crore from TV rights, and INR 420 crore from sponsorship); BCCI would earn INR 200 crore.

News broadcaster “News X” ran a similar debate, flashing headlines such as “Playing with the Enemy – insult to the nation”.

It too flashed photographs of various terror group leaders who it claimed were working in close association with the Pakistani intelligence. The images were carried under the header “No Justice from Pak”.

Alongside, News X explained their role in various terror acts in India – Dawood Ibrahim (“1993 Mumbai blasts mastermind”); Masood Azad (“Parliament attack plotter”); Hafiz Saeed (“26/11 Mumbai attack mastermind”); Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi: (“26/11 perpetrator”).

Terror Issue

BCCI office-bearer and Indian Premier League chairman Rajiv Shukla told the channel India had to keep its part of the bargain as Pakistan had already toured the country in 2012-13.

He also wondered why cricket was becoming a sore point when there were no issues with playing hockey with Pakistan.

Former cricketer Kirti Azad, a member of the legendary “Kapil’s Devils” who won the World Cup in 1983, labelled the BCCI as “plain greedy”.

Looking palpably infuriated, Azad also a BJP MP, asked a television journalist outside the Indian Parliament: “What has changed in the last six months?”

In July, the Narendra Modi-headed government had declared there would be no cricket with Pakistan unless it stopped 'promoting terror acts on India soil.'

In a joint press briefing by foreign secretaries of both countries in July, it was announced that National Security Advisers of both countries would meet in Delhi to discuss issues on terrorism.