:rotfl: This must be Mushy’s way of getting rid of stress. Someone save our PM!
NEW DELHI: Even as India closed in on an epochal win in Multan, Indo-Pak peace promised to reach a new pitch, literally, at Lahore.
Sources in the external affairs ministry have revealed that a special invitation has come from Islamabad to Prime Minister Vajpayee to bat for India in Lahore while his counterpart, President Musharraf, bowls a symbolic, history-making over.
“Cricket is the single-most adhesive glue that can bring together India and Pakistan and this would be the most logical culmination. A gesture, of course, but a profoundly effective one,” said an MEA official.
While the news may cause many a jaw to drop, it is not really so unthinkable a proposition. In the US, the avidly watched baseball World Series often begins with the President throwing the first pitch.
Sport, of course, has long been diplomacy carried out by other means. The famous ping-pong diplomacy helped thaw Sino-American ice in the 1960s and established a working relationship between the champion of capitalism and the dragon of communism.
The current idea originated when elements from Pakistani and Indian think-tanks put their heads together to figure out how best to leverage the goodwill generated on both sides of the border by the current Indian tour.
When approached, both leaders - in the true spirit of sportsmanship - agreed to play their parts for the sake of the greater game of peace and prosperity.
Though Atalji, at age 79, might find wielding a willow physically more demanding than penning his musings. On the other hand, ex-commando Pervez could prove fighting fit as he takes the field.
At Kargil and Agra, he has already shown his mettle in bowling bouncers and googlies alike. But India Shining might well effectively counter the shine on the ball.
So is the Lahore encounter between the Big Two for real?
“It is absolutely confirmed by both Islamabad and New Delhi. If Mr Vajpayee could take the bus to Lahore a few years ago, why can’t he walk to the crease at the Gaddafi Stadium?” said a foreign ministry interlocutor, Mr lirpA looF.
he ain’t dead yet, but one bouncer from Mushy and he could be.