Security experts acting as representatives of England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and New Zealand Cricket (NZC) are scheduled to arrive here one after another from Saturday to examine security arrangements ahead of the white-ball tours during September and October. Reg Dickson will be arriving on Saturday, while David Snears is expected to land here on Sunday. After a two-day inspection in Lahore, the duo will head to Rawalpindi and Islamabad on Tuesday to assess the security arrangements on the twin cities. While Dickson will return home on Aug 27, Snears will stay on till the conclusion of the England women team tour on Sept 21.
Though Pakistan has said the visit of these two experts from ESI was planned well in advance and had no correlation with the current political situation of Afghanistan. The official said that since the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) had yet to confirm the travel itinerary for the ODI series.As much as we understand that the Taliban takeover of Kabul isn’t going to impact things like cricket over here just yet, perception is a very powerful thing and we must do whatever we can to win the battle for hearts and minds all over again.
This is of course just one of the many sides of the picture. It isn’t just sports that’s going to be affected by Afghanistan. A number of things have already started turning. Pakistani bonds have already become the worst performers among emerging markets amid fears that global forces are going to isolate the country for its real or perceived support for the Taliban in Afghanistan. And foreign investment has also started the new fiscal year by takin a near-40pc plunge year-on-year and looks set to worsen as investors beeline for the exit lounge; again precisely because of the situation across the western border.
All this adds to the government’s to-do list, of course. It must not only watch the borders and put security agencies on the alert; especially to check for militants among the thousands upon thousands of refugees headed our way. It must now also begin an aggressive diplomatic drive to present Pakistan’s own case to the international community. For the entire duration of the war Pakistan was continuously hounded for allegedly confounding the allied war effort by helping the Taliban; even though no country suffered more than Pakistan during those years. And later, when they needed Islamabad to push the Taliban towards talks, the entire international community, with the exception of India of course, dropped such charges because it suited them. And now, when things are going against them once again, they find nothing more convenient than to dump the rot, as always, on Pakistan.
We need to be a lot more proactive than we have been so far because events in another country, which are completely beyond our control, are causing us political as well as economic damage. That investors are hesitant in the immediate aftermath of the fall of Kabul is understandable given the region’s unstable history. But for such things to continue to cast a long, dark shadow over Pakistan’s economy is unfair and needs to be challenged.
