A historic football match to warm relations between India and Pakistan – Liberation

Despite the strong distrust between the two countries marked by several wars, a sporting meeting takes place this Wednesday, June 21 between the Indian and Pakistani selections for the first time in several years.

A scent of hope hangs in the air. In the grip of long-standing tensions, the relationship between India and Pakistan could heat up thanks to sport. The two countries will face each other this Wednesday, June 21 in the South Asian football championship, which takes place in the Indian city of Bangalore. Even though they did not have visas to travel to India and they did not know if they could participate in the competition, the players of the Pakistani selection received the precious authorizations on Tuesday. This is the first time since 2014 that the Pakistani team will visit its Indian neighbor.

Pakistan and India, respectively 195th and 101st in the Fifa ranking, had faced each other well in 2018 in the Asian championship, but on “neutral ground”: in Bangladesh. Rival countries rarely play each other at home, even when it comes to cricket, the king sport in Britain’s two former colonies.

“Winning hearts to ease tensions”

This Wednesday’s meeting therefore takes on a more symbolic than sporting aspect. Haroon Malik, president of the Pakistan Football Federation told Al-Jazeera on Tuesday “to be very excited, and looking forward to playing this tournament. That’s really the role of football: to unite the world and bring people together. Captain Yousuf Butt is also detached from the sporting result: “We will achieve a performance worthy of the name […]and off the field, we will try to win hearts to ease tensions”.

If India and Pakistan are no longer officially at war as in 1947, 1965 and 1971, there are no longer thousands of deaths to be deplored on each side, diplomatic relations remain stormy. Showcase of this stormy past and present, the Kashmir region crystallizes all the tensions. This buffer zone between nuclear powers – India, Pakistan but also China – shelters a myriad of borders, all more or less disputed and disputed by the forces present. The bloody bombings of 2008 in Bombay, claimed by Pakistani Islamist militants, which saw 188 Indians perish in simultaneous bomb attacks, are still remembered.

The draws of the competitions sometimes cause meetings going beyond the simple sporting framework. We remember, for example, the match between Iran and the United States at the 1998 World Cup. After decades of conflict, and a trade embargo in Iran applied by the Americans in 1995, the football game had participated to a tentative reconciliation.

It is in these steps that Pakistanis and Indians want to place themselves. A sign that the project is on the right track: despite threats of a boycott from Islamabad, the hope that Pakistan will participate in the cricket world cup, organized this year in India, is reborn.