Manmohan's initiative is a 'sixer' for peace: Pak media

Rezaul H Laskar
Islamabad, Mar 26 (PTI) 'Aman ka chakka' or a 'sixer
for peace' is how the Pakistani media hailed Indian Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh's invitation to the country's top
leaders to watch the cricket World Cup semi-final between the
teams of the two countries.
Reports on the invitation extended Friday by Singh
to President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza
Gilani featured prominently on the front pages of all
Pakistani dailies Saturday.
The News daily ran its report with the headline: "Aman
ka Chakka - Singh invites Zardari, Gilani to watch semifinal".
The banner headline in the influential Dawn newspaper
read "Singh invites Zardari, Gilani to watch high voltage
match," while the headline in The Express Tribune was "India
opens fresh bout of cricket diplomacy".
Most reports referred to the invitation as a positive
development that would boost the resumption of the stalled
peace process between the two countries.
"If accepted, cricket diplomacy will provide a fillip
to real time diplomacy, where the two countries are set to
resume their bilateral dialogue when the Interior Secretaries
meet just two days before their World Cup clash," the Dawn
reported.
In its report, The Express Tribune said: "Analysts see
the invitation as 'a smart diplomatic initiative through
cricket' undertaken after the two countries resumed the
dialogue process stalled in November 2008 when the Indian
financial capital Mumbai was hit by terrorist attacks".
Singh Friday sent identical letters to Gilani and
Zardari inviting the two to join him at Mohali on March 30.
"I propose to be at Mohali to watch the World Cup
semi-final between India and Pakistan on March 30. There is
huge excitement over the match and we are all looking forward
to a great game of cricket that will be a victory for sport.
"It gives me great pleasure to invite you to visit
Mohali and join me and the millions of fans from our two
countries to watch the match," he wrote.
Presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar said Pakistan
welcomed the invitation and a decision would be made after
Gilani returned to Islamabad from an official visit to
Uzbekistan.
The World Cup match will be played two days after a
meeting of the Home and Interior Secretaries of India and
Pakistan in the Indian capital New Delhi that will mark the
resumption of dialogue between the two sides.
The Pakistani media also highlighted Prime Minister
Singh's personal efforts to improve ties with Pakistan in the
wake of the Mumbai attacks, which took relations to a new low
after it emerged that the assault was carried out by the
Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba.
"Mr Singh is highly respected in Pakistan for his
personal contribution to resuming the peace process, which was
suspended following the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
"The two prime ministers successfully negotiated a
peace document in Sharm el-Sheikh in 2009 but their efforts
had been scuttled because of strong opposition in India," the
Dawn reported.
"They made another breakthrough in Thimphu (Bhutan)
last year, setting in motion concerted efforts for the revival
of suspended talks even though it took both sides almost a
year to agree on resumption of a full spectrum of dialogue
starting on March 28 in Delhi," it added.
Cricket diplomacy between the two countries is not a
new phenomenon.
Former military rulers Zia-ul-Haq and Pervez Musharraf
used cricket matches to improve bilateral relations.
Zia-ul-Haq travelled to India in 1987 to witness an
India-Pakistan Test in west Indian city of Jaipur at his own
initiative to defuse tensions at that time.
Musharraf watched a one-day match between the two
teams in New Delhi in 2005.