Equitation enters Indo-Pak equation

Pakistan-watchers might well suspect that Islamabad is taking a leaf out of Homer’s Iliad by using its own version of the Trojan horse to steal a démarche over New Delhi, except, in the present case, the horse is a flesh-and-blood quadruped.

Pakistan’s entry for the equestrian event for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics is a rider whose steed bears the name of ‘Azad Kashmir’, which authorities here feel is a deliberate PoK in the eye for India, particularly after the abrogation of Article 370.

The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has reportedly taken the matter up with the organisers on the grounds that such horseplay contravenes Rule 50 of the Olympic Charter that states, “No kind of demonstration, or political, religious, or racial propaganda is permitted in any Olympic sites, venues, or other areas.”


The animal in question, a 12-year-old bay of Australian origin, was originally called ‘Here to Stay’, which taken in conjunction with its current moniker is likely to only add insult to nominal injury so far as New Delhi is concerned.

A possible face-saving device might be to allow the mount to compete under its FE1identity, an alphanumeric code. While all lovers of the sport can only hope that horse sense prevails, New Delhi, long concerned about a subversive ‘foreign’ hand’, might now have to worry about a foreign hoof as well.