Pakistan players demand hockey World Cup boycott

KARACHI: Former Pakistan sports captains Thursday demanded a boycott of the hockey World Cup in India next month to protest at Pakistani cricketers being snubbed by the Indian Premier League.



None of Pakistanâ€s 11 players included in the IPL auction in Mumbai on Tuesday were sold despite their national team being the reigning World Twenty20 champions, ending hopes of Pakistani cricketers featuring in the third edition.



“Pakistani cricketers were treated badly by India, so to keep our national pride we must not send our hockey team to the World Cup,” said former Pakistan hockey captain and coach Islahuddin Siddiqui.



The International Hockey Federation event is due to be played in New Delhi from February 28 to March 13. Arch-rivals India and Pakistan will face off on the opening day of the 12-nation tournament.



Pakistanâ€s National Assembly also cancelled a parliamentary delegationâ€s trip to India as a protest against the IPL move, while the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) said it will follow the governmentâ€s advice.



“We have to follow government policy and will seek the governmentâ€s permission to send the national team to India,” said a PHF spokesman.



Former cricket captain Zaheer Abbas also called for a boycott.

“We should adopt a clear policy on sports with India and if they have not allowed our players in the IPL then we must not send our hockey team to the World Cup,” Abbas told a private television channel.



India stalled bilateral cricket with Pakistan after blaming attacks in November 2008 on its commercial hub Mumbai on a Pakistan-based militant group.



But they still contest other sports.
An Indian boxing team participated in an international event in Karachi earlier this month, while Pakistan has sent its snooker, tennis, wrestling and badminton teams to India in the last two years.

PAK team should go, we can't let a few morons in IPL/BCCI stall every thing else.

PlanetPakistan wrote:PAK team should go, we can't let a few morons in IPL/BCCI stall every thing else.

Hockey World Cup = A world level International event involving official Govt sport played by a national team.

IPL = Private business league of club cricket arranged by private corporates and packaged as a 'domestic' tournament of a country.

Look at the distinction more clearly first. And how can a private league of corporate entities stall 'everything' else in Pakistan? You guys are whinging and creating a ruckus over nothing. It's like blackmailing and arm twisting that play a Pak player above everything else in IPL or else...??? The players put themselves on the block in the auction and were not bought. Big deal. They can't now raise a ruckus mixing it with national pride and country's honor to arm twist and blackmail the BCCI, the IPL owners and the respective Govts. on both sides. This jingist posturing is plain blackmail and an attempt to cover up for a few selfish egos and nothing more. Dragging the prestige of a whole country and it's people over some players not making a cut in a private league tantamounts to diplomatic blackmail betraying malafide mischief. People in Pakistan, especially players and media are playing a very dangerous game here.

Draw a line between govt, private events: India to Pak!

Rejecting Pakistan's charge that its players were snubbed for IPL at the behest of India, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna on Thursday said it should draw a line between government programmes and private events.

"Government has nothing to do with IPL, on selection of players and various exercises that are connected with it. So, Pakistan will have to draw a line between where Government of India is connected and where Government of India is an actor," he said.

Krishna said this when reporters sought his comments on Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik's remarks that the manner in which the players were "insulted" showed that India was not serious about the peace process.

The Minister's remarks also come in the wake of Pakistan's move against sending any parliamentary delegations to India to protest the 'treatment meted out' to the country's cricketers in the auction for the Indian Premier League tournament.

So the idiot minister in Pakistan is now probably linking 'IPL' for the 'peace process'?

:laule:

Oh dear, this is all getting a bit "handbags at 10 paces", isn't it?

Would be good riddance, if they don't come to India for hockey WC.

Indian police had to continue to finding out rogue Pak elements for years after India's game against them at Mohali in '99.

own weapons, take control over your lives. Don't rush to criticize the govt or Pakistan.

Some factors are permanently stuck at qunt level invariables. You can't change those.

Batman wrote:IPL = Private business league of club cricket arranged by private corporates and packaged as a 'domestic' tournament of a country.

Except when the organisers want a window for it, and to make even more money.

batman and SG,
When something is so obviously wrong then its better to NOT support it

p.s SG, so have you found any evidence yet? ....
oh and you may apologize privately

come to think about it. Aren't hotels like Taj, Oberoi, Four Seasons etc the places were our IPL fat cats would hang out at.

they probably are rightly pissed off and may be for a long time.

If the govt of India were involved they wouldn't have given the players their visas in the first place rather than depend upon some IPL auction.

PlanetPakistan wrote:batman and SG,
When something is so obviously wrong then its better to NOT support it

p.s SG, so have you found any evidence yet? ....
oh and you may apologize privately

So suppose the whole Indian football team offers themselves for auction at the Premier League, or English league or something and if none get picked for X, Y or Z reasons, should they scream racism and incite the Indian Govt to start a diplomatic row with UK over it claiming national pride and an insult to the country?

Vikas

The reason the players didnt get picked was because they were from Pakistan

It had nothing to do with ability or availability

By not selecting ANY player from Pakistan it is obvious that the order has come from somewhere (Govt / BCCI / Qunt ) to EVERY franchise to ignore them ...

I know Indians can't be racist ...but discriminating against individuals based on their country of origin is racism

skully wrote:Oh dear, this is all getting a bit "handbags at 10 paces", isn't it?

Except that we carry nuclear weapons in our handbags.

embee wrote:Vikas

I know Indians can't be racist ...but discriminating against individuals based on their country of origin is racism

How can we help it if other races are inferior?

embee wrote:Vikas

The reason the players didnt get picked was because they were from Pakistan

It had nothing to do with ability or availability

By not selecting ANY player from Pakistan it is obvious that the order has come from somewhere (Govt / BCCI / Qunt ) to EVERY franchise to ignore them ...

