A sad day for cricket
Australian batsman Phillip Hughes died Thursday from the injuries sustained when he was hit by a bouncer in a domestic game this week, Cricket Australia said. Hughes was 25.
Read more » DAWN
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Tag Archives: Cricket
Pakistan’s women cricket team storm Asian Games, win first Gold medal for the country
by Asfia Afzal
Pakistan’s women cricket team fought their way to victory in the final of the Asian Games women twenty 20 cricket tournament beating Bangladesh by 59 runs.
The women’s team outclassed defending champion China with a nine-wicket win in the semi final of Asian Games 2014 played at Yeonhui Cricket Ground, in Inheon on Thursday.
With the victory the team was through to the final of the Incheon Asian Games to face Bangladesh, where they successfully won the first gold medal for the Pakistani nation in the Asian games.
Bangladesh’s team played their best in the semis and defeated the Sri Lankan Women side by 25 runs in the second semi-final to seal their spot in the finals but Pakistan’s team stole their win in finals with 97 runs against Bangladesh’s 38 runs.
Read more » Business Recorder
http://www.brecorder.com/sports/cricket/197250-pakistan%E2%80%99s-women-cricket-team-storm-asian-games-win-first-gold-medal-for-the-country.html
Pakistani Women Take Over Cricket!
Pakistan women’s cricket has taken giant strides in last few years. Victory in the Asian Games and receiving the gold medal was a wonderful moment. It was Pakistan’s first in eight years in those games and for the Women’s team to win it was a great achievement. Pakistani women cricketers broke Pakistan’s hoodoo against India in World Cups too. The Pakistan cricket team had never beaten India in a World Cup and it was the women who did it in the 2012 World T20 in Sri Lanka. They have also reached No 6 in the rankings, and defeated some top sides, including South Africa, who they hadn’t beaten for 15 years. They have reached new heights. Those teams, our team would previously consider unbeatable and it would always lose to, it has started defeating them. We feel very proud that our players are receiving a great recognition and are ranked highly on the world stage. A high point for women’s cricket this year has been the live coverage of Pakistani women’s matches on national TV in Pakistan. It is a great sign and it has increased awareness of the sport. After watching those matches, a lot of women who previously hadn’t ever considered playing cricket or even known that there was a women’s team, have gained awareness of our efforts. People are also able to judge the standards at which our girls play cricket. The TV coverage is a very big step. The stadiums in which women contest the matches are open to the public, which is a very good sign. There are a lot of fresh new players taking up the sport and they certainly have the ability, but fitness is still a challenge. We don’t focus on fitness at grass-roots level, as women do not tend to join gyms in Pakistan. New women players are urged to focus on fitness as it will help them to serve the national side far better.
Courtesy: Express 24/7 » YouTube via Facebook
Bangladesh and now Independent Baluchistan
by Syed Atiq ul Hassan
Pakistani politicians and army officials blamed people of East Pakistan as being burden on Pakistan’s treasury. They were called coward and beggars. Today, Bangladeshi economy is better than Pakistan’s. Today Bangladeshi Taka is better than the Pakistani Rupee in international market. Today, Pakistan is begging Bangladesh to play cricket in Pakistan with assurance to provide them full security so that the Pakistani image can be restored for holding international cricket events in Pakistan.
“There is no question that the situation in Baluchistan is alarming and needs urgent attention….Military operation cannot be the solution – Pakistan should not forget what happened in East Pakistan.”
First East Pakistan to Bangladesh and now towards Baluchistan to Independent Baluchistan, political reasons may be un-identical but the tale of injustices; ignorance and autocratic behaviour of Pakistani establishment and civilian federal bureaucracy remain the same.
Congratulations – Pakistan defeats England 3-0
England slump to humiliating 71-run defeat as Pakistan complete 3-0 series whitewash
By Sportsmail Reporter
England’s miserable Test tour of the Middle East reached an appropriately sorry conclusion today with a 71-run defeat, and resulting 3-0 whitewash, against Pakistan.
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» YouTube
IMRAN KHAN’S interview on Late Moin Akhtar’s Show (1987)!
Behind ‘Rising India’
Behind ‘Rising India’ lies the surrender of national dignity
From India’s prime minister down, the rotten state of the world’s largest democracy has been exposed for all to see
Even the racketeers of Pakistani military and intelligence appear dignified when compared with the Indians stampeding to plant kisses on US behinds!
by Pankaj Mishra
Food prices become intolerable for the poor. Protests against corruption paralyse the national parliament for weeks on end. Then a series of American diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks exposes a brazenly mendacious and venal ruling class; the head of government adored by foreign business people and journalists loses his moral authority, turning into a lame duck.
