To hold or not to hold IPL
The big security question staring at the Indian Premier League’s second edition is marinated in paradoxes. It is something that can’t be ignored nor should the event be shelved due to concern.
With Pakistan going crazier by the day — and, more alarmingly, advancing towards India with all its terror and Taliban chaos — we have been reduced to vacillating between cancelling shows or taking risks. Lanka took a risk and almost paid with life by going to Pakistan. We say, and its true, India is not Pakistan. But does that give us a foolproof security system? Come to think of it, is there ever a foolproof security system anywhere in the world? Can shields, bullet proofs, multi-layer policing and fortress makeovers actually ensure 100 per cent safety?
I think, foolproof security is as much a misnomer as dinosaurs are in this century. So, to look for chinkless security for bigtime events would be optimistic. And to cancel them for fear of an attack would be even more foolish. For one, that would mean playing into the designs of the terror brigade which dotes on fear of its victims. Two, it would be an unending situation in which no shows would become the order of the day.
Taken in this context, IPL is in a real bind. It may be the year’s biggest entertainer and money-spinner, but it allows no room for rescheduling as it barely squeezes in with the annual itineraries of other ICC events. In the first place, the election-triggered adjustments would have taken the goat of Lalit Modi. His optimism that the Home Minister would indulge in his wishes with an equal passion to hold the event now seems misguided with all States except Delhi asking for Central forces to hold the matches on their territory and the Home Ministry rejecting the revised schedule of IPL2.
The Ministry may have a point here. Providing security for such a grand event at the time of elections when forces of all hues are either in the field, on alert or at standby the nation over, would seem like an unjustified demand. Over and above that, from the Government point of view, IPL is nothing more than a private event which cannot be accorded a national status. It would be like giving an Amitabh Bachchan show equal priority with elections.
But you wish you could say that the IPL may be scrapped not because of terror cowering but because its timing is all wrong. However, there is a debate point here. Would the show have been postponed if the Lahore attack had not happened? Yes, it may have been rescheduled to accommodate polling dates at various locations but that would have passed muster without such heavy reservations. But now with Lahore becoming a reality and terror knocking at the gates of IPL too, there is little hope for the tournament. As said, it has room only to re-adjust within the given dates and not be entirely rescheduled for a later date.
If postponed, which actually means cancelled for this year, no one would be more triumphant than the terrorists who feed on derailing such shows, especially if they are on Indian territory. Yes, we should not indulge in a game of oneupmanship with terror mongers because the results would be disastrous but we also should not cancel events on threat perceptions.
Nothing could be more symptomatic of a Catch-22 situation than what the IPL is going through. The Indian Government, always being accused of being soft on terror can ill-afford another attack. anything as minor as even a fire-cracker at the venue may trigger a foreign player exodus and huge embarrassment for India.
The solution? According to one gentleman, the show must go on — not in a stadium but in a fortress stadium — with no public in the stands, only a TV relay into millions of homes. Think about it. Is this how we need to live our lives now? Can the Government not be more pro-active on zero tolerance?
With Pakistan going crazier by the day — and, more alarmingly, advancing towards India with all its terror and Taliban chaos — we have been reduced to vacillating between cancelling shows or taking risks. Lanka took a risk and almost paid with life by going to Pakistan. We say, and its true, India is not Pakistan. But does that give us a foolproof security system? Come to think of it, is there ever a foolproof security system anywhere in the world? Can shields, bullet proofs, multi-layer policing and fortress makeovers actually ensure 100 per cent safety?
I think, foolproof security is as much a misnomer as dinosaurs are in this century. So, to look for chinkless security for bigtime events would be optimistic. And to cancel them for fear of an attack would be even more foolish. For one, that would mean playing into the designs of the terror brigade which dotes on fear of its victims. Two, it would be an unending situation in which no shows would become the order of the day.
Taken in this context, IPL is in a real bind. It may be the year’s biggest entertainer and money-spinner, but it allows no room for rescheduling as it barely squeezes in with the annual itineraries of other ICC events. In the first place, the election-triggered adjustments would have taken the goat of Lalit Modi. His optimism that the Home Minister would indulge in his wishes with an equal passion to hold the event now seems misguided with all States except Delhi asking for Central forces to hold the matches on their territory and the Home Ministry rejecting the revised schedule of IPL2.
The Ministry may have a point here. Providing security for such a grand event at the time of elections when forces of all hues are either in the field, on alert or at standby the nation over, would seem like an unjustified demand. Over and above that, from the Government point of view, IPL is nothing more than a private event which cannot be accorded a national status. It would be like giving an Amitabh Bachchan show equal priority with elections.
But you wish you could say that the IPL may be scrapped not because of terror cowering but because its timing is all wrong. However, there is a debate point here. Would the show have been postponed if the Lahore attack had not happened? Yes, it may have been rescheduled to accommodate polling dates at various locations but that would have passed muster without such heavy reservations. But now with Lahore becoming a reality and terror knocking at the gates of IPL too, there is little hope for the tournament. As said, it has room only to re-adjust within the given dates and not be entirely rescheduled for a later date.
If postponed, which actually means cancelled for this year, no one would be more triumphant than the terrorists who feed on derailing such shows, especially if they are on Indian territory. Yes, we should not indulge in a game of oneupmanship with terror mongers because the results would be disastrous but we also should not cancel events on threat perceptions.
Nothing could be more symptomatic of a Catch-22 situation than what the IPL is going through. The Indian Government, always being accused of being soft on terror can ill-afford another attack. anything as minor as even a fire-cracker at the venue may trigger a foreign player exodus and huge embarrassment for India.
The solution? According to one gentleman, the show must go on — not in a stadium but in a fortress stadium — with no public in the stands, only a TV relay into millions of homes. Think about it. Is this how we need to live our lives now? Can the Government not be more pro-active on zero tolerance?
Published on March 15, 2009 in Sunday Pioneer, http://www.dailypioneer.com/162437/To-hold-or-not-to-hold-IPL.html
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