The uber Lala fan that I have been called, I stand thoroughly disappointed with his latest statement made on Asma Shirazi’s show.

Blissfully unaware that anything of the sort had taken place, I logged in to Twitter to find almost everybody discussing Shahid Afridi’s awful statement. Opened link, watched video and yes, it was awful. In response to a question Shirazi asked him about his experience in India, he said: “Musalmanon aur Pakistanion ke dil bohat barray hain, jo un logon ke kabhi nahi hosaktay.”

I will not translate this into English, because I do not want to take it upon myself to assume who the reference of ‘un log’ was for. I want to know myself who those ‘log’ he means are. Is it the Indian people at large, spectators at the match, the Indian media? Who?

Nevertheless, once the statement was made, instantly, it drained the goodwill and unmade all the new fans — especially on the other side of the border. But should it be like that? Should I start hating him too, calling him a fundo, bigot etc., etc., because of this one statement? As I wrote on Twitter, some smart person on my timeline said one statement should not negate all the good ones.

I don’t agree with what Afridi said. I don’t subscribe to that mindset and I’m not one to go with generalistations. But neither am I going to castigate the man for what I hope was an error on his part.

And before casting all kinds of accusations and forming judgments, and sending Afridi to the doghouse, consider this: the Pakistan team entered India to play a semi-final under tremendous pressure. They arrived in India with threats from the Shiv Sena. Once there, the Indian media was vicious to say the least, and launched a diatribe against the Pakistan team. The crowd — and this we saw on our screens and writers in India attested to the same — did not cheer any team but India.

Coming back home with that experience and experiencing the unexpected — thousands of fans gathered at the airport to welcome back a team who had lost to India in the semi-final — must have taken some digesting. So was the statement on Asma Shirazi’s show made to pander Pakistani audiences? Was it an ill-phrased sigh of relief for being back home among ‘one’s own,’ where there is support? And where one will finally be allowed to breathe?

Erroneous statements were also made on the other side of the border. Gambhir’s words were also doing the rounds of Twitter, just not as much. He dedicated the Mohali win to those affected by the Mumbai attacks. It was uncalled for. Does one statement cancel out the other? No. Both were in bad taste. What everyone did is lose perspective. The ridiculous hype created in both countries — especially by the media — practically turning a match into a war, passing off one as better than the other, was a grievous error.

What Afridi said that caused outrage on both sides of the border came towards the end of the show. It was the third time (or more) the topic of Indo-Pak relations and the experience there was brought up. There was absolutely no need to do so, or to try and end on that note. In fact, there was no need for so much emphasis on the India-Pakistan match or relations in the first place. We lost a match, we must accept defeat. Winning something by having our flag waved in Mohali and national anthem being played there are mere delusions. Like a GEO public service message aptly said: “Agar India se jeetna hai to taleem mei bhi jeeto” (If you want to win from India, win in the field of education as well). There is a 1:5 PhD ratio between Pakistan and India: thus, for every one PhD earned in Pakistan, there are five earned in India. Yes, the Indian population is much larger, but we must put an end to this obsession of victory over India for all the wrong things, and we must bury the hostility. There are more important things to strive for.

What our problem really is — and it’s a subcontinental one — is this: the hero to zero phenomenon. Our oscillations between two extremes — love and hate. This needs changing.

Watch the full video, then decide:

http://awaztoday.com/playvideo.asp?pageId=13993