Pakistan's offer of a peace cricket match rejected by Taliban

Taliban rejects Pakistan’s peace match offer

On Monday, an offer to swap guns for cricket bats, to play a cricket march in the name of peace was rejected by the Pakistani Taliban, citing cricket as the reason why the youth turn away from Jihad.

A top Pakistani minister had offered the militant group to host a match against them, which was planned to revive the peace talks, that had been stalled previously between the two parties.

A formal dialogue between the government of Pakistan and Taliban was established earlier this month, although the process bore no fruits, as the militants resorted to executing 23 kidnapped soldiers.

In retaliation, dozens of lives have been lost as the Pakistani military bombarded the tribal areas that border Afghanistan and are home to the top brass of Taliban.

With talks heading nowhere, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, the Interior Minister had hoped that cricket might help sort something out.

“I have information that the Taliban keep an interest in cricket. So if this message can go through to them, we can have a cricket match with them which can have a better result,” he told reporters in Islamabad following an exhibition game.

“The Taliban follow the Pakistan cricket team with keen interest so this can be a platform.”

Shahidullah Shahid, the Taliban spokesman ruled out the possibility of a cricket match, while speaking to AFP on the telephone via an undisclosed location.

“These secular people want to distance our youth from jihad and Islamic teachings through cricket. We are strongly against cricket and dislike it,” he said.

“We are ready to open the deadlock in peace talks created by the government. The government is not sincere in peace talks, but Taliban are ready for it.”

An overwhelmingly negative response to the minister’s suggestion of cricket match has been received on Twitter by the country’s English-speaking elite.

Cricket on a red pitch and may be they could bowl with our soldiers heads? Drop war play cricket: Nisar to TTP http://t.co/60xkjDL0Jk

— Midhat Ali Zaidi (@MidhatZ) February 24, 2014

Ch. Nisar should invite the families of those beheaded by TTP to the cricket match he’s offering TTP. Bloody lunatic.

— Abdullah Saad (@kursed) February 24, 2014