The two Punjabs: a cultural path to peace in South Asia?
World Policy Journal › Vol. 22 Nbr. 4, December 2005
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SOFT POWER
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The two Punjabs: a cultural path to peace in South Asia?
Last year, the Pakistani cricket team spent a month and a half in India on tour, its first such visit in more than six years. Its first match was in Mohali, a small city in the Indian state of Punjab. As expected, hoards of fans converged to watch, but it wasn't the usual Indian cricket audience. India allowed Pakistanis to cross the border to watch the match, and nearly 3,000 showed up. In two days, 38 busloads of Pakistani fans, for the most part Punjabis, crossed the border. Hotel accommodations became so tight that Indian Punjabis opened up their homes to the visitors, prompting sentimental newspaper reports of a Punjabi brotherhood spanning the border. A young Pakistani woman who was staying with an Indian family told a reporter, "The people here are so warm and friendly. I wish I could stay here forever." Indian Punjabi shopkeepers offered their wares to their Pakistani cousins at huge discounts, at times even for free. This eruption of bonhomie inspired some fans to declare allegiance--perhaps for the first time ever--to both national cricket teams. Images broadcast from the five-day match showed young men...
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