This sounds like Tunisia or Egypt before their uprisings, countries long deprived of representative politics and pillaged by the local agents of neoliberal capitalism. But it is India, where in recent days WikiLeaks has highlighted how national democratic institutions are no defence against the rapacity and selfishness of globalised elites.
Most of the cables – being published by the Hindu, the country’s most respected newspaper in English – offer nothing new to those who haven’t drunk the “Rising India” Kool-Aid vended by business people, politicians and their journalist groupies. The evidence of economic liberalisation providing cover for a wholesale plunder of the country’s resources has been steadily mounting over recent months. The loss in particular of a staggering $39bn in the government’s sale of the telecom spectrum has alerted many Indians to the corrupt nexuses between corporate and political power. …
Read more : guardian.co.uk
The “real” reason behind India’s victory : Model Poonam Panday had promised that “she bare-all if India wins”
Model Poonam Pandey to bare all if India wins WC
After Paraguay model Larissa Riquelme, who promised to run naked through the streets if Paraguay won the football World Cup, an Indian model plans to do something alike if India beats Pakistan and goes on to win cricket’s showpiece event.
Cricket-crazy model Poonam Pandey says she will bare-all if the Indian team wins Wednesday’s semi-final against the neighbours at Mohali.
According to reports, the city-based model, has decided to go nude in front of the entire stadium if India ends up winning the World Cup.
Claiming she is just trying to motivate the Men in Blue, Pandey said she even won’t mind giving the team a private show in the dressing room if they win. …
Read more : Rediff.com
SOUTH ASIA = THE UNITED NATIONS OF CRICKET
Let peace win at Mohali
By Shahid Nadeem
Pakistani cricket fans are on their way to Chandigarh to cheer their team in the mother of all matches taking place at the Punjab Cricket Association stadium in Mohali.
Among them are Pakistani peace activists who will be joined by their Indian counterparts to promote peace. Pakistani cricket fans would have crossed the border without obtaining no objection certificates from Rehman Malik and by passing the Indian government’s newly introduced stringent visa policy. While stepping over the imaginary border line, they will surely notice the well-built, tough-looking border security jawans from both sides, who behind their thick, oiled moustaches, may be hiding their desire to join the cricket caravan. Back home, people will be taking half day off, even if the government doesn’t announce it. The tyre-burning mobs may suspend their ‘noble’ campaign and Karachi’s target-killers may give themselves a much-needed break for the day. Cricketing hero-turned-playboy-turned-The Avenger, has already instructed his Tehrik-i-Dharna brigade to schedule the anti-Nato sit-in well after the World Cup final. …
via – Siasat.pk – Read more : The Express Tribune
Peace and Cricket : India, Pakistan to review rivalry
The language of the discussion is in urdu/ Hindi.
Courtesy: Aaj News TV ( Aaj Ki Baat – 26th March 2011 – Shahid Ameen & Sohail Warraich)
Why the people of Sindh chant “Pakistan na khapey”?
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ANALYSIS: Why don’t black Americans swim? — Mir Mohammad Ali Talpur
…only five out of 24 SHC judges are of Sindhi origin. Sindhi lawyers contend that the ratio of Sindhi judges is not being maintained. They demand equal ratio of judges in the SHC and a just ratio between the interior [rural] and Karachi. They say no fresh appointments should be made from Karachi, as 19 out of Sindh’s 22 districts are completely ignored, which is a violation of the fundamental and social rights of the people of Sindh. They say they will not accept the decision of the JC if lawyers from interior Sindh are not elevated.
Remarkably, as there are few black swimmers in the US today, here until 1971, there was no Bengali player in the cricket team. Today, they have a team that comprehensively defeated New Zealand recently. …
Read more : Daily Times
Afghanistan beats Pakistan
Afghanistan and Bangladesh reach cricket final in China
The cricket teams of Afghanistan and Bangladesh have both caused upsets in the semi-finals of the Twenty20 tournament at the Asian Games in China. The countries will now compete in the final after beating their highly-rated opponents – Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Afghanistan scored 125-8 in 20 overs and then held Pakistan to 103-7, giving them a surprise 22-run win. Bangladesh then beat Sri Lanka by five wickets, surpassing Sri Lanka’s total of 101 with 4.4 overs to spare. …
Read more : BBC
Pakistan Women Cricket Team won a Gold Medal
Courtesy: GeoTV, via ZemTV -> YouTube Link
Prospersous South Asian Sub-continent – A beautiful dream or the future that we are missing!
