NEW DELHI – In today’s South Asian scenario, India simply cannot bypass itstwo principal neighbors, China and Pakistan, and has no option but tomaintain good relations with them.

Surely, India-China-Pakistan cooperation will better safeguard the peaceand stability of the entire region, according to an article of Rabi SankarBosu, Secretary of New Horizon Radio Listeners’ Club, West Bengal, Indiapublished in Chinese official website ‘China.org.cn’ on Sunday.

Sports can play an important diplomatic role in promoting peace andhumanity around the world. Indeed, sportsmen break barriers and unitepeople.

Pakistan’s legendary World Cup-winning cricket captain, Imran Khan is goingto take charge as the 19th Prime Minister on the country, as his party,Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), emerged as the main beneficiary in thecountry’s 11th general election.

No doubt, Imran Khan’s victory raises hopes on relations with India. It’sexpected that under Khan’s leadership Pakistan will again become a greatdemocratic country as he promised during the campaign trail, and sportsdiplomacy will be an important part of opening new innings of peace withIndia.

Despite political agitation and heat, despite all the Indian right-wingmedia criticism against Khan before and after the election, his remarkablevictory generates a strong wave of optimism in India as well. With hiscricketing background, he has won myriads of hearts of cricket-lovingIndians.

India’s own cricketing stars and cricket fans, as well as Bollywoodcelebrities, hailed Khan after he announced his desire of “mending sourrelationships” with India. All are hopeful that the 65-year-old leader willprovide a fresh breath of peace on the subcontinent.

It remains a matter of great pride that Khan led his side to victory in the1992 Cricket World Cup and has done the same in the July 25 elections. Hiscontemporary Indian counterpart and friend, Kapil Dev, who led India to theemphatic World Cup victory in 1983, told the Times of India, “It’s a greatachievement. I think Imran Khan is a good leader.

What he did in terms of cricket is a minute thing in front of the nation.It took him 25 years to reach this point. He has this idea of leadershipand I hope that this achievement of his takes Pakistan towards betterment.”

Although before Pakistan’s general election, Indian media projected Khan asa “Bollywood movie villain,” he is actually a trustworthy man. Afterretiring from cricket, he turned his hand to philanthropy, working topromote immunization programs in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka andThailand.

He founded a cancer hospital in honor of his mother, Shaukat Khanum. Ittells the world the intention of the man. The uncompromising spirit heemployed on the cricket field has worked in politics, too. He managed toturn a perceived weakness into strength, obstacles into stepping stones anddisaster into triumph.

The former Indian cricketer and Punjab minister Navjot Singh Sidhu rightlysaid, “Imran Khan’s rise to PM is an opportunity to change people’s lives,and an opportunity to better India-Pakistan ties.”

With the emergence of Khan as the national leader, the Indian fans are nowenthusiastically looking for the cricketing ties between the two nations toresume.

Cricket between the two countries has suffered due to politics andterrorism. India suspended the diplomatic dialogue and has not played aseries with Pakistan.

However, cutting off cricketing ties has not improved the situation,either. Sports and politics must be kept separate to increasepeople-to-people contacts. Undoubtedly, the resumption of dialogue andcricket will bridge the confidence gap. Khan’s post-election utterances aregiving rise to speculations that cricket will again be used as a vehiclefor peace.

In his remarkable victory speech on July 26, while Khan did focus more onPakistan’s internal problems, including massive inequality, malnutrition,corruption, unemployment, and terrorism, he also offered an olive branch toIndia.

However, although expressing his desire for better relations, he alsoreiterated that Kashmir is a “core issue,” adding: “We want India at thedialogue table and I promise if India would take one step, Pakistan wouldtake two. We want to resolve all issues between the two countries throughdialogue.”

There is no denying that both India and Pakistan have suffered a lot overthe Kashmir imbroglio for three decades, now. It’s the biggest bone ofcontention between the two South Asian neighbors and nuclear powers.

India should recognise Kashmir is the core issue. As such, it will be goodif Khan puts special emphasis on improving ties with India by focusing onit, given that much blood has been shed over the past 30 years. – APP