Amongst all the four chief ministers of Pakistan,
only Baluchistan' Nawab Sanaullah Zehri
was present in the UAE to attend the Pakistan Super League and support his
provincial team the Quetta Gladiators. Pakistan is unable to hold sports events
at home because of deteriorating law and order situation across the country and
international teams and athletes reluctance to travel here, therefore the first
edition of the League, constituted on five teams representing four provinces
and the capital, was also staged in Emirates.
at convinced Nawab Sanaullah Zehri to attend the event in UAE and extend his politico--cultural support to the Quetta Gladiators is his honest conviction about the importance of sports for peace and development when he expresses "through promotion of sports the menace of use of drugs and terrorism would be frustrated."
Baluchistan
is the Pakistan's largest and poorest province which borders Iran and
Afghanistan on the west. Due to which it has unfortunately been affected by
sectarian strife and Islamist violence, while on the other hand long-run insurgency
and militancy had sapped people of life and hope.
Not only Nawab Sanaullah Zehri
graced the inaugural edition of Super League in which Quetta Gladiators,
representing the Baluchistan province, was the finalist. He had also announced
in the unveiling ceremony of Quetta Gladiators logo at home, to continue to
conduct Baluchistan Sports Festival in Quetta in March, 2016.
The festival, held between March 22 and March 29, 2016, was the 3rd annual edition but in 2016 it is marked with historic public attraction and participation. Inspired by the success of Quetta Gladiators in Super League, some 2,700 players came up to participate in 29 various sports disciplines. This affection for sports events in terms of spectators attendance and players participation was missing in Baluchistan and people fear to arrive in stadiums ever since 2011 when on July 29, two killed and thirty persons injured in a dreadful bomb explosion followed by intense firing during the All Pakistan Football Tournament, held in Mastung.
Though the concluding ceremony of the week-long Baluchistan Sports Festival 2016 was regrettably cancelled in the wake of tragic terror incident of Lahore, yet the sporting event has been marked as a success for peace and development. Not only it brought much-needed positive activity and normalcy in the province but distraction from the troubles of the region compelled armed rebels to surrender their arms before Pakistan Army. Dozens of various militant groups have given up their arms in the last 12 months so far. The militants who surrendered were from groups such as notably Baloch Republican Army (BRA), Baloch National Movement (BNM), and Lashkar-e-Balochistan (Army of Baluchistan).
It
is remembered that in the unveiling ceremony of Quetta Gladiators Chief Minister
Baluchistan Nawab Sanaullah Zehri had pointed out that "the people of
Baluchistan have the spirit of fighting to the core and (therefore) the Quetta
Gladiators would hopefully bring the PSL Cup to Baluchistan." On that occasion,
presence of the opposition members testifies the unanimous solidarity for Quetta Gladiators and the fact that this cricket team has made the people from all walk
of life of the province united and passionate -- something rarely seen in Pakistan politics.
And, Gladiators also didn't disappoint them. Bismillah
Kahn is the only player in the Gladiators side from Quetta and he authenticates
" In
Quetta people are overawed with the PSL. I have never been involved in
something like this in my career so it’s pretty big for both me and the guys
back home.” A Pashtun from Quetta, when he smashed
Lahore Qalandars to all parts with 55 from 30 balls in his first PSL match,
Quetta was given a legitimate hero of its own. However, he reveals “There’s a lot of talent in Quetta
right now, we need to just pull the talent up". "The
perception of Quetta will change thanks to the PSL. A lot of players back home
have said ‘man, you’ve opened the door for us’. It means we will all practice
even harder than before to be involved in the PSL,” he said.
The impacts of Quetta Gladiators in Baluchistan'
overall sporting activities, coupled with ongoing successful "Operation
Zarb e Azb" by Pakistan Army, convinced Nawab Sanaullah Zehri to continue with further game events
in order to consolidate the law and order conditions in the region. In June
2016, a Day Night Cricket Championship was therefore staged at Nawab
Bugti Stadium, Quetta in which he
pledged to "provide a peaceful and literate Baluchistan to people."
The team of Quetta Gladiators was present in the ceremony to support and
involve in sports activities of Baluchistan. The Chief Minister there announced
land for cricket academy of Quetta Gladiators and wished “I hope more players
from Quetta play for Quetta Gladiators ahead in the upcoming PSLs and this day
and night tournament is a great step for forwarding cricket in Quetta.”
Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB)
acknowledged the role of Quetta Gladiators for bringing peace and enthusiasm in
the much-affected province of the country, as chairman Shaharyar Khan disclosed that they were considering to
invite Afghanistan to play in Quetta, capital of Baluchistan, in the wake of
improved law and order situation in the provincial capital. But terror
incidents in other provinces forced him to drop the idea last month.
Yet for Nadeem Umar, the owner of Quetta Gladiators,
his team has potential to turn around the destiny of Baluchistan when he points
out "
we had bought the largest team in terms of area and hearts as well."
By M. Wasim
mwasim.370@gmail.com
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