IT’S JUST NOT CRICKET

Fringe extremists on both sides of the India-Pakistan border are feeding off each other to kill, maim and brutalise their people in the name of religion.

It must be one of the most ridiculous and ironic situations around—but nobody's laughing. Two of South Asia's bigger neighbours are engaged in a covert war that goes beyond the insidious activities of their secret agencies and support (unofficial, of course) for each other's insurrectionists. The mindset that is damaging peace in the region is increasingly reflected in the positions taken up by the fringe 'religious' groups in both India and Pakistan, who feed off each other, brutalise society, and intimidate, kill and attack in the name of religion. Once part of a single nation, the propaganda that has been consistently drummed into people's minds has resulted in a belief that 'the other' is not really a human being.

Things as innocuous as a new bus service or a cricket game between the two countries are used as excuse for chest-thumping war cries. The religious zealots on both sides vow not to allow bilateral relations to improve, whether through a cricket match in Bombay, a bus service between Delhi and Lahore, or business ties that seek out the best of comparative advantages between India and Pakistan. But the irony lies not just in their symmetrical threats—take away their names and no one would know which side of the border these threats are emanating from—but in the weak-kneed response of their respective governments.