ISLAMABAD: Vice-President of the Pakistan People’s Party and Parliamentary Leader of the PPP in the Senate, Senator Sherry Rehman, has issued a strong response to India’s statements regarding cricket. She described it as a pattern of “selective peace, selective sportsmanship, and selective responsibility” that South Asia can no longer tolerate.
“Pakistan never sought to introduce political toxicity into sports. Those demanding calm and sanity in cricket today should have remembered this when Pakistan was being pushed onto an unfair playing field—whether through sports boycotts, diplomatic coercion, or attempts to isolate our athletes,” she said in a statement on Tuesday, referring to India’s recent comments on cricket.
Senator Rehman noted that the politicisation of cricket did not originate in Pakistan but in India, where refusals to hold bilateral series, declined handshakes, harassment of players, and direct political pressure on cricketing bodies have long influenced the sport’s environment. “Sportsmanship cannot be invoked only when convenient—especially by those who have weaponised water and undermined the Indus Waters Treaty,” she emphasised.
She highlighted that Pakistan has consistently played fairly, both on the cricket field and in international diplomacy. “Pakistan upheld the spirit of sports even when others weaponised diplomacy. Our restraint is not weakness; it is responsible statecraft,” she stated, underscoring that Pakistan has honoured treaties and principles of fair play despite intense provocation.
She cautioned that regional stability cannot be built on one-sided expectations. “Countries cannot demand normalcy in sports while manufacturing hostility in diplomacy. South Asia cannot afford selective peace and convenient crises,” she said. “If states want sanity in sports, that same sanity must apply to water, diplomacy, and cross-border norms.” She also raised longstanding concerns regarding the influence exerted by powerful cricket boards, particularly the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), which she said increasingly functions as an extension of political authority.
Commenting on Pakistan’s conditional participation in the T20 World Cup, she endorsed the stance taken by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and PCB Chairman Mohsin Naqvi, stating: “Pakistan’s decision is not weakness—it is a principled diplomatic signal. We will not compromise the integrity of sport, nor will we be pressured into an uneven playing field.”
Senator Rehman added that Pakistan–India matches have become more about business than sport, with the 2023 fixture attracting over 300 million viewers and 10-second advertisements during Pakistan’s T20 matches costing between Rs 2.5 to 4 million. India’s continued refusal to play has cost not only Pakistan but the global cricket industry billions. “Selective outrage is telling—when India refuses, silence; when Pakistan takes a stand, an uproar,” she remarked.
She dismissed India’s repeated use of security concerns as justification for not playing Pakistan, noting that major international teams have toured Pakistan successfully. “The security argument collapses under scrutiny—especially when India itself has at times struggled to ensure the safety of individual foreign players,” she said.
Senator Sherry Rehman concluded, “Selective peace is not peace. Selective sportsmanship is not sportsmanship. If they want sanity in sports, they must first stop creating insanity in diplomacy.”
