KHALEEJ TIMES
Ishtiaq Ali Mehkri
I have no love lost for cricket. Rather, I am allergic to Pakistan’s sexed-up version where bookies lord it over the game. But this is in defence of my 22-year-old countryman, Umar Daraz, who was jailed for supporting Indian batsman Virat Kohli, and for allegedly hoisting the Indian flag atop his home. He spent more than a month behind bars on charges of ‘treason’.
I don’t see anything wrong in eulogising or supporting a celebrity of a foreign country. And waving a foreign flag in appreciation when you get carried away by the moment is a subject that can be debated. The poor lad was not the first to carry an Indian flag. Veteran Pakistani human rights activist and world-class painter, Jimmy Engineer, had the courage and wisdom to carry the Indian flag across the length and breath of Pakistan, as he marched in support of peace talks between the two neighbours.
The fact that Daraz was arrested, beaten and victimised for a sporting moment of passion is unfortunate. Sadly, he was on Pakistani soil, Okara district in Punjab (there’s a Punjab on the other side), when he waved the Indian flag! Had he been lucky enough to see an international match in Oval, Dubai or Perth, and wave any other country’s flag, including India’s, right in the face of live cameras, no eyebrows would have been raised.
This is not to advocate that hoisting an Indian flag inside Pakistan should be ignored by the authorities. Definitely, the Indian authorities would have also come down hard on any Indian waving a Pakistani flag in India. The purported pro-Pakistan sloganeering in JNU, New Delhi, and the fuss it created is a case in point. This illustrates the mistrust between the two neighbours, who have not been able to cement a peace regime despite having so much in common: history, culture, geography, economics and religion. What divides them is a rightist-political agenda that only serves the ruling elite.
I was pained when I heard Daraz on BBC Urdu service. Incidentally, he was released on bail (February 27) the same day when the archrivals clashed in a T20 match in Dhaka, and Kohli came out with another fine performance. But Daraz had no courage to support Kohli on Saturday. Rather, he told the BBC that ‘from now on he will raise his voice for Shahid Afridi’. He was wailing as he regretted his ”sporty misadventure”. So much for cricket and freedom of expression! The hostile relationship between the two countries has silenced a sporting voice.
What harm can the poverty-stricken Kohli supporter cause, if he had continued to back him, as he is also a look-like of the Indian star cricketer. In fact, this resemblance brought Daraz into the limelight as his friends used to called him the ‘Virat Kohli’ of Pakistan. Daraz’s family didn’t even have money to bail him out (Rs 50,000), and lawyers and friends from his village had to pool in to help him walk free.
He was charged for his act against ”Pakistan’s sovereignty” and could face up to 10 years in prison or fine, or both. The case is still on, and he is on bail. A hawkish dispensation could again put him behind bars. Five-year-old Murtaza Ahmadi of Afghanistan wore the Argentina T-shirt in support of football legend Lionel Messi. Daraz’s misfortune was that he was on the wrong side of the divide.
Daraz was born a liberal, of the sporting kind. He now lives in fear after this experience, which could make him a radical later in life. This is where government policies fail. They fall foul of our youth.
I grew up copying the style, romance and lyrics of Rajesh Khanna, and there are millions in India who are big fans of Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Noor Jehan. What’s wrong with such adoration? Both governments should take a break and walk away from this conspiracy mindset, which has brought more pain, hardship and mistrust between their nations. Daraz and others like him on both sides of the divide are the ‘new face’ of a ‘new tomorrow’ in this age of social media. They are neither spies nor traitors.
