Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Wednesday said he was very grateful to Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani for accepting his invitation to the India-Pakistan World Cup semifinal match in Mohali.
‘I am very grateful to Prime Minister Gilani for having accepted my invitation to join me in watching this beautiful game of cricket,’ Singh said in a statement to Doordarshan and Pakistan TV.
‘Cricket has been a uniting factor, it has brought our two prime ministers together and I dare say that’s a very good beginning. Whatever be the differences between our two countries we have to find pathways to resolve them.
Pakistan Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani has termed his talks with his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh as “positive” and said they discussed all the core issues between the two countries.
“Talks were positive. We discussed all the core issues between the two countries,” Gilani told the Pakistan media in a brief chat after his dinner meeting with Dr Singh in the midst of the World Cup cricket semifinal with India in Mohali.
“Today’s match brought the peoples and leadership of the two countries together. This, I believe, is the positive outcome of today’s semifinal,” he said in a message.
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This is nothing but hype and hypocrisy at it’s best.
For many normal citizens, it’s a joyous occasion to celebrate the unbroken record of India’s victory against Pakistan in all World Cup Cricket Matches, so far. For politicians, it’s an occasion to score few points over Indo-Pak ties.
Are we the real winners? Can this victory erase the memories of Terrorists Attacks? Can this victory wipe out the tears of the family members of the terror victims? Can this meeting be termed as path breaking in Indo-Pak stalemate? Can this meeting bring out the culprits of various Terror Attacks?
The wily Prime Minister of India seized an opportunity to divert the attention of Nation from the corruption his Government is implicated with. By shamelessly inviting Pakistan Prime Minister for the so called Cricket Diplomacy Dr. Manmohan Singh has once again proved how spineless we are, as a nation.
And the silly Prime Minister of Pakistan took the opportunity to accord his acceptance as if he is doing a great favour by attending the Cricket Match and discussing various bilateral issues!
How rotten are the minds of our politicians! So are the citizens of this great nation! We too have lost our minds in the madness of Cricket Diplomacy! We have completely lost our sensitivities and sensibilities. Do we remember that this is the same Pakistan Prime Minister, who even refused to identify Kasab as a Pakistani National, not long ago.
It is not that I am talking like a so called Hindu Nationalist or Hindu Fundamentalist, but the fact is we simply forget and forgive. It takes a year or two for us to wash our minds off the ghastly terror attacks and forget our own brethren who were killed. We keep waking our own selves up from deep slumber, only when an attack takes place.
Just for the sake of it, we ‘show off’ our solidarity with few Candle Light Marches, with few bravery awards, after every Terrorist Attack. And we even celebrate anniversaries of such attacks and still refuse to isolate the rogue nation behind it. We forget the fact that it’s not the politicians, but we are bleeding.
For those who say that we can not mix sports and politics, let me ask one question – “Why this Cricket World Cup has not been considered as a mere sports event? Why it’s been linked with bilateral relations of both India and Pakistan”? Do we still need to give more and more opportunities to Pakistan to mend it’s ways? Why should we continue any kind of relations with Pakistan – be it Business, Academic, Cultural or any thing for that matter. The more we hug them, more we are beaten from our backs.
Pakistan is spitting on our face with terrorism and we are simply wiping it out and calling for Cricket Diplomacies? Don’t we have any self respect? Don’t we sympathize with our fellow countrymen who were killed by the terrorists of Pakistan?
We are the most shameless, spineless nation and we are the biggest losers.