#ProfileForPeace is an initiative that has got a new lease in life recently. This is perhaps a response to the uncertainty of the arrival of the Pakistani cricket team for the ongoing World T20 Championships and Himachal Pradesh’s refusal of to permit an India Pak cricket match which was supposed to be held in Dharamshala but will now he held in Kolkata. Ordinary citizens of India and Pakistan; more particularly cricket fans from both countries decided to do something about the politics of hate. An initiative started by Twitter users has gathered momentum and this is what is going on with #ProfileForPeace right now:
Indians and Pakistanis are promoting #ProfileForPeace using social media
Citizens from both sides of the border are posting pictures of themselves expressing solidarity with the other, holding up little handheld notes like this one.
Uniting Indians and Pakistanis via Facebook
On Facebook, people are posting pictures like this one to show that divisions of border need not translate to divisions of hearts.
Indians and Pakistanis are changing their profiles pix
Indian cricket fans are changing their profile pictures to show their support for the Pakistani cricket team and Pakistani cricket fans are changing theirs to show support for the Indian cricket team.
Shahid Afridi expressed his support
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Lending his voice to the initiative of cross border good cheer was Shahid Afridi who said that he has received more love from Indian cricket crowds than home; that he hasn’t enjoyed playing anywhere as much as he has in India.
Javed Miandad didn’t, but Waqar Younis defended Afridi
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Predictably, someone had to play spoiler and Indian cricket’s old foe Javed Miandad expressed his outrage at Afridi’s words. Apparently Pak cricketers should be “ashamed of themselves for saying such things”. Former Pak pacer Waqar Younis decided to come out in favour of Afridi though; he thought it was better to focus on cricket than on creating controversy.
Amen to that… the world of cricket has sorely missed cricket’s most glorious rivalry.
Author – Reena Daruwalla
