No cricket with Pakistan

This is in response to Sambit Bal's piece 'Why India must tour Pakistan' on Cricinfo.com. India should not tour Pakistan not because of security fears but because we need to make a statement. It is naive to compare the refusal of England to play in India with India's refusal to go to Pakistan. How can we expect our players to go to Pakistan and play cricket knowing well that this is the country responsible for the killing of hundreds of innocent fellow Indians. Yes, Sambit is right that 'It will amount to little in tangible terms if India's tour of Pakistan is called off, but it will be heavy on symbolism' and that, to be honest, is the most I've come to expect from my government. I would love it if India adopts a policy of hot pursuit of these terrorists and sends troops across the border but again, as Sambit points out, that is ‘not an option’. Pakistan is no Afghanistan and India is certainly not US.

And how can he even compare the state-sponsored terrorism from Pakistan with India’s dismal attempts at fighting terror, when he says 'It's another matter that the Indian government itself stands similarly accused'. According to him, the only thing Pakistan is guilty of is ‘prolonged inaction against terrorists originating within its borders who wreak havoc in the neighbouring country’. Someone should remind him that this is the country of ISI, the organization whose only aim seems to be to finance and promote terror in India. Pakistan has given shelter to Dawood Ibrahim, the prime accused in the 1993 Mumbai blasts, the US has spoken of evidence that proves the involvement of the ISI in the Indian Embassy bombing in Kabul. And being a senior journalist, Sambit would know better than me that a terror attack of this magnitude would not be possible without the active support of some elements in the Pakistan establishment. The reason Islamic terror has reached such horrific proportions is because of the support from countries like Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. It has been the case for years and it will remain the same in the future. Nothing that India says is going to deter Pakistan from formenting trouble in India. And definitely, India doesn’t have the ability to take any action against it except for sacrificing its numerous brave soldiers at the altar of Pakistan-bred terrorism. We, the hapless citizens of India, are doomed to live and die under the shadow of terror and violence.