The world will mourn the beginning of end of Pakistani cricket

The terror attack on Sri Lankan cricketers in Pakistan can lead to a cascade of unwelcome consequences for cricket-crazy south Asia and for Indian corporates with millions of dollars riding on the various cricket matches and players.

True, the attack wasn't on Indian cricketers but it almost certainly ends the prospect of Pakistan being a serious player in the world cricket map. And what is cricket if you take away the traditionally famous rivalry between the Indian and Pakistan cricket teams?

I am sure this will prevent a lot of world teams from touring Pakistan. While Pakistani cricketers can still tour the world and play, it takes away a lot from their skills and exposure, not to mention the cricketing money.

And with Pakistani cricket team losing its teeth, cricket in India will become more and more tepid. The sport will continue to be lapped up by a billion-odd people starved of sports glory, but I fear it will see a definite cooling off of interest. 

The terrorists, whether they calculated it to be so or not, might have hit where it could hurt Pakistan most. This one was better than bumping off the Pakistani premier. 

Pakistan is a failed state whatever its government says. And few will worry about it going to the dogs except for the threat of its nuclear arsenal falling into the hands of terrorists. But a lot many people will feel sad about its fading cricket glory, especially since it is going to be caused by terrorists, once home-grown and let out into the world.

The Sinhala chauvinists are back. Is anyone listening?

If the LTTE had helped bring the Tamil ethnic discrimination problem in Sri Lanka to the world stage, it has also helped the most to damage that cause. With its ruthless terror tactics the Tigers have ensured that there is little sympathy left in the world for them, and by extension to the suffering Tamils in the island nation.
Even India, which sent in its troops to help the Tamils has almost washed its hands off the problem, it seems. Domestic political compulsions are forcing Indian politicians make some noises once in a while, but it is clear no one is serious about the Tamils' problems. So why should the Sinhala fundamentalists in Lanka worry about those Tamils?!
The fact is, the Lankan army's recent victories over the LTTE has also ignited some amount of Sinhala fury and the situation is now almost a throwback to the 1980s when killing and maiming Tamils mercilessly never raised eyebrows.
Indian politicians here are shedding crocodile tears over the Israeli bombing of Gaza, but they don't seem to see the suffering of Tamils next door. Obviously, Gaza is a way to attract Muslim votes in the country and guarantees political visibility. The poor Tamils have anyway "allowed" the LTTE to hijack their agenda, and they don't have any supporters left in the world stage, except a bitter diaspora that is hardly visible here .
Stranger still is the fact that even Tamil politicians are not worried about what is happening in Lanka. Look at this leader from the Sunday Leader. And Then They Came For Me
It is obvious the Sinhala chauvinists are back at their old game, intimidating and killing, with government help.
But for our politicians in India, votes lie in slamming Israel, not Lankan government, and crying for Gazans, not the Tamils in our neighbourhood.
For the Tamils in Lanka, well-meaning Sinhalese, and others in the world who are concerned about the state of violence in that island nation, hope lies in the Tamil people of India. Is anyone listening?

An Opportunity Beckons Sri Lanka in 2009

Killinochchi has fallen. The LTTE has lost its face, and the symbol of its power. But where does the Tamil people and Sri Lanka and LTTE go from here?
Most probably the LTTE will wage a guerilla war from the jungles. But with their supply routes cut and their manpower depleted, the outfit will steadily lose its teeth. Expect more internal power struggles.
The more important question is, will the Lankan government use this opportunity to create a more inclusive political process? The Tamil people have suffered for long - from fanatic Sinhalese, self-serving politicians and last but not least from the power-hungry LTTE.
Let us hope 2009 will bring in hope and cheer for the island nation, and peace and prosperity to one and all.

LTTE has sqandered its moral high position

I came back to updating this blog after a long time and was surprised to see a comment posted, with a link. Going there, makes me think all over again about the ethnic problem gripping Sri Lanka in its most gross and gory form.
Children under 10 being conscripted! I have heard this before, but now that I have a kid I can understand the anguish such a prospect brings to hapless, defenceless parents; and also the depths of moral turpitude to which the conscriptor, in this case the LTTE, has fallen.
True, the Sri Lankan problem has many causes and needs to be addressed forthwith, without shedding any more blood. More blood and death does not bring peace. But the LTTE should be striclty told what is acceptable and what is not. It cannot run with the hare and hunt with the wolf.
Any dispassionate observer over the years would clearly see the LTTE not just stands for Tamil freedom; it stands for the LTTE version of the Tamil freedom.
V Prabhakaran had a laudable cause when he started on this path. But along the way he has spilt so much blood and tears and blown up so many bodies, he no longer is fit for that high moral pedestal he once stood on. He has shown himself up to be no more than a blood-thirsty tyrant and the cause of the Tamil people and that of peace itself would be best served by dispossessing him from his current position as chief of the LTTE.
But how much more blood need to be spilt beore we reach that goal? And the real peace process starts only then. And there is the healing process left.
Can the politicians in India and Sri Lanka raise to the challenge?

A Dark Diwali for the Tamils

The spirit is muted this Diwali.
The markets are tanking, the political climate is muddled, there is more ambient violence around the country.
Still, one cannot ignore the plight of the Tamils in Sri Lanka. Granted, the LTTE bungled in bumping off Rajiv Gandhi. But that doesn't mean the Tamil people in that country should be punished for the crime of the LTTE. With the Congress-led government in New Delhi happy to turn a blind-eye and with a politically besieged Karunanidhi-led DMK trying to hold on to power, I think the Tamil people have been thrown to the mercy of Rajapakse's Sinhala wolves.
I have not sympathy for extremists, of either the Tamil or Sinhala variety. But even while understanding the Sinhalese's feeling about keeping their country under a single rule, I cannot agree to their letting the Sinhala extremists take on hapless Tamils and hunt them down in the name of political unity.
If India and its current crop of politicians can't engage the Sinhala government in Colombo constructively on this issue, the day may not be far when Tamils in this country will feel antagonistic about New Delhi's political control over them.
And till things take a better turn, who will answer for the innocent Tamil blood that will be spilled?