Cricket and floods: Bradford Pakistani voices
Updated on 05 September 2010
Channel 4 News takes the writer and film maker Imtiaz Dharker to Bradford - Britain's most Pakistani city - to ask people how recent events are affecting their national pride.
The cricket scandal could hardly have come at a worse time for Pakistan - still struggling to cope with last month's devastating floods.
In Bradford, Imtiaz Dharker found people angry and frustrated, worried that corruption in cricket was symptomatic of a wider malaise in Pakistan.
"You don't expect your national team, and the players you follow so closely, can do things like that," said taxi driver Javed. "We've already got such bad press as a country. This is all just so disturbing."
Travel agent Atif agreed. "It's the worst possible timing, a sad state of affairs," he said. "To be honest, this is the last thing that Pakistan needed. For many people in Pakistan, cricket is a matter of life and death - for them to be betrayed in this way, it's really sad."
The President of Manningham Mills Cricket Club said he hoped the scandal could mark a turning point: "To be honest, when I first heard about [the alleged corruption in the cricket team] I was quite happy because there have been so many whispering allegations; I thought this might be something that might help get rid of the problem once and for all.
More Channel 4 News coverage of Pakistan
- A summary of the pre-election inquiry hearings Pakistan floods: full coverage
- Pakistan cricket rocked by new fix claims
- Pakistan: 'not enough food, not enough water'
"But as more and more appeared, I can't deny the fact that a huge part of me felt upset, and felt ashamed."
His vice-captain was equally frustrated: "I feel sad, because one moment, all over the world people are hearing there are 20 million people in Pakistan who are flooded and homeless; and we all do lots of fundraising. Then, just a few weeks later the cricket allegations appear and all the news just transfers over to cricket. And there are still 20 million people homeless, but no-one hears about that."
The president, Sarwar, added: "You don't need to be a genius to know that Pakistan is inherently corrupt. All you can do is hope and pray that eventually there will be a turning point; that we will be proud of Pakistan not just because our parents or grandparents were born there.
Student Iram summed up a mood of concern over whether, with such a level of corruption apparently endemic in Pakistan, aid she was giving was getting through to those in need.
"You just don't know what to trust," she said. "There are so many victims out there, but it's just really hard to know when we give aid whether they're getting it at all."
