Love of the game
It’s no secret that cricket mania engulfs the entire subcontinent, and a love of the game has infected even the most unexpected quarters. In conversation with a khaki who has fought on the Waziristan front for years, our mole discovered that fighting would be interrupted when an interesting game of cricket was on. And whenever Pakistan was playing India, all fighting would come to a complete stop. The Taliban would be holed up in their hideouts, watching the match on TV or listening to commentary on the radio, as would the khakis on the other side. And once the match was over, everyone would go back to war.
We’ve also heard that at one time when a well-known Pakhtun cricket player was out in the cold, there was lots of chatter between the Taliban about the “unfairness” of it all. They were even heard planning a “suicide bomb attack” on the management headquarters of the game, if they didn’t relent on the Pakhtun player and give him back his place in the sun!
Subverting justice
When, on the rare occasion, a government department does the right thing, the last thing citizens expect is that the good initiative be undone by civil society itself. One such incident took place recently when an energetic police officer exposed a racket that had put many innocents behind bars, and let off many of those who actually deserved punishment. It so happened in a district adjoining Lahore that a member of the legal fraternity had set up a forensics lab, analyzing data for the police. To begin with, he was meticulous in his work, building up trust. Slowly, he began to compromise his work by changing data in exchange for bribes. In the process, some innocent people were declared guilty while the guilty were let off the hook. When the police uncovered the lawyer’s crime, he was brought to book. The lawyer appealed to the courts and on the day of a crucial hearing, a rowdy bunch of lawyers arrived in court, flexing their muscle in order to influence the judgment in their colleague’s favour. The judge faltered, and justice was delayed but mercifully not denied when a higher court gave the culprit his just desserts.