Sporting nation

Notwithstanding the fact that three Test series between Indian and Pakistan drew only a fraction of the crowd that flocked the stadia for the five-match limited overs series preceding it, it would be churlish not to acknowledge the warmth with which Pakistanis hosted Saurav Ganguly’s team. Indeed, some 20,000 Indian cricket tourists travelled across the Wagah and came back with, in the main, happy memories. Given that the last time India and Pakistan played each other in a Test match — Kolkata, 1999 — the stands had to be vacated of a restive crowd, the past month’s achievement stands out. An obvious question follows: Is cricket diplomacy more than a smart buzzphrase? Is there a larger lesson from the cricket tour for foreign policy practitioners in New Delhi and Islamabad? On the surface, the answer is a dismissive “no”. Sport is an emotional rollercoaster, diplomacy the stuff of cold, dispassionate calculation. Yet it would be futile not to recognise that India has walked away from Pakistan with more than just the Samsung Cup. It has found itself a hitherto unrecognised ally: Pakistani civil society. Whatever its dimensions, there is clearly a domestic sentiment in Pakistan that yearns for normality, for an idea of nation and self born less of hyper-Islamism and more of middle class aspiration. It was this sentiment that applauded India’s victory on the field. It is this sentiment that can be India’s force multiplier in diplomacy’s conference room.

Cynics will argue that Ganguly’s team didn’t meet the “real” Pakistan, that its interlocutors were vetted, the crowds screened. It is impossible to believe though that an entire society can be in masquerade mode for a whole month. Obviously there is a disconnect between a junta-dominated polity that insists “Kashmir is the core issue” and an ordinary citizenry that hasn’t seen Kashmir as any sort of issue in at least three successive national elections, that is okay with making a fresh start with India so long as its dignity is not compromised, that is fed up of the jihadi label pinned to it, that simply wants to get on with life.

One cricket series will not iron out the complexity of Indo-Pakistani relations. Yet people-to-people contact can play a role in making the Other somewhat less of an ogre. As it gathers momentum, it can, however minutely, nudge policy-makers; when it acquires critical mass, it could even influence policy. That may be some years off but for the Foreign Office, the message is clear: Unilateral goodwill gestures to ordinary Pakistanis, in the form of a more liberal visa regime for instance, can only promote India’s long-term goals. As for Pakistan’s generals, they are welcome to join the party or remain in the cold.