One of the most beautiful places on his planet is the Kashmir valley. It is also one of the most dangerous.
When Pakistan split from India during the partition in 1947, that part of the world was subject to violent disagreements. Little has changed.
India have recently tried to project the territory of Jammu and Kashmir as reasonably peaceful. So when a cricket team failed to pitch up for a game this week, it kind of knocked that theory for a six.
India has been at war with Pakistani proxies in the region for years, so the army has been pretty busy keeping the Pakistan-supported guerillas at bay.
So busy it seems that there is not enough time for cricket (God forbid!).
The Services XI were scheduled to play Jammu and Kashmir in a Ranji Trophy match due to start in Srinagar on Tuesday, but conceded.
This left the cricket officials, who double as government officials, fuming.
The state’s former chief minister Farooq Abdullah, who also heads the region’s cricket association, said the withdrawal of the Services team sent the wrong signal at a time when violence in Kashmir is on the wane.
“The Services have negated what the Prime Minister, the Defence Minister and the Home Minister have said, that Kashmir is normal,” a fuming Abdullah was quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India (PTI).
“We were all waiting for the Services. We were here to welcome them. It looks very bad that, of all teams, Services decided not to come.”
The Services team had been banned from the rest of the tournament for refusing to play.
If the missing XI were not in their dugouts, or giving the guerillas a bit of cold steel, they should take away the soliders’ weekend passes and give them pack drill.

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