Beyond the Deep State: Prospects of Pak India relations
by Omar Ali
A friend from “Critical PPP” asked for an article about the current crisis in Pakistan and got me thinking on the question: Is there something peculiar about the crisis in Pakistan or is it similar to all the other countries in South Asia, with the same problems of inequality, poverty, corruption, elite incompetence, poor governance, institutional decay and post colonial hangovers? I would submit that there is, and this peculiar problem is breaking the camel’s back. What is it? It is the ideological mindset of the “deep state” and it has brought us to the edge of disaster. This Is not a new insight, but I want to put it in terms that are usually avoided in the Pakistani media; Instead of presenting a history of the deep state and its pathologies, I will stand a mile behind the starting line and look far away at a hazy finish line: what I think the shape of a different Pakistan would be.
I think that a Pakistan that has managed to reorient its deep state from its current suicidal course may have some of the following features:
1. The state will accept that historically and culturally, we are “Western India”, not North-Eastern Arabia or some imaginary concoction whose defining feature is that it is kryptonite for anything Indian. Having accepted this, we will discover that far from pulling us back into the Indian state, Indian policymakers will spend their days trying to make sure we don’t come back home to mama and that we stay in our own apartment. We can visit anytime and we can use Mama’s name in some songs,movies, overseas grocery stores and restaurants, but she would much rather we stayed in our own pad.
2. The state will no longer spend every waking moments looking for good jihadis to go blow up India and every sleeping moment dreaming of sticking it to the Brahmans so good they will remember their Naani. In fact, the state will own up to the fact that our Naani is one and the same and both parties could use an occasional day remembering grandma and her glorious cooking. Freed up from the need to shelter every homicidal psychopath in the region, we may find other things to do. And of course, we will no longer have to worry about “good psychopaths” turning into “bad psychopaths” and explosively detonating in our own markets, shrines and mosques.
3. India will become our largest trading partner and we may become their 4th largest trading partner. Multiple scandals involving the disbursement of franchise licenses to TATA and Reliance will keep NAB busy for the foreseeable future. Meanwhile, these interactions will generate real jobs, real industry, real money and real Bajaj motorbikes for every farmer. Transit trade to Afghanistan will enrich even more retired army officers than the number who have become millionaires hauling NATO supplies. Students by the thousands will flock across the border in either direction (admittedly, more may go East initially, but we too are an enterprising people and will find ways to correct the balance).
4. Kashmir will remain formally divided, but practically, will become one large pistachio and shawl manufacturing country. Large numbers of ex-servicemen from both countries will find employment in the various security companies that will protect the handicrafts business from extortionist jihadi gangs as they switch from being supported by Pakistani taxpayers to full time kidnap and robbery operations. Sikhs and Pakistani Punjabis will become so chummy in these security agencies, it will be an embarrassment.
5. River water treaties will be a cause of friction, but if we can make them work through 60 years of cold and hot wars, we can make them work through 60 years of cold and warm peace. Still, drastic development in agriculture and water-saving technologies will be needed as global warming wreaks havoc. No longer busy planning the next war, both overstaffed armies may find something to do maintaining order and fixing irrigation ditches.
6. Renewed cultural interaction and absence of GHQ and VHP instigated paranoia will lead to development of all regional languages and cultures in Pakistan. East Punjab will also see a deeper revival of Punjabi literature and arts and Delhi will become a more Punjabi city. Even Urdu may get off its deathbed once a better connection with the heartland in North India is restored. Who knows, Indian and Pakistani Muslims may even revive Islamic learning and turn it away from its current flat-line orientation into something more creative. Cricket will become a South Asian game with Australians occasionally allowed to win a match by the match-fixers. The film industry in India will import even more Punjabis and Pathans to star in “fair and lovely” ads and hundreds of musical geniuses will emerge in Faisalabad and Gojra and take the world by storm.
7. Pakistani political parties will increasingly resemble their Indian counterparts and both sides will exchange know-how about vote-buying and ballot-stuffing. At the upper end of the political scale, think tanks will gainfully employ bullshitters from both countries without distinction. Since our bullshitters know all about their problems and their bullshitters know all about ours, we can exploit the strengths of both parties. MQM will find much to do in the vast network of sleepy North Indian Muslim communities, where it’s sophisticated and battle hardened cadres will be a little bit like European adventurers used to be among Native Americans in the nineteenth century, but with the added advantage of being racially and linguistically the same people.
8. Chinese massage parlors will expand from Islamabad to all over India. So will Chinese Qingchi makers and duck egg salesmen. Memons and Marwaris will be given a run for their money by the Cantonese at the upper end of the business spectrum. Sindhi coal will fire up polluting power stations in Gujarat and Indian wind and solar manufacturers will sell their wares in Mekran.
