Just hours before the start of the first match of the one-day series between Pakistan and New Zealand, the touring team dramatically pulled out, citing a terrorist threat to the team. It had been with much painstaking effort that Pakistan had lived down the attack on the Sri Lankan team in 2009, and not just international cricket, but the country’s premier T20 tournament, the Pakistan Super League, had to be shifted to Dubai. It was not until 2015, with a visit by Zimbabwe for ODIs and T20Is, that a foreign team came back. It was appropriate that Sri Lanka had returned to play Tests later as well. Tours by other teams followed, such as South Africa. The New Zealand decision means that Pakistan might once again enter the limbo of not being eligible for sporting tours.
Even Prime Minister Imran Khan was not able to convince his Kiwi counterpart, Jacinda Ardern, that the team was provided head-of-state level security, intelligence agencies were working around the clock, and that there was no intel of any threats. In response, the New Zealand government said they had received information that once the teams would enter the stadium, there were chances of an attack taking place. The May 9, 2002 suicide blast in Karachi — in which 14 people, including French naval engineers, had been killed — may have played on the psyche of the Kiwi authorities. Remember New Zealand cricketers were staying at the PC Hotel just across the road where the blast occurred and were about to board their bus to travel to National Stadium for a Test match. The tour had been aborted forthwith. Still, considering that the NZ security experts were satisfied with the security preparations beforehand, it is hard to reconcile with the latest pullout.
Regrettably, the effort that was invested in ensuring a successful Pak-NZ tour has now gone to waste. This is indeed a huge blow to the whole country. Cricket has always been much bigger than the sport itself. Its revival is tied to the hearts and minds of millions of Pakistanis, and to the overall development and prosperity of the country. A successful series would have helped alleviate any security concerns the international community had, uplift tourism by encouraging tourists to visit especially during the next PSL, promote a balanced image of Pakistan, and encourage foreign investors to invest openly without fear. The game is woven within the socio-economic fabric of the country.
The crying shame is that Pakistan has proven safe for sports tours, more general tourism and even for visits by intending investors. If there is still a perception that Pakistan is unsafe, it can only be because the government has failed to dispel the perception created that Pakistan is an unsafe place. It cannot escape notice that the surprise decision comes in the backdrop of the West dithering about what to do about the Taliban regime that has taken over Afghanistan. There is also some mystery over what exactly was the threat. Where did New Zealand’s intelligence agencies, not exactly world beaters, get their information, which was no doubt of some credibility, as it led to the cancellation of a tour they had previously approved? Could the source have been India, which would only be too ready to chortle over Pakistan’s plight, all the while saying, “We told you so.”
