March 23, 2011: A Day to remember!

My Pakistan Day was better than usual. Yesterday, I got an invitation from an Indian friend to watch a quarter final between Pakistan and the West Indies. Pakistan made a record win over the West Indians in the history of Cricket World Cups. Pakistan's historic win is one of the major headlines all over the world...for all the right reason, finally!

We are really looking forward to a semi-final between India and Pakistan - that would be the best, the most anticipated match of the World Cup 2011 and a 'real' entertainment at large for the masses. The venue is no doubt very special, Bangladesh, which started playing International Cricket not long ago and have been doing very well. They did a very good job in hosting this event.

My Indian friend also asked about the importance of 23rd March, because Rameez Raja and Afridi during the prize distribution mentioned it and therefore, I explained it at length.

I have heard it several times from my Indian friends, a desire, that it would not have been bad if India and Pakistan were one country. On 23rd March 2011, I heard it again. It is an interesting idea indeed! In my opinion (minus the serious debate on the issue), if we were ONE COUNTRY then, we only had one team for all the sports including cricket to cheer for, but now, we have 3 teams: Pakistan, India and Banglaesh - which is very good. This partition actually created jobs, lessened the already fierce competition and a lot of 'masala' for both the print and the electronic media on which companies and people have become millionaires.

Some recent media-hyped coverages include: Sania and Shoaib's marriage - this marrige was greeted with a mixture of horror and delight on both sides. It would not have been a 24/7 mantra for the media last summer if we were one country. Even Koreans were talking about it who have least interest in the showbiz/sports stories of the Sub-continent.

Another equally interesting event was the teaming up of India's Rohan Bopanna and Pakistani Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi in Tennis, who call themselves as "the Indo-Pak Express", who are actually making history and creating a lot of hype on both sides of the border and at an international level too. In an interview with CNN, the Indian Sport's Minister said,"I have one question for everyone: if Bopanna-Qureshi can play together, why cannot India and Pakistan?" ;D



We would never have heard of the term "Cricket Diplomacy."

If we were one, our list of favourite actors and singers would have been a very interesting combination. I wonder, what it would have been like for movies with Anjuman and Amitabh as co-actors or Sultan Rahi and Shabana Azmi pairing up for a Punjabi movie. For music, well the limit is the sky. If we were one, would 'Big Boss' be so controversial and such a big deal?

Now that we are seperate countries we have tensions, over religion, disputed territories and a never-ending blame game and so if we were one - who would we be blaming for all the evils in our respective countries.

Well, together we are sitting on a time-bomb, armed to the teeth and spending billions on a never-ending rat race of nuclear arms acquisition and heavy defense budgets - which, otherwise, would have gone for better causes and sectors that are neglected such as education and health care-sounds like fiction.

As one country, Taliban at one front and Shivsena on the other, WOW! A double trouble scenerio. Would there have been an alliance between the two? An alliance to harass the public in the name of religions.

Anyhow, what is done is done! I hope we can still fare well if there are more oppotunities for 'a people to people contacts and exchanges'. I am postive that one day we will have a tension free, exciting and stable sub-continent in general, and a peaceful SAARC region in particular!

We need to have one goal: to attain peace through dialogue!

If a country is one or not : matters less.