COMMENT- Pakistans 20-20 Victory- Is it time to Celebrate??

By Majed Iqbal- Yesterdays Twenty twenty cup Final saw un-precendented coverage worldwide as Pakistan beat Sri-lanka in an 8 wicket match victory.

Pictures and video footage beaming in from Lahore, Peshawar, and Karachi on the Pakistani news networks showed crowds rejoicing after a historic win which saw Pakistan defeat the odds and answer back to the world that they are still a cricketing force to be reckoned with.

Even before the Final, a day before, Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari on Saturday urged the country’s cricketers to give of their best in the final of the World T20 against Sri Lanka on Sunday and win the title for the nation. The President even called up captain Younis Khan in London and reminded him that the country was passing through a very difficult phase and victory for Pakistan could provide some cheer, media reports said.

As crowds rejoice madly in the streets of Bradford, Luton, Manchester and London in unison with Pakistanis back home, it is worthwhile reminding them that a match victory can never quell the chaos and devastation that Pakistan is currently going through.

How can President Zardari have the nerve to use sports to his political advantage by asking the captain to bring smiles on the faces of Pakistanis when he is the one who has made the people of Pakistan cry tears of blood and removed their happiness from their lives through ordering the bombing and displacement of millions under the guise of fighting Americas ‘War on Terror’.

Muslims in Pakistan must wake up from just rejoicing about a sporting victory whose feelings will last just a few weeks and instead divert their energies from saving their country from division and destruction through their own government’s workings, who have sold their destiny to their American masters.

The time to rejoice will be when governance will not be outsourced to Washington, when people don’t have to commit suicide because they are unable to feed their families, when plans are made for job creation, , when ruling is in line with the peoples beliefs and aspirations and when corruption is uprooted from Government by resigning Democracy to the dustbins of History.