I know Indians can't be racist ...but discriminating against individuals based on their country of origin is racism

a bit more nuanced than that. the franchisees seemingly asked the government if the pak players will get visas, the government declined to say yes or no, as most governments would do. they were also probably wary of any incident leading to the pakistanis being banned from travelling by the pakistani government, which is what happened last year. none of the players from other countries had the same issues

the franchisees had to bid for only one player this year. they decided a pakistani player was not worth the risk since fresh auctions would be had next year

furriner wrote:

embee wrote:Vikas

I know Indians can't be racist ...but discriminating against individuals based on their country of origin is racism

How can we help it if other races are inferior?

You welcome the inferior races into your country , educate them , allow them to become vital links in public transport and in the food service industry and then bash them if they dont hand over their valuables or portable electronic equipment ...actually bash them anyway

The One wrote:

embee wrote:Vikas

The reason the players didnt get picked was because they were from Pakistan

It had nothing to do with ability or availability

By not selecting ANY player from Pakistan it is obvious that the order has come from somewhere (Govt / BCCI / Qunt ) to EVERY franchise to ignore them ...

I know Indians can't be racist ...but discriminating against individuals based on their country of origin is racism

a bit more nuanced than that. the franchisees seemingly asked the government if the pak players will get visas, the government declined to say yes or no, as most governments would do. they were also probably wary of any incident leading to the pakistanis being banned from travelling by the pakistani government, which is what happened last year. none of the players from other countries had the same issues

the franchisees had to bid for only one player this year. they decided a pakistani player was not worth the risk since fresh auctions would be had next year

The risk of a player not getting a visa is not much different to a player getting a serious injury and not being able to fulfill the contract ...there are a few Pakistani players who would be worth the risk (especially as the other franchises were reluctant to get Pakistanis and so little danger of a bidding war) in T20 ...Afridi , Tanvir and Umar Akmal seem obvious

furriner wrote:

skully wrote:Oh dear, this is all getting a bit "handbags at 10 paces", isn't it?

Except that we carry nuclear weapons in our handbags.

furriner wrote:

embee wrote:Vikas

I know Indians can't be racist ...but discriminating against individuals based on their country of origin is racism

How can we help it if other races are inferior?

furry on a roll.

embee wrote:Vikas

The reason the players didnt get picked was because they were from Pakistan

It had nothing to do with ability or availability

By not selecting ANY player from Pakistan it is obvious that the order has come from somewhere (Govt / BCCI / Qunt ) to EVERY franchise to ignore them ...

I know Indians can't be racist ...but discriminating against individuals based on their country of origin is racism

The issue may have political problems undeniably, but in the past Indian Govt. has openly snapped ties diplomatic and sporting and has no compunctions to hold back on that post the Mumbai attacks and public anger against Pakistan still not subsiding. When our Parliament was attacked we openly closed doores on all activities concerning Pakistan. The doors opened only after the Govt changed and the policies changed. The present Govt. is the same one that re-installed the relations and is the most soft we have where Pak is concerned. The fact is owing to it's popularity, cricket would become a soft target and the only reason players were not picked was because people investing the IPL money didn't want negative fan involvement or any controversy disrupting their investment. They played safe. They can't be forced to do this and the Indian govt. would not advice this behind closed doors because they are fully aware that anything like this would blow up into a diplomatic row. Racism has nothing to do with it.

embee wrote:Vikas

The reason the players didnt get picked was because they were from Pakistan

It had nothing to do with ability or availability

By not selecting ANY player from Pakistan it is obvious that the order has come from somewhere (Govt / BCCI / Qunt ) to EVERY franchise to ignore them ...

I know Indians can't be racist ...but discriminating against individuals based on their country of origin is racism

the case is quite clear...Vikas, TO and LG just don't want to see it

I heard one of the guys from the Indian government saying that there simply wasn't any "slot" for the Pakistani players as the other players selected were considered to be better, one of the owners of the teams came up with the same excuse.

Basically saying none of the PAK players are good enough to play in IPL

And the fact is that most Indian fans really are not keen to have anything to do with Pakistan for a long long time. TBH, the other sports are still having a problem free involvement is because they are off radar for most people and not actively followed up by media and people. People are not even aware when they are played or when they are done. The step motherly treatment other sports get barring cricket due to Govt. interference is disgusting. It's a debate for another day, but cricket is too high profile and a ready catalyst to get passions moving on a warfooting and hence likely to attract most political attention. Sad but true.

embee wrote:The risk of a player not getting a visa is not much different to a player getting a serious injury and not being able to fulfill the contract ...there are a few Pakistani players who would be worth the risk (especially as the other franchises were reluctant to get Pakistanis and so little danger of a bidding war) in T20 ...Afridi , Tanvir and Umar Akmal seem obvious

i would disagree in the case of only one spot for a big player being up for grabs in each team. if this was a full auction with a full squad being selected by each team then yes its worth a risk. also the chances of a pakistani player getting a visa in this climate is not the same as a windian or a south african

pollard, bond, parnell seem a lot more attractive since they are guaranteed to get visas. the pakistanis are not

Vikas

Currently , Are there any problems with Pakistan?No?

So this is all on some conjecture of something that "might" happen in the next 7 weeks that will change the diplomatic situation between Pakistan and India....

I suggest that a likely event is the deliberate snubbing of the ENTIRE Pakistan contingent of players who nominated for the IPL ...

and I thought the contracts were on a pay-for-play basis and were pro-rated for the games you were available for ...so if the Paks arent available they dont get paid ...???