ISLAMABAD, 11 March 2004 — Cricket-legend-turned-politician Imran Khan believes India’s historic tour of Pakistan will help heal the long and bitter divide between the nuclear-armed neighbors.
The first showdown on Pakistani soil in over 14 years has a political dimension as the teams will be playing in an emerging climate of rapprochement and peace, Khan told AFP in an interview on Tuesday.
“When the two countries are trying to become friendly, trying to ease tensions, then cricket plays a healing role, cricket becomes a cement in bonding the countries together,” said Khan, a member of the Parliament and head of the Tehrik-e-Insaf party he founded seven years ago.
When the archrivals go head-to-head on the cricket ground, it is not just sports fans who get hooked, said Khan, who led Pakistan to glory in the 1992 World Cup. “It transcends sports, it is much more than cricket, it is passion.” The Indian team arrived yesterday in the eastern city of Lahore for a tour that will include five-one day internationals and three Test matches.
Khan said the series was exciting because it came against a backdrop of decades of mutual hostility which nearly boiled over into a feared nuclear war two years ago. “Therefore people are really skeptical, is it really heading toward peace?” he said.
