It so happens that our dearest neighbor, the apple of our eyes and the sore spot on our bum, Pakistan is taking major issue with the treatment meted out to its nationals in India. No, they weren’t put in front of armed terrorists and shot. No, they weren’t tortured and made to accept being spies of India and later convicted to be hanged. This “treatment” is the IPL franchisees(read teams) ignoring Pakistani players in the recent auction, opting to spend their ridiculous $$ on lesser known players.

This event has the entire Pakistan nation up in arms against India. From complaining to ICC and burning effigies of Lalit Modi and planning to ban Indian TV channels, no means of expressing anger has been spared. Even the instances of terrorists fighting Indian security forces has gone up since IPL teams rejected Pakistani players.

Is it unsporting to put these players for auction and then teams not picking them up? The answer to this question lies in understanding of the phenomenon called IPL. IPL has nothing to do with cricket, passion or anything else. IPL is a money machine, an ATM with infinite supply of $$ , the proverbial money plant that will never run out of money. For an understanding of how much money can actually be pumped into this league, look at the owners: India’s biggest superstars, India’s richest family, some of the biggest builders and construction magnates, even the IPL commissioner is a big industrialist himself. Pakistan’s whining has nothing to do with politics. It is whining about being left out of the money hoopla.

But is it unsporting? Of course it isn’t. This is actually the biggest political hit India has scored against Pakistan ever. Pakistan is like a baby, a baby that wants all toys and will cry and cry and cry if it isn’t heard. The proof lies in its crying to the US all the time, asking for fancy weapons to “fight against terror” and then using them against India. By denying their players a spot to play in IPL, India has unwittingly hit Pakistan where it hurts.

Adding some perspective, sport has done nothing in the last 60 years. Pakistan is still home to the elite terrorists in the world, and time and again proves itself to be the best host to those terrorists. It is a nation that does not deserve an olive branch, but an olive tree shoved up its ass. This olive tree, that our politicians could not deliver in the last 60 years, IPL has delivered in one shot.

And now Pakistan is outraged. Outraged as it should have been when its terrorists killed hundreds in Mumbai on 26/11, outraged over the thousands its terrorists have murdered in India. If the blood of countless Indians evokes no outrage from this nation, then I do not give a flying fuck to their outrage on being ignored by IPL.

Neither should you.

“Dawood - Who’s that? We never heard of him before.”

“Maulana Masood Azhar who? Sorry, never heard that name”

“Terrorism? What’s that? Don’t ask us to eliminate terrorism, we’ll go to war”

Pakistan is a nation that is in a state of denial. Never before has clearer evidence emerged that Islamic terrorists have established their roots deep within the Pakistani fabric. Yet all our neighbours seem to do is to turn a blind eye to this menace that has started affecting its own citizens.

The trouble started way back in 1947 when India was divided into two countries, India and Pakistan. The biggest flashpoint then was the Indian state of Kashmir. Back then, Pakistan supported the Mujahirs who were no more than armed mercenaries backed by the then rag tag Pakistani army to try and wrest control of Kashmir. They succeeded partially, and what began was a bloody era for people of Kashmir.

What also began here was a clandestine backing of the militant forces by elements in the Pakistani Army. The responsibility of handling these militants was then passed on to the Inter-Services Intelligence(ISI). Since then, several acts of terrorism have been  carried on in the state of Kashmir as well as several others throughout India. The developed world mostly ignored these incidences of terrorism till a certain Osama Bin Laden took terrorism to their own backyard.

Switch to 26/11. India’s financial capital Mumbai was held hostage by a group of ten terrorists for 3 days. Unlike previous incidents where all terrorists were killed, this time one terrorist was caught alive. Azam Amir “Kasav” has owned up to being a Pakistani national and has even written a letter to the Pakistani government. Only to be denied existence.

What Pakistan is doing here is playing with dynamite. Even though it has been time and again proven that Pakistan is the home to some of the most wanted on Interpol’s list, like Dawood Ibrahim  (mastermind of the 1993 bomb attacks in Mumbai), Maulana Masood Azhar (Jaish-e-mohammed chief and wanted for numerous terror acts), the chiefs and cadres of world famous terrorist groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Muhammed and also Al-Qaeda, it either denies their existence or calls them non-state actors to wash its hands off.

The murder of Benazir Bhutto and the multiple terrorist bombings in Pakistan make it quite clear that Pakistan is now bearing the brunt of the same terrorists it harbors. If this is not enough to serve as a wake up call, only God knows what will!

Pakistan’s democratic government under Mr.Zardari must take swift, affirmative and urgent actions against these known terrorist forces. If they do not, they are sitting on a ticking time bomb that will cause more harm to Pakistan than anyone else.

Pakistan is on the brink of another civil war after its prodigal daughter & the preferred candidate for the Prime Minister’s post, Benazir Bhutto was assassinated on December 27. Her killing came as a shock not only to Pakistan, but to the western world that was counting on Bhutto for a smooth transition of power from Musharraf to a democratically led government.

Bhutto’s demise has changed a lot of equations in Pakistan. Though it has ensured her party’s victory in the next general elections, whenever they happen.

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