The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) may have received a temporary reprieve with the International Cricket Council deciding to let it hold the prestigious Champions Trophy, after all. But it was enough to send a wave of jubilation amongst edgy cricket fans across the country.
One uses caution in describing the ICC nod as a “temporary reprieve” given the proclivity of some white nations to deliberately hype up the so-called security threat to their players to pull out of it.
The ICC decision, one must concede, came as a bit of a pleasant surprise because in the wake of consistent propaganda in the lead-up to the crucial conference in Dubai recently — which led the ICC to defer the final decision on hosting rights for days — inducing Pakistan to suspect the war for hosting a peaceful tournament was lost.
But a reluctant nod to the PCB by the governing body should not be taken as guarantee that Pakistan’s ability to host the top extravaganza will now be treated as beyond doubt. Trust gristmills in the reluctant nations — Australia, England and New Zealand — to work over time in a bid to scuttle Pakistan’s chances of hosting its biggest ever showpiece tournament.
Pakistan has twice hosted the World Cup, in 1987 and 1996, but only as part of a subcontinent conglomerate.
Of course, this is not to suggest Fox News style, that the reluctant white nation trio would hate to play in Pakistan or that they don’t have security concerns.
What piques the Pakistani fans is the exaggerated hype surrounding the security concerns. The southeast Asian nation has had its share of the pitfalls of fighting a mindless war-on-terror at Washington’s behest and is currently, trying to nip militancy on its northern borders.
But never has even the worst terror incident resulted in a strike at a sportsperson, local or foreigner, in the history of Pakistan. Even in the worst of times, no militant has ever threatened to target sportspersons.
On the contrary, during the July 7 bombings in London, an Australian team which was on an Ashes tour and playing nearby, only condemned the bombing and continued the tour unhindered. Imagine if the same had happened in Pakistan.
The fact is that hypocrisy is on display here and sadly; there is not even an iota of shame about it. In every related story about security in Pakistan, all wire agencies repeat ad nauseam what Andrew Symonds has to say — the glorious invoking about cricket only being a game at the end of the day and life being more important etc, etc.
What none of these news agencies point out is when Symonds started to utter those gems.
The Australian all-rounder began to set the agenda way back last year, months ahead of a planned Australian team’s tour to Pakistan so that eventually, enough pressure could be built to scuttle the trip. He and fellow Aussie Mathew Hayden succeeded in their designs when the trip was eventually, cancelled.
There is good reason to believe that Symonds was merely carrying out the propaganda war so that he and his mates did not have to miss the cash-rich Indian Premier League booty, since the dates of their planned tour to Pakistan clashed with the IPL.
The latest reluctance is just another excuse to wriggle out of a tour deemed difficult by most white teams, both in terms of cricket as well as life after stumps.
As long as the respective boards do not hold their pullout from the Champions Trophy against them for future selection, it’s a cinch most of these players will simply walk out. 
By doling out the waiver to players and their respective boards, the ICC has ensured that nobody walking out on their respective teams will be held accountable. With cash-rich Twenty20 providing phenomenal sums of money, these players will not be pushed into doing national duty.
Meanwhile, cricket associations from Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and England have upped the ante with acid suggestions that the boards are compromising the security of the players. The South Africans and Australians has even suggested pulling out. Boards of all three have said they would talk to the players but not push them.
Crazily, some of these boards have even suggested either pulling out altogether or sending second strings if the star players do not agree to tour Pakistan.
Such a stance is self-contradictory in that, if there really is a security threat to the players, surely it should be without discrimination.
If at all, an incensed would-be terrorist would certainly target the “second string” in order to make a statement. Does this not imply that life is cheap for second stringers as far as these boards are concerned? Why else would they want to send anyone, if they take the so-called security threat so seriously?
All these shenanigans are despite the rider put in by the ICC that a task force including FICA, the international cricket association federation, will be fully involved in the implementations of security recommendations made by a ICC security team.
In the given situation, the best that Pakistan can hope for is that another blast does not occur in the interim anywhere in the cities where the Champions Trophy will be held. You can bet it will be used as an excuse to take the tournament out of Pakistan.