For those who don’t already know, the Pakistani cricket team, like most teams before it, have been annihilated by the seemingly invincible Australian team. The Australians have been performing so well, in fact, that people have lost interest in the game. People prefer to see close, exciting contests, rather than the one-sided romps to which we have become accustomed.
A massive defeat at the hands of the Australians normally elicits reactions expressing disappointment, coupled with a hope that things may improve. On occasion, supporters call for the sacking of players, or even the coach.
Pakistani fans, are apparently more extreme.
Dozens of supporters of a youth organisation today chanted slogans and burned effigies of two Pakistani cricketers and two officials of the national team following Pakistan’s loss to Australia this week.World champions Australia, beat Pakistan with a massive 491 runs in the first cricket Test on Sunday in Perth. Australian bowlers eliminated the Pakistani batting lineup for a total of only 72 runs in their second innings.About 60 supporters of Shabab-e-Milli – a youth organisation linked with Pakistan’s largest Islamic group, Jamaat-e-Islami – chanted “Death to Inzamam,” referring to Pakistan captain Inzamam-I-Haq, and “Death to Bob Woolmer,” the team’s coach.
While this kind of behavior is not foreign to soccer fans (think Escobar), I cannot recall death threats on cricket players. It’s just not cricket!*Then it occurred to me why I should not be at all surprised that this occurred in Pakistan. The following was taken from The Guardian, October 9th, 2001:
Violent street protests swept through Pakistan yesterday as Islamist groups took on heavily armed police and soldiers and threatened revenge against America and Islamabad’s military regime.
Police opened fire on demonstrators in Quetta and Peshawar and shot teargas rounds as they chased crowds through busy markets. One man, Haji Mohammed, 26, was shot dead and at least 30 were injured.Quetta, in the deserts of western Pakistan near the Afghan border, saw the worst rioting. The headquarters of the UN Children’s Fund (Unicef) was badly burnt, along with several cars, and the nearby office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees was pelted with rocks. Two cinemas showing American films, shops, a bank and even a branch of Pakistan’s Central Investigation Agency were set alight.Islamist clerics led at least 4,000 demonstrators through the city, with chants of “Death to America” and “Bush is a terrorist.” One protester held up a placard reading “Musharraf is a dog.”“To all Muslims around the world: prepare yourselves for jihad,” said Maulana Noor Mohammed, the local head of the hardline Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam party.
Effigy burning and death threats may have started as an expression of anger against the US, Israel, and other infidel countries, but it hasn’t ended there. Fundamentalist Muslims see it fit to react this way whenever they are angered or frustrated. The root cause of this behavior is the culture itself, which tolerates, if not encourages, such violence. The blame does not lie with some external cause, such as the US, Israel or the cricket coach.
In this case, the correct response of the cricket selectors would not be to say “Yes, you are right. Thanks for expressing your frustrations. The players and coach will be fired immediately,” but rather “This is no way to express your anger!” Otherwise, the supporters will be encouraged to adopt the same tactics (and maybe even carry through on the death threats) every time they feel a player or coach under-performs. Now apply the same logic to the Middle East conflict. Rewarding the terrorists by acceding to their every demand only encourages them to commit more terrorist acts.
* The phrase “It’s just not cricket”, although arising from commentary on cricket, has now gained common currency in describing non-cricket situations that are unfair, or somehow break the rules.
