Politicians' celebrations, and business losses

With elections around the corner, the BJP [Bharatiya Janata Party] and the Congress wasted no chances to gather brownie points, even in far away Karachi. Midway through the Indian innings, there was commotion in the stands adjoining the players dressing rooms. Fearing the worst, the security personnel rushed to the area and journalists crowded one corner of the press gallery to get a peek at what was happening. To everyone's relief there was no trouble - just Priyanka Gandhi signing autographs in a special section of the stands. Gandhi, along with Robert Vadra, her husband, and Rahul, her brother, were at the National Stadium to watch the opening match of the tour. As guests of Mir Zaffarulla Jamali, the prime minister of Pakistan, the Gandhis were accorded the highest level of hospitality and security. Priyanka waved the tricolour each time a boundary was struck and enthusiastically cheered India on.

The BJP was represented by Arun Jaitley, the union commerce minister. Also the president of the Delhi District Cricket Association, Jaitley was somewhat overshadowed by the Gandhis, but managed to steer the attention back his way by granting interviews and even holding an impromptu press conference in the gallery. At one point he was heard asking a reporter, "but where is your television camera? I'll wait till you get it." Jaitley was in Karachi for a two-day visit to meet a delegation of businessmen.

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The first one-dayer might have been an overwhelming success in terms of the quality of cricket and the quantity of runs scores, but not everyone is happy with the fall-out. The unscheduled holiday declared by the provincial government has meant that businesses of all sizes and shapes have been hit hard. The Sindh Labour Directorate also gave its workforce the day off to watch the match and this caused wholesale and retail selling to come to a virtual standstill.

The Employees Federation of Pakistan termed the holiday "unlawful". The chairman of the Site Association of Industry, one of the largest industrial parks in Pakistan, said that only a handful of the 2500 units in the area were open. Even the few that stayed open only did so because they had export-shipment deadlines to be met. "Industries cannot afford holidays at a time the country's economy has to meet the challenge of globalisation," he said, suggesting that the total overall losses on the day would have been in excess of a billion rupees.

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The messages of congratulation came flooding in soon after India's win. Atal Behari Vajpayee, the Indian prime minister, was the first to call, reaching Sourav Ganguly on the team manager's mobile phone. Ratnakar Shetty told reporters, "He told Sourav that the entire country was proud of the team and hoped it would continue the good work for the rest of the tour." Sharad Pawar, the president of the Mumbai Cricket Association and the Nationalist Congress Party also conveyed his message of congratulation to Shetty. While the team might have expected calls from India they were pleasantly surprised when Pervez Musharraf, the president of Pakistan, and Mir Zaffarulla Jamali, the prime minister, called personally to congratulate the Indian team.