Mercifully the BCCI and the ICC chose on Wednesday to end the suspense over the holding of the India-Pakistan World Cup T-20 match at Dharamsala on March 19, although this could have happened a couple of days earlier. The game has been moved to the iconic Eden Gardens in Kolkata. It was evident that there were serious complications on account of the local political situation in Himachal Pradesh.
Pakistan’s reluctance to go to Dharamsala was perfectly understandable. HP chief minister Virbhadra Singh had maintained that his government will provide full security, but it will not use coercive methods against the kith and kin of Army personnel from the state who have lost their lives fighting terrorism instigated from Pakistan. The Pathankot attack is barely two barely two months old and fresh in memory.
Some outfits in Himachal have begun taking up that chant. Protests are completely all right in a democracy provided they remain non-violent. But since the protesters could be relations of servicemen who have died fighting terrorists recently, an elected government displayed nervousness.
This is a tricky place for a politician to be in. But the game must go on as sporting meets are meant to promote goodwill.
There is naturally “great disappointment” with the venue change, as BCCI and the ICC point out. But it is no use carrying on about the event having been planned a year earlier. The Pathankot strike had not occurred then. This is an unusual situation. Any parallel with Shiv Sena goon tactics is out of place.
