Pakistan: Safe And Hospitable For Cricket

COMSATS Institute of Information Technology (CIIT) Lahore took a big step in positive development related to the revival of international cricket in Pakistan, by organizing the COMSATS-Lancaster Cricket Championship 2014.

It was the first time after the British Universities’ tour in 2012 that a UK outfit visited Pakistan for a cricket tournament.

It is an interesting fact that most Pakistanis become more patriotic at such events in the country. I have no contention with them, seeing that I, too, belong to this group. I do however have a problem with some expats who badmouth and spread negative views about Pakistan and its inhabitants.

Have you ever tried searching Google for images of Pakistan? You’ll be hard-pressed to find any pictures that depict the progressive and modern aspects of our country. Try typing ‘Pakistan progress’, ‘Pakistan modern’ or ‘Pakistan cafes’ in the search bar, and chances are there will be no results. But if you just type in the word Pakistan, you’ll be flooded by a collection of frightening pictures (excluding some seductive shots of ‘Miss Pakistan’): kids holding guns, bomb blasts and violence will inundate your computer screen.

When will the world see Pakistan from all angles – the good, the bad and everything else in between?

The only way we can get people to expand their vision of Pakistan is by experiencing it first hand and by showing our beautiful and safe sides to the world and this championship worked wonders or should i say will work wonders for the revival of cricket in Pakistan which have been affected in the past due to some sad incidents.

I talked to one of the team members of Lancaster UK  and asked him about their stay in Pakistan,

He had a thoughtful expression on his face and  suddenly overcome by the urge to reveal a thought: ‘You know… Pakistan really isn't marketed properly. This place is really nice. It’s clean, you've got café’s and places to relax, you can walk on the streets with ease,’ he points out. ‘But people out there don’t know that,’

And I’m amused with his thoughts well he certainly is right we are blessed with so many wonders and yet we don’t know.

In my encounter with Joe Molly captain of the Lancaster team I got a chance to ask him about the impression of Pakistan he had before coming and how did it change?

“We heard that it’s not safe out there and people are hostile but that is so not true I so wanna come back as people here in Pakistan are so damn nice and hospitable “

On my question about playing cricket in Pakistan Joe replied “Pakistan is a safe country for holding sports events International cricket should come to Pakistan which is now being played at neutral venues And that the Formation of big3 wasn't fair “

So here was my take on this step hopefully our country will welcome more international and national teams for sports and justice will be served.