What do we share with India? I can name many cultural and ethnic commonalities but the one thing that we distinctively share, is the love and passion for cricket. Nothing makes us more excited than a Pakistan vs India cricket match. From ad campaigns to political point scoring, we have been beating down on one another for as long as I can remember. Patriotism has been synonymous with undermining our neighbor. Among all the chaos and hatred, there are always peaceful Pakistanis and Indians hoping for better relations.
Recently Facebook introduced an option to put up our profile pictures supporting our teams. All the cricket nations jumped in and the cricket world loved the idea absolutely. But the Indian and Pakistani fans went one step ahead, using their profile pictures as an expression of their desire for peace.
It is quite a message, rejecting the ‘hate politics’ and ‘extremism’ on both sides of the border. On one hand, Pakistani cricket fans are changing their display pictures to support India and on the other, Indian cricket fans are changing their display pictures to show their support for the Pakistan cricket team. It is a lovefest.
People from both countries have been writing letters to their political leaders and urging them to shun the politics of extremism and hatred.
The CEO of Facebook was also interested in the lovefest and updated his status accordingly:
Due to the security situation the India-Pakistan World T20 match was moved from the original venue of Dharamsala after the Himachal CM did not commit full security for the match, to Eden Gardens. The Pakistan Cricket Board took a bold step and sent their team to participate amidst security concerns.
We have been witness in the past to the Pakistani and Indian crowd displaying banners and placards to diffuse the tension between the two nations.
The Indian cricket fans loved Shahid Afridi when he said, “we get more love from India than Pakistan”.
The skipper maintained that Wasim Akram and Imran Khan would also agree and felt no need to retract his statement besides some criticism from the Anti-India mindset.
While the hate-mongers believe in maintaining the bridges, it seems like the digital generation of both countries are moving on from the war, hate and combat mentality; freeing themselves from the anchors that restrain them from accepting each other.
Here’s an Indian, Ram Subramanian, sending out his message for peace:
Here's a Pakistani supporting Team India:
No matter which team wins, it’s an undisputed victory for the game of cricket!