00:00so after all the controversy and the toing and froing and the uncertainty well the good news is
00:08the india pakistan world t20 match will go ahead this coming sunday pakistan's u-turn of sorts came
00:17after an icc meeting with pakistani and bangladesh delegations was held in lahore pakistan saying
00:24that they would now go ahead with the match because bangladesh has been suitably compensated
00:30by the icc or at least that's the official position that pakistan and its government
00:36have taken but what's the inside story joining me now is a special guest the editor of friday times
00:42renowned anchor journalist and of course a former pakistan cricket board chairman najam seti joins
00:48me appreciate your joining us mr sati there from pakistan explain to our viewers the reasons for
00:55pakistan's u-turn none of the real objective conditions seem to have changed in the last fortnight
01:01has pakistan therefore only ended up embarrassing themselves by first saying they will boycott the
01:07match against india and now falling in lying and saying no we will play with india what's the inside
01:13story sir in fact it's the icc that has taken a step back and i think one of the reasons that
01:20pakistan gave a 15-day notice
01:24that was the reason was that they wanted space with which to talk to the icc and bangladesh
01:31and i think they had reason to believe that that would yield some results and so i think the icc
01:39has decided to back off a little bit give bangladesh some space and i think pakistan has achieved
01:47part of its objective which was to get bangladesh back in the game in one way or another because
01:53the icc was threatening them and with all manner of sanctions and i think between you and me i think
02:00going forward maybe in march you will see some other concessions that have been extracted from the icc
02:06i'll i'll come to those concessions in a moment mr sati but are you seriously telling me
02:12that pakistan uh wasn't worried about the sanctions that the icc had threatened to impose on them
02:19possibly a long period of isolation a loss of revenue isn't this really about pakistan realizing
02:26that they cannot afford not to play against india both in financial terms as well as in terms of
02:32their own future in this global game no that's not true at all it was a very considered decision
02:40they looked at all the angles they knew that there could be no sanctions they consulted the top lawyers
02:46at home and abroad and there are precedents that made it clear to them that they were on a very strong
02:52wicket and at best they would lose a point no more than that and i think the icc also realized that
02:58which is why then the icc got into motion and made overtures and that's how imran kwaja the deputy chief
03:05got into action that's how the bangladesh is got into action that's how they came to pakistan to
03:12negotiate to so that pakistan could play this match pakistan knew that the broadcasters had the icc
03:18as it were on a cold slap and so as far as the question of resources is concerned you know now
03:27pakistan there was a time when pakistan used to rely on icc resources for sustenance like many of the
03:33other boards do but not anymore now that the psl has taken off in a big way we get more money from
03:39the psl than we get from the icc so pakistan is well looked after by its own resources so that was never
03:46an issue never an issue you know uh you know mr city you're saying that but it's a terrible example
03:54of mixing cricket with politics dare i say it's almost as if pakistan had a problem with the fact
04:00that india like it or not is the world capital of cricket the superpower of cricket you may see it
04:06differently but the world wants to come to india and play here they don't want to play the psl as much
04:12as they want to play the ipl and maybe pakistan simply wants to try and use these fora to uh to
04:19to express its anger against india dictating terms to the to the world and that becomes an example
04:27of churlishness and mixing cricket and politics isn't it no not at all the world definitely wants to
04:35come to india to play the ipl and all other fixtures there's no doubt about the fact that india is a
04:40major contributor to icc revenues no doubt nobody's questioning that but what we are saying is this
04:46that the icc is supposed to be an independent body it's not the bcci and so therefore you need to have
04:52a system of equity and i have been you know working on this question of equity since the big three
04:57discussions and so on and you know we were the only ones who didn't want to sign on the dotted line
05:02and in the end we were proven right that you know the big three formulas were all unjust and eventually
05:08they had to scrap those and come to a new agreement and by the way i might tell you my sense is that
05:12there will be new formulas going forward better more equitable formulas so now to come to what
05:18you're saying everybody wants to play in the psl those who don't get into the ipl are all too ready
05:26to play in the psl and so we realize that but here's the interesting point india has never allowed
05:32indian players to play in any league outside india isn't that right pakistani players play in all the
05:38leagues outside pakistan we are we are welcoming we want india to come and play in pakistan by
05:43both in icc fixtures and bilateral fixtures but india even refuses to play us in bilateral fixtures
05:50outside pakistan no no no the reason najam sati you know this better than anyone the reason is so
05:57long as the pakistani state is seen as a sponsor of terror against india what happened in pehal kam for
06:03example last year terror and cricket don't go together you can't have bilateral series if
06:08pakistan is going to be seen as a sponsor of terror i expect india to visit pakistan and play against
06:13pakistan you need to create a conducive atmosphere sir well rajdeep you know it takes two hands to
06:21clap do you know what the uh narrative is the narrative is that your national security advisor
06:27mr dole is on record for saying that we're going to sort out pakistan by sponsoring insurgency in
06:32belochistan that's on record you know it as well as i do so now every time there's a bomb blast that
06:37goes off and the insurgents do something in belochistan every day pakistani newspapers are pointing the
06:43finger at india much like india used to point the finger at pakistan during those years when the
06:49insurgency was raging in kashmir so it's basically tit for tat you can't accuse pakistan of terrorism
06:54without evidence and on the other hand when pakistan accuses india of terrorism you turn around and say
06:59oh that's not right so let's not go there please you know you know you're calling it tit for tat but
07:07let me ask you honestly do you really believe that this was about pakistan feeling anguished about
07:14bangladesh being wronged or was it pakistan seeing an opportunity to forge an axis with daca in a way
07:21to somehow politically encircle india that this was therefore a political decision and you know that
07:27better than anyone else this was not about cricket it was about politics mr city in the ad
07:31would you agree or not i i know it that's what was happening for 15 years in bangladesh and hasina
07:39and and darendra moody were in bed together so so now what's happened is the tables have been turned
07:45you have a new government that is pro-pakistan for 15 years you had a government that's pro-india
07:49so bangladesh was sitting with india all the time now bangladesh is going to sit with pakistan
07:53that's politics for you that's politics for you i think you're being very honest i'm a i'm glad that
08:04you're being honest about that that's politics but whether a cricket field should become an arena
08:10for politics is the big question that all of us cricket lovers certainly will continue to ask but
08:15najam sati for joining me there and giving us a pakistani perspective appreciate that
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