Imran, Taliban and New Zealand team exiting Pak

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NEW DELHI: The Taliban’s Afghanistan takeover has exhilarated a large number of people in Pakistan.

The Taliban don’t like many things Pakistanis love, such as sports, music, movies, Sufi culture… Yet people in Pakistan support Taliban in Afghanistan.

A recent Gallup Pakistan poll that revealed that 55% of Pakistanis are happy with the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan. However, Pakistanis do not want to be ruled by a Taliban-style government. According to two Gallup surveys done in 2009, in the June of that year, 15% Pakistanis accepted that Taliban’s presence in some areas of the country had a “positive influence”. Swiftly, that figure was down to 4% in December 2009. Up-close, Pakistanis find, the Taliban aren’t that attractive — but they think the Taliban are great for the Afghans.

The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), ideological cousin of the Afghan Taliban, has been emboldened by the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan — two weeks ago, TTP claimed responsibility for an attack in Quetta that killed several soldiers. Yet, Pakistan has offered amnesty to the TTP, which has been summarily rejected.

Kiwis fly

The Taliban government still includes individuals recognised internationally as terrorists, they are pursuing regressive policies, and yet the Pakistani state and leaders offer them complete support — this alarms the rest of the world. In this context, New Zealand’s decision to withdraw its cricket team from the tour of Pakistan over a ‘credible’ security threat is understandable.

According to Pakistan Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told Pakistan PM Imran Khan that her country’s team faced the threat of an attack. “We totally support the decision that’s been made. Player safety has to be paramount,” Ardern said.

The decision has angered cricketers, fans, politicians and everyone else in Pakistan, many of whom see in the decision a conspiracy to ‘defame’ their country.

However, with the backdrop of the 2009 terror attack on the Sri Lankan team bus in Lahore — which left six players and two staff members wounded — the New Zealanders are understandably jittery about a specific threat against the team. The Pakistanis are frustrated that New Zealand has not shared the specifics of the threat. An advisory by police in Lahore had indeed made reference to the visiting team, though the New Zealand authorities have acted on independent information.

It must be remembered, too, that New Zealanders have a lower tolerance level concerning terrorism and violent death than third-world people. They care more for the lives of their citizens than the governments in south Asia.

Also, they have long been acquainted with terror in Pakistan — in 2002, a suicide-bomber killed 11 French engineers and two Pakistanis right outside the Karachi hotel in which the New Zealand team was staying, leading to the abandonment of that tour.

Taliban

Pakistanis are known for their love for cricket and great hospitality. But the love that Imran Khan has for the Taliban — despite his third wife being a Sufi peerni, and despite the hatred fundamentalists have for Sufism — has long been known. His party has funded the Haqqania seminary, the birthplace of the Taliban, to the tune of millions of dollars. Taliban flags are flying in places of worship at many places. The Western world is aware of the support for the Taliban among the populace, army, security agencies and the polity.

Indeed, Imran Khan — who has called Osama bin Laden a martyr — has been known as ‘Taliban Khan’ for a long time. It is no wonder that Arden did not rely on Khan’s assurances on safety to her country’s cricketers and called them back.

No way we could’ve stayed in Pak after ‘credible threat’: Kiwis

Wellington: New Zealand was warned of a “specific, credible threat” against its team, the country’s cricket board (NZC) said today, elaborating on the rationale for abruptly abandoning the tour of Pakistan as the squad reached Dubai. New Zealand had pulled out of the limited-overs tour on the day of the opening fixture in Rawalpindi on Friday, citing a New Zealand government security alert. “What I can say is that we were advised this was a specific and credible threat against the team,” NZC chief executive David White said in a statement. “Everything changed on Friday. The advice changed, the threat level changed and, as a consequence, we took the only responsible course of action possible. Unfortunately, given the advice we’d received, there was no way we could stay in the country.” New Zealand had been visiting Pakistan for the first time in 18 years and also had been due to play five Twenty20 matches in Lahore. The players left Islamabad by a chartered flight on Saturday and reached Dubai.