In Praise Of Shahid Afridi

Everything involving the unfortunate siblings—we mean India and Pakistan, of course—eventually falls prey to sub­continental politics and rather overblown rivalry. So it should surprise no one that Pakistan’s T20 cricket captain has come under a storm of criticism from some of his countrymen for his candid and off-the-cuff remark that he sometimes felt that Indian fans gave him more love than he got in Pakistan. Immediately, the usual suspects erupted in nationalistic ire. The outrage was led by India-baiter and former cricketer Javed Miandad, while one nutcase even filed a case in a Karachi court. Afridi later clarified that he was only trying to send out a positive message during an important tournament but things have gone beyond clarifications. The ultimate irony is that it comes against the backdrop of #ProfileForPeace, a social media campaign in which Indian and Pakistani cricket fans use their profile pictures to reflect support for the opposing team. Miandad has clearly not signed up.