Daily Times

Few individuals have done more for Pakistan in the first three months of 2017 than Peshawar Zalmi owner Javed Afridi. It was he who convinced the Zalmi foreign contingent to travel to Pakistan, making the Pakistan Super League (PSL) final the truly historic occasion that it was. Without the overseas players of the team led by Darren Sammy, the game would’ve been an over-glorified domestic match.

The significance of the event can be measured by the scheduled ICC World XI tour to Pakistan in September and international football stars like Ronaldinho and David James coming to Karachi to participate in a league this summer. The PSL final’s importance can also be gauged by the simmering backlash faced by Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan’s infamous ‘Phateechar’ remarks.

It is in this context that Javed Afridi’s latest comments about him being hopeful of Sammy converting to Islam are shocking, and yet without much of a surprise. In a press conference a few days ago, Afridi said Sammy is studying Islam and already has good knowledge about the religion. The Zalmi owner added that he and his Zalmi team are all happy to see the West Indian showing interest in Islam, and asked everyone to pray that Sammy converts.

Let’s get the obvious off the table first. Anyone believing in any religion would be happy about others embracing his/her religion. The joy is perfectly natural and is common to all believers and proponents of any ideas. There is absolutely nothing at all wrong with encouraging someone to convert — we do it all the time, every time we remain steadfast to an argument that’s close to our heart.

But — and this one’s about the size of Saint Lucia — given the context of the country Afridi lives in, his role as a public figure, and most importantly his contribution to hosting the biggest event in Pakistan for eons, the statement was not only irresponsible, it can reduce phateechar-gate to microscopic levels.

The biggest question-mark over the PSL final hinged on the security concerns. Pakistan is not considered a safe place to play cricket because of terror attacks, most notably the one on the Sri Lankan cricket team. These terrorists, who were a security threat for the PSL final and especially for the foreign contingent spearheaded by Sammy, endorse a jihadist ideology. The very foundation of that jihadist, radical Islamist ideology, is Muslim supremacy and conversion of the society to their narrow brand of Islam.

And so, for Javed Afridi to not only present a desire to see Sammy convert to Islam, but also ask everyone to ‘pray’ for this conversion, was self-mutilating for many positive vibes generated by the PSL final in Lahore because of him. Isn’t it easy for someone outside of Pakistan to read that news and say: “Oh look even their sports franchise owners are obsessed with converting people to Islam.”

Let’s not forget that Afridi is no preacher or ideologue; he is the owner of a cricket team. It is a team that would invite cricketers from multiple nationalities and religious-ethnic backgrounds to play for them. It is not his place, as the owner of Peshawar Zalmi and a representative of the Pakistan Super League, to comment on anyone’s religious inclinations and what he’d wish them to do about them.

The very idea that made PSL a success was its diversity and how it brought together all provinces, ethnicities and peoples. The foreign stars were an integral part of this diversity and respecting their personal beliefs is of paramount importance for any PSL official.

In saying that ‘everyone should pray’ for Sammy to embrace Islam, an uplift in status is implied. Imagine a young Christian Pakistani cricketer who dreams of playing for Zalmi, listening to what JavedAfridi said about Sammy.S/he might wonder whether s/he would need to embrace Islam to be considered as illustrious as the Muslim members of the squad.

The Islamisation of cricket has already had significant collateral damage for the national team. The Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) lack of action has resulted in incidents like the Ahmed Shehzad-Tillakaratne Dilshan spat, where the Pakistani batsman asked his Sri Lankan counterpart to convert enticing him with divine benefits of being a Muslim. Dilshan is an ex-Muslim.

Just like the PCB code has clear guidelines urging not only the players and officials but also the crowds to refrain from racial discrimination, the board needs to implement something similar on religion as well. Athletes and officials representing Pakistan, or its national cricket league, are in no position to issue any judgments on religion, no matter how noble their intention might be.

Pakistan’s multi-pronged problems are rooted in radical Islamist extremism. If anything we need to be extra careful while talking about religion, when we are representing Pakistan at the global stage.

The writer is a Lahore-based freelance writer