On Cricket Diplomacy - CBC Radio Program

Cricket Diplomacy
CBC Radio: The Current, March 31, 2011
Audio link: http://www.cbc.ca/video/news/audioplayer.html?clipid=1864218148

After two years of icy-cold relations, the Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan are sitting down for a face-to-face meeting this week. All it took was a cricket match. We ask about the potential for cricket diplomacy.

The game was a heart-breaker for Pakistani fans. But from a go-political point of view, the real action off the pitch was happening where Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistani Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Gilani sat side-by-side at watched the game. Their meetings did not produce breakthrough agreements but they did end a two-and-a-half-year-long diplomatic stand-off between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.

So the obvious questions ... why it took a cricket match to make this happen? And of course it isn't the first time that cricket has played such an important role. For some perspective from the Indian side, we were joined now by Kant Bhargava. He's a former Indian diplomat who now lives in Toronto. Hassan Abbas teaches at Columbia University. He's also a fellow with the Asia Society. He was in New York City.

To hear the audio of the program, click here
Also See: India vs. Pakistan: 'Cricket Diplomacy at its Best - Asia Society