Pakistan News

Adil Najam

This news item in The News intrigued me:

A galaxy of former cricket stars on Sunday stepped forward and offered a helping hand in a bid to lift Pakistan cricket out of the prevailing crisis. Ex-Pakistan captains Rameez Raja, Wasim Akram, Inzamam ul Haq, Saeed Anwar and Mushtaq Ahmad met Law Minister Farooq H Naek in Lahore and offered to put in a team effort aimed at improving Pakistan cricket. Naek welcomed their suggestions and later floated the idea of setting up of a high-powered committee formed by ex-Test stars that will help in ensuring a smooth functioning of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).

He said that by garnering the support of former greats, Pakistan cricket can regain its rightful place on the world stage. “It would be great to have our cricket legends backing efforts for the betterment of cricket,” said Naek. The minister said a five-men committee, comprising former stars, should be formed to ensure that cricket was run in a professional manner in Pakistan. Pakistan cricket is facing hard times as top teams are refusing to tour the country because of security fears. World champions Australia scrapped a Test tour of Pakistan earlier this year while September’s ICC Champions Trophy which was to be held here was postponed after five of the eight competing teams raised safety concerns. Pakistani cricketers are now starved of international cricket while the PCB is facing a financial crunch because of major losses due to the postponement of the Australia series and the Champions Trophy.

It is because of the grim situation that the ex-Test stars have decided to campaign for Pakistan cricket. They are suggesting that a World XI should be invited to Pakistan to play a series, saying that such an exercise would help restore the country’s image in the cricket world. They gave this suggestion during an hour-long meeting with Naek. “We had a useful meeting in which the former Test cricketers expressed their concern over the downfall of the game and the situation we are facing in which foreign teams are not visiting Pakistan,” said the minister. Naek said that these cricketers should be given a wider role by including them in a committee that could help curtail the powers of the PCB chairman. Raja said he and his fellow players had no hidden agendas. “We are just here to help Pakistan cricket,” he stressed.

I read this, and was at first intrigued, then momentarily amused, and then left with a rather disturbed.

What does this say about the state of Pakistan cricket? What does this say about the state of Pakistan? Is this a reflection of where our society stands today, or where our cricket stands today? Maybe, it reflects both. Both our society and our cricket is reflecting that sense of helplessness and near hopelessness that wants us all to do something, but leaves us unsure about what needs to be done.

I do not know the answers to any of the above. But this I know. Reading this odd news item left me hoping that Pakistan cricket would be revived, whether by these former stalwarts or by someone else. I desperately need to hear good news about Pakistan. Not made up good news. But real and really good news.

Where better to look for it than on the cricket field!

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Asif Zardari’s quest to consolidate power in Pakistan proceeds without much political opposition.

Today, he replaced the retiring Chief of Navy Admiral Afzal Tahir with Vice Admiral (now Admiral) Noman Bashir, who superseded Chief of Staff Vice Admiral Asaf Humayun.

Admiral Bashir also happens to be the brother of the Zardari-appointed foreign secretary, Salman Bashir,  who replaced Riaz Muhammad Khan in quite a controversial fashion.

Well, no big deal since this is, after all, ‘Zardari’s navy.’  Note in a recent Wall Street Journal interview, Zardari refers to the Intelligence Bureau as “my IB,” the Pakistan Air Force’s F-16s as “my F-16s,” and its law enforcement as “my police.”  The ‘commission fee’ is now 100%, it seems.

Curious how Zardari managed to convert Bret Stephens from a harsh critic into a supporter of sorts in less than a month.  In September, Stephens called Zardari “a category 5 disaster.” Perhaps Zardari threatened a hug.

Note: Admiral Bashir writes in a 2000 research paper titled “Afghanistan and the ‘New Great Game’” that the Taliban “are inward rather than outward looking” and have “signalled readiness to engage constructively with the international community.”  He adds: “Keeping Afghanistan broken and destabilized suits those who do not want the Caspian/Central Asian oil and gas pipelines to take one of the shortest and economical outlets over Afghanistan and Pakistan to the Arabian Sea.”

He was talking to Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Kayani during a meeting at the President's House that also included Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and Awami National Party chief Asfandyar Wali.