Comments on: Will Love of Cricket Spell the End for Terrorism in Pakistan?

By: James Mutti, Contributing Editor

James Mutti, Contributing Editor — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 09:40:27 +0000

Or, this may happen…

http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodname=20090316&fname=Cover+Story&sid=4

By: James Mutti, Contributing Editor

James Mutti, Contributing Editor — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 04:01:44 +0000

Let me clarify. These attacks are not going to result in a violent uprising by “average, law-abiding Pakistanis” against militants. They also aren’t going to change the minds of “fanatical Pakistanis.” But, I do think public opinion is going to take a decided shift in support of Pakistan’s democratically elected government cracking down on militants instead of turning a blind eye, as it often has. If the new government wants to stay in power, it will need to respond to the public outrage to this senseless attack on a treasured part of Pakistani life(provided it exists). The Pakistani Army is probably the strongest institution in the country. If there were the political will to forcefully use it against terrorist groups in Pakistan, considerable progress could be made. And as for religion trumping sport, I agree that this is true for many Pakistanis. It is not true that Islamic terrorists represent Islam for most Pakistanis. Many devout Muslims certainly place their religion over sport, and sport over senseless violence.

By: coffee

coffee — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 19:29:50 +0000

this attack on cricket players makes no sense to me; it seems like this would only harm the image of any organization who did it

By: icarus

icarus — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 07:41:02 +0000

There is never a fight between between violent, militant, fundamentalists and average, law-abiding citizens in any country in any time. If you reflect upon that sentence you will see why. Sometimes there are movements that can result in destabilising of an existing government unless the govt. can crush it. The problem is it is unlikely that the Pak govt has the capacity to crush this. Public opinion has nothing to do with it. Cricket has even lesser.

Temper your beliefs please.

By: Alan

Alan — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 07:38:47 +0000

Cricket is probably the greatest gift of British colonialism – the one thing that occupied nations probably wouldn’t have adopted spontaneously, and without any real downsides. Believe me, the fact that it’s so difficult for outsiders to understand just makes it cooler.

But I think it’s optimistic to think that a cricket embargo will change the mindset of fanatical Pakistanis. Religion comes before sport, which in turn comes before politics in most peoples’ loyalties.

Furthermore, is there clear evidence that these were Islamic militants as opposed to sore losing Tamil Tigers?