The Rediff Cricket Diary -- from Prem Panicker

And so it's finally happened. The Government of India has decided that India will not send a cricket team to Toronto, to play against Pakistan.

The announcement is welcome. There was a body of opinion, as reflected in emails that landed up in my box, that presented what to my mind is a rather peculiar argument. These readers said we should play Pakistan in Toronto, we should strain every nerve to beat them, because such a defeat will teach them a lesson.

It is an argument that, quite frankly, I find appalling. I mean, what is the argument against playing Pakistan? It is, simply put, this -- innocent people are being slaughtered on a daily basis in Kashmir. There is sufficient indication that the slaughter is being carried out by terrorists aided and abetted by the Pakistan government. And therefore, to engage in friendly sporting rivalry with that country, at this time, is anathema, it mocks the blood that is being spilled every single day.

So when someone says that to defeat Pakistan at cricket gives us a measure of revenge, I don't get it. What is the equation here? A win at cricket negates a massacre in Srinagar? A series win at Toronto cancels out the hurt, the anguish, of the last one year's worth of terrorist atrocities? A Sachin century compensates for two families killed?

It is a strange, heartless equation, to say that sporting victory cancels out loss of lives. It is a line of thought I find sticks in my craw, obstinately refusing to be swallowed.

But this government announcement, welcome though it is, can only be a beginning. What is needed is for the government of India to come up with an official policy statement on sporting relations -- please note, sporting relations, not merely relating to cricket -- vis a vis the neighbour country.

The government needs to spell out its stand on Pakistan. Does the government hold Pakistan responsible for the atrocities in Kashmir? If so, the government has then to take a stand, cancel all social contact until such time as the situation in Kashmir, and on our borders, is sorted out.

Otherwise, we will be left with the same situation we were in last year. Remember? In the aftermath of Kargil, the government stepped in and said the Indian team would not play Pakistan in Toronto. But then, it also said it was okay to play Pakistan in Australia.

I have never understood the logic of that. If Pakistan is responsible for bloodshed in Kashmir, if the government's cancellation of a cricket tour is a sign of protest, then how does it matter where the encounter takes place? If it was wrong to play in Toronto, it was equally wrong to play in Australia.

That is why we need a long term policy statement, and we need it right away.

Meanwhile, mention of Kargil also reminds me of an anomaly. When Kargil happened, Anshuman Gaekwad was the Indian coach. But it was known, even then, that Anshu was on his way out. And lobbying had begun, among various contenders, for the post. Simultaneously, it was common knowledge that Azhar's tenure as captain was coming to an end. That the Indian selectors were of a mind to ring in a change.

It was then, that we woke one day to front page headlines and pictures. Pictures of Kapil Dev and Ajay Jadeja in Kargil; headlines that spoke of them sympathising with the wounded, mourning the dead.

The following days brought more headlines. Of a fiery Kapil Dev demanding a ban on all sporting contact between the two countries.

Today, Kashmir reeks of slaughter. The soil sizzles with the spilt blood of innocents. But not one word, not one statement, from the man who a year ago wouldn't stop making statements.

I wonder why?

Meanwhile, on the cricket site -- http://www.rediff.com/cricket/index.html -- today, the transcript of BCCI president Dr A C Muthiah's recent live appearance on Rediff chat leads a parade of stories and features.

And on sports -- http://www.rediff.com/sports/sporhom1.htm -- Rohit Brijnath, a columnist I have long admired for the easy flow of his prose, weighs in with his weekly column. At a time when India is gasping for a medal of any hue, at Olympic level, he looks back in time, to his encounters with an Indian who has four of them -- three golds, one silver -- to his name.

These two stories, and others, should be up on the respective sites within two hours from the time you get this.

Until tomorrow, then, adios....

Prem

Mail Cricket Editor