International   

A feel-good victory for Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Cricket fans paraded through Karachi streets on Monday with a specially made 50-foot bat to present to Pakistani batsman Shahid Afridi after his match-winning knock in the World Cup T20 final, while the Prime Minister and the President led the nation in paying tributes to the team for giving people some desperately needed good news at a time of deep crisis for the country.

Pakistan is savouring the victory, its first cricketing triumph since the 1992 World Cup, not just for its likely boost to the crisis-ridden national team, but for lifting the mood of a nation that had long given up hopes for a respite from the near daily news of suicide bombings and death tolls, aside from the displacement of nearly three million people due to the anti-Taliban operations,

“Good Breaking News” captioned Geo on Sunday night as soon as Afridi’s unbeaten 54 powered the Pakistan victory, while in its Monday edition, Dawn newspaper called it a “Feel-good gift to the nation”. The Daily Times proudly proclaimed: “We Are The Champions.”

President Asif Ali Zardari, who earlier in the day pledged not to rest until the Taliban was defeated in a speech to Pakistan People’s Party workers at the Bhutto ancestral home in Naudero, Sindh on the occasion of her 56th birth anniversary, called Captain Younis Khan to congratulate the team on the win.

The captain dedicated the victory to the nation. “This is our gift to our nation,” he said. “Hopefully it will cheer them up.”

He also dedicated the victory to the team’s late coach Bob Woolmer, and pleaded for other cricketing nations to tour Pakistan despite the security hazards.

Mr. Zardari announced hefty cash awards for the team from the President’s discretionary fund — Rs. 10 lakh to both the captain and Man of the Match Afridi, and Rs.5,00,000 each to the rest of the team.

That the victory had come on Benazir’s birth anniversary made it “all the more magnificent”, said presidential spokesman Farahtullah Babar.

Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani asked the nation to greet the victorious national cricket team in a befitting manner when it returned home. “I, myself will greet the team at the PM house,” said Mr. Gilani, adding that “the team has lifted the nation out of depression”.

Across the country, people had gathered in their homes and around giant screens in market squares to watch the match. From the moment the match-winning run was scored, the country erupted in celebrations that went on late into Sunday night.

People burst firecrackers and distributed sweets to mark the victory, all the more important for being Pakistan’s first significant cricketing achievement since Imran Khan’s team lifted the World Cup in 1992.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Iran protesters hold out as crackdown intensifies
A feel-good victory for Pakistan
New forum to discuss IDPs’ needs
Swat operations in “final stages”
Bomb attack on Ingush President
China tests A(H1N1) vaccine
It was Mujib who proclaimed independence, rules court
Indian immigrants allege harassment
Sotheby’s to auction letters of Gandhiji, Nehru

Copyright © 2009, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu