Senator Sherry Rehman has issued a strong response to India’s statements surrounding cricket, calling it a pattern of “selective peace, selective sportsmanship, and selective responsibility” that South Asia can no longer afford.
Senator Sherry Rehman said Pakistan never wanted political toxicity to be introduced in sports and those demanding calm and sanity in cricket today “should have remembered it when Pakistan was being pushed into an unfair field-whether through sports boycotts, diplomatic coercion, or attempts to isolate our athletes.”
Senator Sherry Rehman noted that the politicisation of cricket did not begin in Pakistan but in India, where refusals to hold bilateral series, refusal to shake hands, harassment of players, and direct political pressure on cricketing bodies have long shaped the sport’s atmosphere.
“Sportsmanship cannot be invoked only when convenient-especially by those who weaponised water and undermined the Indus Waters Treaty,” she said.
Senator Rehman noted that Pakistan has consistently played fair, both on the cricket field and in international diplomacy.
“Pakistan upheld the spirit of sports even when others weaponised diplomacy. Our restraint is not weakness; it is responsible statecraft,” she said, underscoring that Pakistan honoured treaties and the principles of fair play despite intense provocation.
She cautioned that regional stability cannot be built on one-sided expectations. “Countries cannot demand normalcy in sports while manufacturing hostility in diplomacy. South Asia cannot afford selective peace and convenient crisis,” she said. “If states want sanity in sports, sanity must also apply to water, diplomacy, and cross-border norms.”
Senator Rehman also raised longstanding concerns regarding the influence exerted by powerful cricket boards, particularly the BCCI, which she said functions as an extension of political authority.
Commenting on Pakistan’s conditional participation in the T20 World Cup, she supported the position taken between Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and PCB Chairman Mohsin Naqvi, saying: “Pakistan’s decision is not weakness-it is a principled diplomatic signal. We will not compromise the integrity of sport, nor will we be pressured into an uneven playing field.”
Senator Rehman added that Pakistan-India matches have become more business than sport, with the 2023 fixture drawing over 300 million viewers and 10-second advertisements during Pakistan’s T20 matches ranging between 2.5 to 4 million rupees. India’s continued refusal to play has cost not only Pakistan but the global cricket industry billions. “Selective outrage is telling-when India refuses, silence; when Pakistan takes a stand, an uproar,” she remarked.
She rejected India’s repeated security narrative as a justification for not playing Pakistan, noting that major international teams have toured Pakistan successfully. “The security argument collapses when examined-especially when India itself has struggled at times to secure even individual foreign players,” she said.
Senator Rehman concluded with a strong message: “Selective peace is not peace. Selective sportsmanship is not sportsmanship. If they want sanity in sports, they must first stop creating insanity in diplomacy.”