Daily Times

It’s official! Lahore will host this year’s PSL final, with or without foreign players.

The Pakistan Super League (PSL) is a wonderful addition in our sporting and entertainment landscape. Within a span of two years we have seen it grow from an infant league to a resounding success, watched and passionately followed not just in Pakistan but all around the globe.

Pakistani expats and cricket lovers have thronged the stadiums in every match.

Even though the matches have been played in the deserts of Dubai and Sharjah a mini Pakistan is created there every match night.

The matches have provided immense relief and joy to the attendees as well as those watching back home. This league has proved itself to be viable and profitable. We can be proud of it.

Despite being a young league the PSL has had its share of problems. This year we have seen the scourge of match fixing resurface and taint two prominent Pakistani cricketers.

The bad press generated and the question marks over the extent of the rot cast doubts over the continuity of the league. Still, the organisers and the team owners went ahead with the remaining matches and the fans and the players responded with increased attendances and spectacular performances.

The PSL exudes a feel good factor which is hard to ignore. It showcases a side of Pakistan which is welcoming, vibrant, and dynamic, entertainment loving and peaceful. The PSL is fast becoming a symbol of national unity and integration. It is here to stay, let it be known to all.

It was announced that the final will be held in Lahore from the very outset and the international players were made privy of this before signing their contracts. However, Lahore as a destination for the final has become a moot point in recent days because of the spate of violence in Sehwan Sharif and Lahore itself.

The imminent threat of a terrorist attack and the potential absence of all the foreign players have been presented as irrefutable reasons to shift the final back to the United Arab Emirates(UAE).

Admittedly, if any untoward incident does take place on the 5^th of March, the case to bring international cricket back to Pakistan will take a serious dent.

But the fact of the matter is that such variables will unfortunately remain attached with Pakistan, at least in the foreseeable future.

The world is under no illusion about our security situation and neither should we.

Taking the final out of Lahore will achieve nothing other than sidestepping an incident which may or may not take place.

The media talk will still be filled with admonishments of ‘we told you so!’ even if the final takes place in UAE and something unsavory happens in Lahore. We actually gain nothing by playing outside Pakistan. So is this a practical alternate strategy?

Appeasement as a counter terrorism strategy has never worked. We have painstakingly learnt this lesson in our dealings with the Tehreek-e-Taliban-Pakistan and its affiliates.

Pakistan today is much safer, stable and prosperous compared to five years ago and this because we have taken the war to the terrorists.

Now we need to showcase this improved and safer Pakistan to the world. What better than to do it when the world is watching an event of international stature here?

Vivid memories are hard to forget. That is why airplane crashes and broken limbs and dead bodies after bomb blasts make for compelling visuals.

A successfully hosted PSL final in Lahore will also make for a vivid memory which should be taken as an incremental but significant step in improving Pakistan’s perception abroad.

The absence of foreign players will admittedly take some of the sheen off the mega spectacle in Lahore.

What needs to be put in context however is that these players are a part of the PSL brand and not the brand itself. This league is flourishing because of the interest it is generating in Pakistan and in the expatriates. It will remain a profitable product as long as this remains a constant.

The Indian Cricket League and the Masters Champions league ran into problems despite having a plethora of international stars because they could not retain a loyal audience with time.

As long as the PSL management plans for this eventuality the league faces no imminent threat of fizzling out.

People may argue that an event in Lahore, with multiple layers of security will give an impression of manufactured peace.

To the skeptical ones, I say that displaying normalcy in abnormal times and especially in the context of the sufferings of our civil society, this will be an appreciable act of defiance.

We appreciate such gestures from inside Pakistan when see them being practiced abroad. Why not walk the talk ourselves once as well?

Pakistan’s marketing strategy of its security situation can be that of a work in progress. We do not have to force upon anyone that everything is absolutely fine here.

If the foreign players don’t want to come here now, that is absolutely fine. For now, we can be content with publicizing the message that things are improving here and the positivity generated by successfully hosting the PSL final will help solidify this message to the world.

The writer is a freelance columnist and professional services consultant based in Islamabad. He tweets @raj_omer