Sun, Dec 20, 2009 page18

• FEATURE : Pakistani hoping to fulfill childhood dream

  • AFP
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  Akseer Abbasi thought his childhood dream of playing cricket for Pakistan was obliterated when his cousin accidentally shot him in the knee and he lost his right leg 15 years ago.

  Life took another turn for the worse when a devastating earthquake razed his family home in 2005, but the emergence of a disabled cricket league in Pakistan has revived his hopes of playing for his country.

  Hailing from the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir — claimed by both Pakistan and arch rivals India — Abbasi’s ambitions are also fueled by a desire to bring the nations together through sport.

  

  Disabled Pakistani cricketer Akseer Abbasi attempts to take a catch during a match in Karachi, Pakistan, on Dec. 5.

  PHOTO: AFP

  “To play for Pakistan against India is a childhood dream. It would be great if disabled teams of both the countries play,” 24-year-old Abbasi said. “I have read a lot about the history of Kashmir, but I don’t want to comment on that — my interest is that if cricket can bring peace and harmony, then why not? I would love to be part of that.”

  Pakistan’s second National Disabled Cricket Championship ended this month with players from the 12 competing teams hoping it will pave the way for the emergence of Pakistan’s first international disabled squad.

  The Kashmiri team was knocked out after three matches, but not before Abbasi wowed the crowds with breathtaking dives and batted with gusto, manipulating his crutch to achieve feats of athletic prowess.

  He made 32 off 81 balls and then a whirlwind 58 off 40 in two matches, before his side crashed out of the event.

  “Abbasi is no ordinary cricketer and it would be great to have a Kashmiri player on an India tour,” said Amiruddin Ansari, secretary of the Pakistan Disabled Cricket Association (PDCA), formed in 2007.

  The PDCA is trying to get recognition from the Pakistan Cricket Board and the International Cricket Council, before launching plans for the first foreign tours by a national disabled team.

  “We are trying to get the affiliation and once we get that, we will try to arrange tours of England and India,” Ansari said.

  For years Pakistan’s disabled cricketers were shunned, given little or no outlet for their sport.

  “Whenever I tried to play cricket, my street fellows discouraged me,” said Farhan Saeed, who is missing a left leg and bowls by running, jumping and landing on a crutch. “Then I heard there would be trials to select a disabled team for Karachi and I got selected, and since then I haven’t looked back.”

  It’s not only prejudice against the disabled that may thwart Abbasi and Ansari’s ambitions. Political tensions between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan have also put cricketing relations in a spin.

  India stalled a series with Pakistan after the attacks on Mumbai in November last year, which New Delhi blamed on Pakistan-based militants. It refused to send its team across the border for a series scheduled this year.

  Pakistan and India have fought three wars since independence in 1947, two of them over Kashmir, but Abbasi has cleared many hurdles in his life and is not deterred.

  The son of a retired army officer, Abbasi spent his childhood in Bagh, a scenic town deep in the mountains of Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

  He was nine years old when his young cousin picked up a loaded rifle being cleaned and accidentally fired a bullet into his knee. A blood clot forced the amputation of Abbasi’s leg below the thigh.

  It was a year before he picked up a bat and ball again, eventually learning how to play with a crutch, but his woes were not over.

  On Oct. 8, 2005, a 7.6-magnitude quake struck the region, killing more than 74,000 people and leaving 3.3 million homeless in Pakistan. Bagh was stuck hard and Abbasi lost many friends.

  “I was sleeping on my bed when I felt the jolts and somehow escaped serious injury when the roof collapsed. The earthquake completely destroyed our city and we are still reeling from the aftermath of that disaster,” he said.

  Abbasi sees cricket as a way to overcome the blows that life has dealt him.

  “I was initially dejected but ... I thought: ‘I must not lose heart and try to overcome this disability,’” Abbasi said. “Life has to go on, and that we are here as a team to play cricket is a sign of our courage and the fact that people live to survive disaster.”
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