Cricket fest: will the love last?

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal"><script language="javascript">doweshowbellyad=0; </script><br />NEW DELHI: The cricket love-fest with Pakistan continues, win or lose. But a neurotic nerve throbs: Can it last? <br /><br /><img align="left" src="/photo/575214.cms" alt="/photo/575214.cms" border="0" />Is this merely a flash in the pan? Pakistan Day on March 23 is a good point of reference since it marks the anniversary of the passage of the Muslim League resolution demanding a separate homeland for Muslims in 1940.So on Tuesday, there will be the inevitable parade of India-centric missiles, both verbal and real.<br /><br />What will not be on show is what most Indians who have visited Pakistan in the last six months have picked up - an intense desire among the ordinary people for normalisation of ties between the two countries. <br /><br />Yet, in the attitude of the elite, particularly the armed forces, there appears to be a continuing ambivalence. This was best exemplified by President Musharraf''s Kashmir-or-bust performance at the "India Today" Conclave earlier this month.</div> <div align="left" style="position:relative; left: -2"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" align="left" border="1" width="36.3%"> <colgroup> <col width="100.0%" /> </colgroup> <tr valign="top"> <td width="100.0%" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="" valign:="" top="" background-color:=""> <div class="Normal"><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">MORE STORIES</span></div> </td> </tr> <tr valign="top"> <td width="100.0%" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="" valign:="" top="" background-color:="" ff6600=""> <div class="Normal"><span style="" color:="" ffffff="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">></span><span style="" color:="" ffffff="" font-size:=""> </span><a href="http://www.thetimesofindia.online/articleshow/573901.cms">Bonhomie spreads to galleries</a><span style="" color:="" ffffff=""></span><br /><span style="" color:="" ffffff="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">></span><span style="" color:="" ffffff="" font-size:=""> </span><a href="http://www.thetimesofindia.online/articleshow/573900.cms">’Frequent matches not advisable''</a><span style="" color:="" ffffff=""></span><br /><span style="" color:="" ffffff="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">></span><span style="" color:="" ffffff="" font-size:=""> </span><a href="http://www.thetimesofindia.online/articleshow/573897.cms">Menu for crazy fans</a><span style="" color:="" ffffff=""></span><br /><span style="" color:="" ffffff="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">></span><span style="" color:="" ffffff="" font-size:=""> </span><span style="" color:="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">PICS:</span><span style="" color:="" ffffff="" font-size:=""> </span><a href="http://www.thetimesofindia.online/articleshow/571896.cms">United Colours of Cricket</a><span style="" color:="" ffffff=""></span><br /><span style="" color:="" ffffff="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">></span><span style="" color:="" ffffff="" font-size:=""> </span><span style="" color:="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">PICS:</span><span style="" color:="" ffffff="" font-size:=""> </span><a href="http://www.thetimesofindia.online/articleshow/573698.cms">Lahore Mein Shor</a></div> </td> </tr> </table></div> <div class="Normal"><br /><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">Anyone dealing with the issue realises how heavy the burden of the past is. For many Pakistanis like Musharraf, the weight comes from his awareness that he is a muhajir whose family left India in the wake of Partition. </span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">For other Pakistanis, this burden is in the form of myths that are seldom challenged. The primary among these is that somehow India cheated Pakistan out of its legitimate claim on Kashmir or that it was responsible for the creation of Bangladesh. </span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold=""><formid=367815></formid=367815></span><br /><br /></div> </div><div class="section2"><div class="Normal"><script language="javascript">doweshowbellyad=0; </script><br />Underlying this is the belief that India remains unreconciled to the creation of Pakistan.<br /><br />Indian visitors sometime compound this fear by talking nostalgically about pre-Partition days or about our common culture. But regret for the division of what was a single cultural and historical entity, is something different from wanting to undo a historical event today.<br /><br />The two countries cannot undo the events of the past - the barbarism following Partition, the wars between them, Pakistan''s support to terrorists, not just alleged Kashmiri freedom-fighters. <br /><br />But they are beginning to weigh the price that has been paid and to realise that it is far in excess to any gain they may have made, either in monetary or physical terms, or in their national self-esteem.</div> <div align="left" style="position:relative; left: -2"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" align="left" border="1" width="36.3%"> <colgroup> <col width="100.0%" /> </colgroup> <tr valign="top"> <td width="100.0%" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="" valign:="" top="" background-color:=""> <div class="Normal"><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">MORE STORIES</span></div> </td> </tr> <tr valign="top"> <td width="100.0%" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="" valign:="" top="" background-color:="" ff6600=""> <div class="Normal"><span style="" color:="" ffffff="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">></span><span style="" color:="" ffffff="" font-size:=""> </span><a href="http://www.thetimesofindia.online/articleshow/573901.cms">Bonhomie spreads to galleries</a><span style="" color:="" ffffff=""></span><br /><span style="" color:="" ffffff="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">></span><span style="" color:="" ffffff="" font-size:=""> </span><a href="http://www.thetimesofindia.online/articleshow/573900.cms">’Frequent matches not advisable''</a><span style="" color:="" ffffff=""></span><br /><span style="" color:="" ffffff="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">></span><span style="" color:="" ffffff="" font-size:=""> </span><a href="http://www.thetimesofindia.online/articleshow/573897.cms">Menu for crazy fans</a><span style="" color:="" ffffff=""></span><br /><span style="" color:="" ffffff="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">></span><span style="" color:="" ffffff="" font-size:=""> </span><span style="" color:="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">PICS:</span><span style="" color:="" ffffff="" font-size:=""> </span><a href="http://www.thetimesofindia.online/articleshow/571896.cms">United Colours of Cricket</a><span style="" color:="" ffffff=""></span><br /><span style="" color:="" ffffff="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">></span><span style="" color:="" ffffff="" font-size:=""> </span><span style="" color:="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">PICS:</span><span style="" color:="" ffffff="" font-size:=""> </span><a href="http://www.thetimesofindia.online/articleshow/573698.cms">Lahore Mein Shor</a></div> </td> </tr> </table></div> <div class="Normal"><br /><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">Somehow this feeling has now trickled down to the man-in-the-street and forms the best insurance for the success of the current peace process. </span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">In this sense, Musharraf and Vajpayee are instruments of that same public will that led to the Partition of the country 57 years ago.</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold=""><formid=367815></formid=367815></span></div> </div>