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Cricket with Pakistan? Have we forgotten 26/11?
A Ganesh Nadar expresses anguish at the Board of Control for Cricket in India's decision to play host to Pakistan, barely days after the nation observes the fourth anniversary of the bloodbath in Mumbai.
In December, when the Pakistani team takes to the field in India to play what is known as the gentleman's game, the nation would have barely finished mourning the loss of 166 lives in the bloody carnage unleashed by terrorists in Mumbai on November 26, 2008.
Would you call the Pakistanis involved in the attack gentlemen?
We have one Pakistani in jail to prove that they were sent by from across our western border. India has repeatedly said that "State actors" in Pakistan were behind 26/11, so it was not as if on one November morning a clutch of Pakistanis by themselves decided to take the high seas to come to India and launch a deadly attack.
We have in custody an Indian trained in Pakistan (who is also part of the 26/11 conspiracy), who gives the names of Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence officials as his trainers.
And what are we going to do about it? We are going to play cricket with that other nation from where the terrorists came.
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Cricket with Pakistan? Have we forgotten 26/11?
Do you remember the sight of smoke bellowing out of Hotel Taj Mahal? Do you know that a 24-year-old home guard was shot dead at CST in Mumbai? His parents in Uttar Pradesh did not even know what a home guard was or that he was employed as one without weapons.
Do you know that Mumbai's celebrated policemen -- Hemant Karkare, Ashok Kamte and Vijay Salaskar -- were shot dead in cold blood by these terrorists on the streets of Mumbai? Do you know that people enjoying dinner at the Oberoi Trident hotel with kin and friends did not live to see the morning dawn?
Do you know that people waiting for trains at CST station were mowed down by two terrorists wielding automatic guns? They killed everyone they came across. Do you know the house behind the Times of India office where they drank water from and killed the boy who served them?
Do you know that constable Tukaram Omble, who sacrificed his life to save his comrades, city and nation to nab Kasab alive, has left behind a widow and three children? What will his children do when they see India playing Pakistan on television? Will they not be heart-broken?
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Cricket with Pakistan? Have we forgotten 26/11?
Do we have any shame or any semblance of humanity to condemn a nation which was behind the killing of 166 people and thus damaged beyond repair their families who are still to come to terms with their loss?
Instead of condemning Pakistan, we are going to play cricket with them!
Do you know that the bloodstains at CST took a week to finally wear off? Do you know that the bullet holes in Leopold Cafe have not been repaired in memory of the people who were gunned down there?
Do you know that at Chabad house, the Israeli priest was tortured before being killed? His child is still being looked after by an Indian maid. Will you tell the child that we have forgiven and forgotten all and are going to play cricket with the nation that was behind the killing of your parents?
A taxi exploded at Vile Parle on 26/11 night. Do you know that the cab driver left behind a young pregnant widow and three sons then? The fourth son has never seen his father while the other three barely remember him.
Will you care to explain to the young widow, who hails from a small village in Uttar Pradesh, why we are going to play cricket? Will you tell the children that we are going to teach a lesson to the Pakistanis who tutored Ajmal Kasab to plant a bomb in their father's taxi by beating them in cricket?
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Cricket with Pakistan? Have we forgotten 26/11?
The Pakistanis must be laughing at us. They must be saying, "Yeh kya buzdil hain, saalon ko maaro, bomb karo, laath maaro, phir bhi cricket khelna chahte hai... (See these cowards, beat them, bomb them, kick them... and yet they want to play cricket.)"
Dr Manmohan Singh, Sikhs are said to be like lions. Be the lion of Punjab, the lion of our country. For once, dear sir, I beg of you please, I can hear the shrieks of the dead souls, can't you?
I am not saying punish the perpetrators -- that is beyond our capacity (and that only the Americans can do). The least you can do is not play cricket with Pakistan.
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