By Harshita Rai
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has repeatedly stated that “terror and trade cannot coexist,” a line meant to underline India’s uncompromising stand against Pakistan-backed terrorism. Yet, as the Asia Cup unfolds, the India-Pakistan cricket match is proceeding without a hitch, raising uncomfortable questions about the logic and consistency of this stance.
How can India claim that terror and engagement cannot go hand in hand, yet share a cricket field with a country accused of harbouring and supporting terrorists?
Sporting diplomacy may be well-intentioned, but in the shadow of Operation Sindoor and repeated cross-border terror incidents, this engagement risks sending the wrong signal — both to Pakistan and the world.
Critics argue that while people-to-people connections through sports are important, national security and the country’s hardline messaging on terror should not be compromised for the sake of an event on the pitch.
If terror and trade “cannot coexist,” should sporting ties really be allowed to proceed? Or is this another instance of selective pragmatism where optics on the field outweigh principled policy off it?
India-Pak cricket matches have always been politically charged, but the timing of this fixture, amid heightened tensions and recent terror strikes, exposes a contradiction hard to ignore.
The question now is clear: if terror truly cannot coexist with engagement, why is the bat being handed to those who are allegedly behind terror?
India’s stance on terror should not have loopholes, and sporting events cannot become a loophole. The nation’s security narrative deserves consistency — not cricket diplomacy that risks confusing the world about India’s resolve.
