Sher Bano, a 17-year-old Pashtun girl from Pakistan who spent a year as an exchange student in the United States, has become a regular contributor to the New York Times blog, On the Ground, ever since she returned to Peshawar. In April, she wrote a piece on how the World Cup semi-final between India and Pakistan gave her country hope and brought Pakistanis together but in the wake of Osama bin Laden's death, the New York Times editors decided not to publish the piece until now.
But the best thing about all this was that it united Pakistan into a single team, one nation! We played, prayed and cried as one Pakistan. There were sermons in mosques and churches where people gathered to pray for the match. On television, celebrities from different fields would gather and watch the show live. My brother got a free Coke from a grocery store manager because Sachin, the famous Indian player, made a big mistake while my brother was in the store. I was invited to a Quranic recitation gathering called khatam at a friend s place, held in honor of the Pakistani Team! But I didn t go.Even after the match, when I visited a hospital in Peshawar, I saw a note displayed in the reception area. It praised the cricket team for uniting Pakistanis and said that the team Captain, Shahid Afridi, ought not to be sorry for the defeat. I noticed many passing men who d look at the note and then smile. For a country divided into sects, religions, provinces, regions, and political parties, this is a big achievement. It rekindled a hope in me I realized that if we can come together for cricket, we can come together over other issues as well. If we united to deal with Pakistan s major problems, we may find a solution to them.