Daily Times

The friendly football match between Pakistan and Palestine towards the end of last week ended in defeat (2-1) for the national team. This was likely expected give the vast difference in FIFA rankings for the two sides: 199 versus 99, respectively. All of which raises serious questions about the standard of professional play here at home. For while this country knows a thing or two about fragile security — it is incomparable to what is endured by the Palestinians on a daily basis; decade after decade.

That being said, what is far more important than the final score is how such sporting events taking place on Palestinian soil send messages of goodwill and solidarity to a people forced to live under brutal foreign military operation for some 70 years. Thereby offering an alternative to a mainstream narrative that insists on viewing the Palestinians through a singular lens of violence. This is something that Pakistanis understand only too well.

Thus at a time when international calls for the right to Palestinian statehood appear to be losing steam somewhat — both here in the Muslim world and beyond — football and other sports adopt the mantle of cultural exchange. The underlying conclusion being that when political manoeuvrings and geo-political strategising are removed from all equations only people are left. Sharing common hopes and fears. And the desire to kick a ball around.

Pakistan as well as other nations in the region would do well to engage with the Palestinians across all cultural and sporting fronts. To remind the world that that they are a people like any other. Even if they do not have a state. Yet.  *

Published in Daily Times, November 18^th 2018.