Sir: It may not be news for you that Pakistanis are true sports loving people. Nothing unites the nation more than the news of an international level victory in any sporting arena. I am greatly surprised that our successive governments have failed to channel the energy of our youth towards the various traditional and non-traditional sports, to lure them away from the engulfing culture of drugs and related crimes. It should also be understood that Pakistanis not only love sports, they also understand its very basics. While victories are celebrated like a festival, defeats are suffered after putting up a good fight. The masses are so intelligent that they can easily smell a rat when our team loses to teams like Bangladesh, Ireland and Zimbabwe, etc. Similarly, the whole nation knows how politics, coupled with corruption, has spoiled sports in the country, which has earned the distinction of being the world’s biggest nation not to have earned a single medal in the Olympics since the year 1992. Much smaller and poorer countries like Ethiopia and Kenya have proved that winning medals at the international level is just a matter of commitment, dedication and simple hard work, sans politics.
In the past, our cricket, hockey, squash and some other sporting teams and players brought laurels for Pakistan with very little money, extremely small governing boards and minimal politics. Gradually, the foundations of key sports in Pakistan were eaten up by the greed of money, rampant corruption, nepotism, politics and incompetence of successive governments, sports managers and the players combined. If we have to put sports in Pakistan back on the right track, two basic things are necessary: firstly, a vision and, secondly, visionary leaders to put Pakistan back on top on the world’s sports map. As far as vision is concerned, nothing ever said about sports can match the following quote by Nelson Mandela: “Sport has the power to change the world…it has the power to inspire. It has the power to unite people in a way that little else does. It speaks to youth in a language they understand. Sport can create hope where once there was only despair. It is more powerful than government in breaking down racial barriers.” Now, taking a cue from the above-mentioned quote, it is suggested that the Pakistan government slightly rephrase it and declare the following as its mission statement: “Sports has the power to change Pakistan…it has the power to inspire. It has the power to unite Pakistani people in a way that little else does. It speaks to the Pakistani youth in a language they understand. Sports can create hope for the entire Pakistani nation where once there was only despair, lawlessness, hunger, poverty, drugs, suicide bombings and alarming increase of suicides due to economic hardships. It is more powerful than government in breaking down the menace of terrorism, which has blown the country to smithereens.”
Coming to visionary leadership, maybe Pakistan is very lucky in the sense that you, its current prime minister are yourself a born sportsman. Moreover, if in the past we had world class sports administrators-cum-leaders like Syed Wajid Ali, Brigadier Rodham, A H Kardar, Air Marshal Nur Khan and last but not least Zakir Hussain Syed, then even today we are lucky to have a great sports administrator-cum-leader Air Vice Marshal Farooq Umar, who can be appointed as advisor to the PM for revamping the entire sports canvas of Pakistan, in consultation with the provincial governments, all the sport’s governing bodies and sports lovers of the country. The need for a dedicated advisor to the PM on sports matters is all the more urgent and necessary keeping in view the imminent, lurking danger of the imposition of an international sporting ban on the participation of Pakistani players due to the dispute arising out of the warring sports bodies in the country, which may cause unimaginable and irreparable loss to sports in Pakistan. It is hoped that the above submissions, if juxtaposed with your recently announced package for youth, will bring the desired results for which you have been dreaming for so long.
SYED NAYYARUDDIN AHMAD
Lahore