ISLAMABAD, 17 March 2004 — Sachin Tendulkar was emerging from the health club of a Lahore hotel when, from the corner of his eye, he spotted a teenaged Pakistani fan, standing transfixed in the distance.
“Should I go talk to him?” the 18-year-old fan, aptly named Imran Khan after the former Pakistan captain, urgently whispered to a friend. Tendulkar smiled at him, waved and walked toward the elevators before the awestruck youth could make a move.
“Sachin is the greatest. He’s my hero,” Imran later said. “I’m so lucky I finally got to see him close up after watching him on TV for so many years. Next time, I’ll make sure I open my mouth.”
The economics student from Lahore is one of many Pakistani cricket lovers who revere India’s players despite the political rivalry between the countries. The Indian team, who are in Pakistan for their first full series in more than 14 years, say they have been stunned by the affection showered on them since they landed in Lahore last week.
“It’s been simply unbelievable,” said captain Saurav Ganguly. “I don’t think we’ve ever been treated so well, even in India. The whole experience has been very overwhelming. The hospitality we’ve received is astonishing.” Animosity between India and Pakistan has been intense since both gained independence from Britain in 1947 and the two countries have fought three wars. But locals say they want to ensure politics is kept out of cricket.
“We’ve been denied watching the Indian cricket team for too long now,” said Tahir Ahmed, a carpet-seller in Karachi. “Someone should tell the leaders of our countries that people on both sides of the border have no issues with each other.”
The sentiment was repeated over and over again, everywhere the Indian team went in Pakistan. “People have been so exceptionally warm, it’s almost unsettling,” Ganguly said. “We’d certainly not expected this.”
Fans from India and Pakistan united during Saturday’s exciting opening match, when the visitors won by piling up a record 349 for seven. The Indian team were given a warm, standing ovation by the Karachi crowd, considered the most boisterous in Pakistan.
“The crowd in Karachi was fabulous, fair and appreciative,” Indian coach John Wright said. “The tension an India v Pakistan match generates is pretty consistent. At Centurion, in the World Cup, it was pretty intense and here it’s perhaps even more so.”
India beat Pakistan by six wickets at the World Cup in another thrilling match. But such encounters between the countries have been few and far between because of political tensions over the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir.
The countries have begun a tentative rapprochement based on “confidence-building measures” including reviving air, road and rail links and declaring a cease-fire along the Line of Control dividing the two armies in Kashmir. But the biggest symbol of the peace process so far is the ongoing cricket tour because of the passion the sport invokes in hundreds of millions of fans in both countries. The security for the Indian team has been extremely tight, including elite commandos, on hand at each venue.
“The security is unbelievable. We thought we’d be guarded well but we could have never expected this,” Ganguly said.
Many hope that if the current series continues without incident, cricket could prove to be the catalyst for enduring peace in the region. If the Pakistani reception afforded to India’s players and fans so far is anything to go by, the tour already seems to be breaking down barriers.
