Sir — The crushing defeat of the Pakistan cricket team by the Indian national side in the ICC Under-19 World Cup semi-final in New Zealand has once again opened the floodgates for unnecessary debate on either side of the boarder over the animus relation between the two countries, percolating down to a level where a win in a sporting encounter is akin to the exhilarations of grand victory after a fierce military engagement between the two.
But to treat sporting arenas as battlefields for settling scores is something that is not on in an era where sporting ties between nations are supposed to be channels for strengthening diplomatic relationships between them.
A cricketing contest between the two countries has always given sports aficionado across the continent much to look forward to, as has Hockey tournaments, involving the two.
Not even the ‘Ashes’ clash between England and Australia could match the electric sparks flying around the stadium when these ‘arch rivals’ meet. Possibly only the well-rehearsed border-ritual at Wagha, where the lowering of the flags ceremony is a daily military drill that the security forces of India and Pakistan so meticulously perform, raises as much xenophobic feelings as the sporting contests do.