And so on. It can happen. But someone will have to bring the deep state under adult supervision before it does.
Courtesy: – http://criticalppp.com/archives/25447
Spot Fixing – Pakistani Cricket Players Caught Accepting Money From a Bookie
“Girls Cricket Championship 2009” held at Sindh University on Jan. 24
Creeping Talibanization in Pakistan’s ‘Paradise’ Valley
By RAHIL YASIN
FRACTURED PAKISTAN — Cricket matches take place during the “Inter-varsity Girls Cricket Championship 2009″ held at Sindh University on Jan. 24. But hundreds of miles northwest at the foothills of the Himalayas, where the Taliban rule, female teachers stay at home, while lands are barren and trees grow fruitless, and video shops are torched, and barbers are afraid to shave beards.
LAHORE, Pakistan — People in Swat – once called the ‘paradise’ on earth or Switzerland of Pakistan – are living in tense times. The Pakistani Taliban have stoked fear in parts of the valley, and their control is growing. They gave demolished schools and bombed bridges;
political workers are assassinated, journalists are tortured, girls are forbidden from going to school. Even dead bodies have been exhumed from their graves and put on gallows. The power of the government has shrunk to a limited area in the district.
Lands are getting barren and trees are growing fruitless. Female teachers are forced to live in their houses, video shops are burnt and barbers are warned against shaving beards because the Taliban see this act as un-Islamic. In the last two years, more than 800 hotels and 405 restaurants have been closed in the picturesque Swat Valley – one of Pakistan’s main tourist hubs for decades and a major source of foreign revenue – as law and order deteriorates.
Around 40,000 people connected with the valley’s hotel industry are unemployed, as are thousands of others who are indirectly linked to the industry. Militancy, which has disrupted every walk of life in the picturesque Swat Valley, has dealt a massive blow to its once fabulous tourism industry that once enchanted tourists from around
the world.
The population of Swat district was 1.5 million, but two-thirds have migrated to other areas of the country. More than 200 people, including important personalities, had been killed in targeted killings and bomb blasts in Swat.
But Islam teaches us to show care and compassion, even toward the plants and animals. To inflict destruction, harm or injury toward them is deemed as a major sin, so how can anyone under any circumstances justify the killing or maiming of innocent human beings?
Besides banning female education in Swat Valley, the militants have torched or completely destroyed more than 165 girls’ and boys’ schools and colleges thereby stopping students from taking their annual examinations.
In Pakistan, literacy figures for women had risen steadily since the 1990s. In the Swat area they were up 75 percent over 2002, with 30,000 more girls in schools. Foreign donors helped establish NGO-run schools, pushing up enrollment levels.
The recent resurgence in militant extremism has come as a bitter blow indeed.
Current circumstances condemn millions of children, particularly girls, to a life without education — and, therefore, to a life of missed opportunities. Many girls say their parents are too afraid to send them to school. An estimated 80,000 girls have had their education cut. They are trying to keep up with their studies at home.
But it is hard.
Traditional Islam views religion as a pact between man and God and therefore in the domain of spirituality. In this belief, there can be no compulsion or force used in religion. From the time of the Prophet Mohammed, peace and tolerance were practiced between different religious groups, with respect to distinctions in belief.
Contrary to this, the Wahhabi ideology, which the Taliban follow, is built on the concept of political enforcement of religious beliefs, thus permitting no differences in faith whatsoever. In Wahhabi belief, faith is not necessarily an option; it is sometimes mandated by force.
Similarly, extending the sphere of their activities aimed at enforcing Sharia, the followers of Fazalullah, a Taliban leader in the Swat region, are making a state within a state in the valley. He has established his own administration on the pattern of the Saudi monarchs and created a private army, equipped with the latest weapons
and controlled by his trusted and loyal commanders. Besides establishing a parallel judicial system, Fazalullah has also established a “baitul maal” (fund for the needy) for which his commanders collect “ushr” (tithes) from the locals.
The Pakistani government should provide protection and alternative institutions and mechanism to the students of Swat besides establishing relief camps and financial support to the affected people. The government and the army should place security in front of all the girls’ schools and colleges as soon as possible. The government must not surrender to the threats of extremists groups who
are exploiting the laws in the name of religion. Peace pacts with militants remain a tradition from the early history of Islam and always produced good results. So far, peace agreements with the Taliban in Swat should be given a go-ahead, with the hope that girls will return back to their schools in the ‘paradise.’
COURTESY: MIDDLE EAST TIMES
January 26, 2009
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