Cricket, terrorism and security in contemporary South Asia

Abstract

Five States of an otherwise politically turbulent, strategically sensitive and socio-ethnically divided region – India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan – constitute the essence of South Asian cricket culture and economy, led by India at the international level since the 1990s. This article examines the spectre of terrorism and security as a central non-cricketing factor in the sport’s evolution in contemporary South Asia. Cricket has been affected by political violence and terrorism in some of these countries since the 1980s, due in particular to the civil war in Sri Lanka, the rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan, and the growth of terrorist and jihadi camps in Pakistan. This article argues that terrorism and security fears have not only compromised, sometimes halted, the organization of the game in certain countries including Pakistan and Afghanistan but also transformed the nature of cricketing relations in the region, although cricket recovers fast from the impact of these trends.

Keywords:

• Cricket
• terrorism
• security
• South Asia
• Pakistan

Acknowledgements

This essay has drawn liberally from my earlier writings on the subject (Bandyopadhyay 2008a, 2008b, 2011, 2015, 2018).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

Notes

1 For a list of terrorist assaults on subcontinental cricket, see ‘Timeline: Cricket and terrorism’, March 3, 2009, http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2009/mar/03/timeline-cricket-attacks (Accessed October 6, 2009); ‘Timeline: cricket and terrorism’, http://www. channel4.com/news/articles/world/asia_pacific/timeline + cricket + and_terrorism (Accessed 6 October 6, 2009; Asif Ali, ‘Timeline: cricket and Pakistan, a troubled history’, March 3, 2009, http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/cricket/article583681.ece (accessed 6 October 2009). Also see http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1882967_1882966_1882948,00.html, March 15, 2019 (Accessed June 7, 2020).

2 Some interesting insights on this World Cup as also on this particular event are offered in Dimeo and Kay 2004.

3 However, there were occasional attempts on the part of the Taliban to use sport to heighten the regime’s image, albeit deceitfully. An excellent description of such an experience is narrated in the novel The Taliban Cricket Club (Murari 2012).

4 The Afghanistan Cricket Federation was founded in 2002. It became an International Cricket Council elect member in 2003 and got the membership of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) subsequently. In the last one decade or so, both popular craze and media coverage of cricket have become manifold with the national team’s rise in international cricket. Cricketers have become national icons as well as household names in the country.

5 It won four matches in ICC T-20 World Cup of 2016, became champions in the ICC Trophy (World Cup Qualifiers) in 2018, and won two consecutive Test matches against Ireland and Bangladesh in 2019.

6 For a more detailed discussion on cricket’s importance in India-Pakistan diplomatic relations, see Bandyopadhyay 2008a, 2008b; Crick 2009; Khan and Khan 2013, 35-64.

7 The decision to go ahead with the series, which surprised many, came after a confidential meeting at the residence of the Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee on February 14, 2004. The meeting was attended by Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha, Finance Minister Jaswant Singh, and national security adviser Brajesh Mishra.

8 Lorgat, in a personal interaction with the author, also revealed that the cancellation of World Cup matches in Pakistan was solely due to the uncertain and inadequate security situation prevailing in the country. Discussion with Haroon Lorgat, Oxford: July 22, 2009.

9 Posted by SATTY77 on April 18, 2009 at 07:27 AM GMT on http://www.cricinfo.com/ci-icc/content/story/400154.html (Accessed October 7, 2009).

10 Posted by Desiguy007 on April 18, 2009 at 7.40 PM GMT on http://www.cricinfo.com/ci-icc/content/story/400154.html (Accessed October 7, 2009); emphasis added.

11 To give one small piece of statistics, the number of terrorist attacks that hit different parts of Pakistan in October 2009 alone was more than 300. For details, see Zaidi 2009, 42-51, in which the author, examining the current state of affairs in Pakistan, raised a serious question: ‘With a wave of terror attacks, its army battling jihadis, the political system deeply divided and its economy in tatters, Pakistan is close to collapse. Can it be saved?’ (43).

12 Remember how the second Indian Premier League had to be shifted from India to South Africa in April-May 2009 as the IPL schedule clashed with the Parliamentary elections held during the same time and the central government expressed its inability to provide adequate security arrangements to hold the event during that period. Similarly, the Bangladesh government had to halt all visits by foreign teams in March 2009 as it could not guarantee them adequate security after more than 70 people died in a coup by rank-and-file border guards against their superiors in Dhaka on February 25-26, 2009.

13 Here I draw attention to the most important recent terror attacks in these countries – terror strike on military vehicles at Pulwama, Jammu & Kashmir, India in February 2019; July 2016 terrorist attack on Holey Artisan Bakery in Dhaka, Bangladesh; and terrorist suicide bombings at hotels and churches in Colombo, Sri lanka in April 2019.