The three countries have similarities in the destiny of internal discord, disruption and self-destruct. India helped Bangladesh to realize itself. Today Bangladesh has a higher per capita income than many other countries. Mohammad Ali Jinnah used his remarkable perception and anticipation of how Pakistan could shape its destiny as a Muslim state. India had such secular and astute stalwarts as Jawaharlal Nehru, Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel. Dr. Ambedkar was tasked with drafting a constitution of superb intent and benefit for all. Minister on Commerce and Investment, Mr. Abdul Razak Dawood has chartered a new territory, Africa.
India has the stigma of being dubbed as IIOJK. It is another Ethan Brand-like stigma. It can generously find out a way to wipe the stigma and live, in the comity of nations. Each one can have a courtesy and considerate attitude towards the other. Vivek Katju a former diplomat is cynical in believing that Pakistan is having India obsession.
Read more: Worsening and insecure life of Muslims in India
A cricket match was fought and lost
Team India brushed off the disappointment and the defeat — as well as the inflammable mix of emotions that can overwhelm India-Pakistan cricket matches. Virat Kohli and his men walked up to the Pakistan players and congratulated them. In doing so, they refused to be turned into gladiators fighting a proxy battle of jingoism.
To millions of young people watching them, they sent out important messages. Those players are united on the common ground of sport, that when you have lost and are feeling lousy about it, you still congratulate the winner. That’s not just sportsmanship, that’s decency. But that’s thrown out of the window in these polarized times when the IPC is weaponized by the state at the drop of a dissenting line. So, days after Union Home Minister Amit Shah said he was reaching out to the young, the Jammu and Kashmir Police registered a case under the draconian anti-terror law, UAPA, against unknown students in two Srinagar medical colleges for “cheering for Pakistan” in the T20 match.
There’s no evidence that their cheering was part of any incitement to violence. In Congress-ruled Rajasthan, the police arrested a schoolteacher for a social media post, again, ostensibly in support of the Pakistan cricket team. In Agra, the UP police arrested three Kashmiri students in Agra and slapped cases against four other people. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has come down even harder on this fictional crime — he has promised sedition charges.
Read more: When & how will terrorism between India and Pakistan end? -Part 1
Does the faith of the audience matter?
In each of these cases, the police are guilty of blatant violation of Constitutional norms and guarantees. This disturbing, absurd script has played out before. Be it in a case of sedition against a school in Karnataka for staging a play, or a 22-year-old for raising slogans, or another young woman for climate change activism. What would the men in uniform, who now appear to be in service of a thin-skinned nationalism rather than the Constitution, have made of the thriller of a Test match in Chennai in 1999, when the entire Chepauk stadium stood up to applaud the Pakistan side after it defeated India? How many cases could they have filed then? Is Pakistan the problem? Or, will applauding New Zealand be seditious too? This absurdity needs to be checked.
The judiciary has time and again laid down guidelines for the application of the colonial-era sedition law (only to see them routinely flouted) and asked the government to examine its remit. It must not turn a blind eye to this latest round of excessive and unlawful action. It needs to throw out these cases and tell the police, in no uncertain terms, why their action violates the Constitution. Locking up a citizen for cheering a rival nation during a game is a self-goal in a democracy.
Read more: When & how will terrorism between India and Pakistan end? -Part 1
This India obsession has caused the greatest shock to well-meaning citizens of India and it is like ovation is turned as sedition. But an even more, obnoxious reaction is how some in India are threatening the life and dignity of a minor daughter of the Indian captain!!! The daughter of Kohli is equal to the wonderful and beloved daughters of the Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi. Ansha, Ajwa Afridi, Aqsa, Asmara and their newest addition, Arwa. Every one is a gem for the parents and all fathers and mothers of the subcontinent.