Radcliffe Line, Sino-US Plots, IPL Giants and Sentiments of Two Nations

Long time back, in some part of the capital of an empire where the Sun hardly sets, on a slightly parched map depicting the northern part of the Indian sub-continent, a man was rehearsing some imminent act using a virtual pair of scissors. At about the same time at a police outpost in a rural spot called Shakagarh, a bit far from the township of Pathankot, on the way to Gujranwala, staff that would soon be part of two different sovereign states were busily engaged in packing their belongings and bidding farewell to their long term colleagues.

Now that Sir Cyril Radcliffe, the gentleman who chaired the Border Commissions had finalized the line that would divide properties and hearts across 175,000 sq miles of territory bearing a population of 88 million, a young Muslim sipoy of the Shakagarh police beat, holding over his head a new Enfield sten gun, called out to his senior hawaldar Aslam Bhakt Multani, “Bhai, since Ramchand kaka would be moving to the other side of the world, to an army that might fight us in the future do we let him go with this fine piece?” It is said that Multani replied in a mellowed vein thus, “We must…. regardless of whatever the future may pack for us, for I know how Ramchandji valued this machine. In fact, he had had a tough time parting with his old American Tommy gun as well, when the Royal officers had decided to switch to the current one.” They say he added, “Boy try to respect sentiments.”

Radcliffe is no more today, so is Multani……and Ramchand. In the slot left by these characters of the past, the present packs for us greater personalities (obviously in terms of appearance) such as the American statesman Robert Gates and slightly lesser mortals such as Wasim Akram and Sanjay Manjarekar, former cricketers. Although, it seems the two countries have almost decided against direct assaults, there is also no dearth of issues such as the terrorist strike on Mumbai and the more recent snubbing of Pakistani cricketers by the IPL franchisees.

The first issue mentioned here is the terrorist attack on various locations in Mumbai, which as usual was followed by heavy release of rhetoric on either sides of the Radcliffe line, hasty actions such as military maneuvers at the border, and finally the ever-anticipated impasse, leaving many a patriot on this side of the line wondering why do not they or when would they start calling shots literally. Under these circumstances one ought to make a deep retrospection to start from the day, scores of ultras – obviously with the state’s backing – stormed Indian territories surrounding Kargil, to the day when the paramount place of Indian democracy, the Parliament was attacked. We saw the mobilization of military forces at both the instances – the military operation in Kargil saw the ultras thrown out of the Indian territory – but not beyond that notorious line drawn by Radcliffe.

However, a few years later we saw a band of boys in an attire bearing the emblem of India walking across the border back into our territory with accolades and – more importantly – ovation given by the population on the other side for beating the boys representing their own country. These young cricketers were followed by their seniors who too enjoyed the same treatment, for the population on either side to come into a conclusion that ‘resumption of cricket means the burning bilateral issues are laid to rest’. Lost count of instances cricket has come to the rescue of statesmen with a lost head, only good to grin at people with zero compunction whatsoever.

It was also quite refreshing to observe the fact that throughout the history the cricketers of both the countries have shared remarkable mutual admiration and of course toleration. Was it not great to see Wasim Akram earnestly criticizing the Indian cricketing thinktank recently for their choosing a relatively less popular guy to train their bowlers? It was definitely the same when someone like Sunil Gavaskar or Sanjay Manjarekar had gone through the same lines when cricket in Pakistan was in distress. The striking thing at both the instances was that the remarks were taken with regards by the receiving countries’ authorities. This is also why a sensible person curiously expects military mobilization along the border as a token of protest against the snubbing of Pak players by IPL bigwigs, but never grim remarks from someone like Imran Khan or Zaheer Abbas.

It is obvious that the cricketing stalwarts of India were a bit taken by surprise by the bizarre development; this perhaps being the reason for a shortage of comments from this part of the cricketing world. These are obviously tough times when someone would earnestly hope that Shashi Tharoor was a cricketer. Alas we have seldom big tweeters in Indian cricket, as against the likes of David Lloyd and Geoff Boycott of England. Nonetheless, any sane soul that knows something about contemporary cricket in the world also knows what these great cricketers must be tweeting in their minds – ‘You should have thought about in when you threw cricket into the clutches of modern day Shylocks, and we do not unfortunately stock Jesus Christs these days as well to storm their dens with a scourge’.

On the other side of things, we have had recently the defense secretary of the US Robert Gates categorically stating that the terror syndicate of Al Qaeda was trying to provoke a war between India and Pakistan. He had through his statement also given a clean chit to the establishment of Pakistan. Then followed the most significant statement of all from Gates; that even they would not assure of India’s restraint in case of another instance akin to the terror strike that took place in Mumbai. This is definitely not cricket as well as anything sporting, as it more seems to be a subtle call for mischief in the region. As it is apparent that lamenting cricketers need only some space to go ahead with their game, while the big two countries of the modern day world; USA and China, more than any ultra outfit, hope for nothing less than a war between the two lesser ones that were once dissected by Radcliffe.

And why not, when such a war would give China some peaceful nights of sleep as their main contender in the region would be making a long march back in terms of development; and the US will gain what it had longed for all these days across the history – a potential military base within the Indian territory at the very neighbourhood of its numero uno rival (China). And in such an altered situation the line that divides India and Pakistan will be quite insignificant, as will be the gentleman called Radcliffe, as all that remain crucial would be the line/lines that divide the territories that outline the authority of either the US or China. After all we too need more of Ramchands, Multanis, Akrams, Rameez Rajas and Manjarekars, in place of Radcliffes and Gates', don't we?