Unsporting behavior

Refusing to play Pakistan is an immature response

The xenophobia that is churning the national discourse following the Pulwama tragedy has touched absurd heights. Boycotting Kashmiri students, shops and products is one unsavoury element of it. But when the response takes the form of boycotting sporting events and sportspeople, it is easy to detect the political engineering of national outrage. The recent decision by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and its Supreme Court-controlled Committee of Administrators asking the International Cricket Council (ICC) to “sever ties with countries from which terrorism emanates” (read Pakistan) from the upcoming World Cup is a case in point. This