Loud Thinking

Archive for 2013

Wishing everyone a very happy Eid. Stay blessed.

An open letter to the CEO ICC

Dear Mr. David John Richardson

CEO ICC

Greetings.

I take this opportunity to urge upon the ICC, to immediately impose a penalty of suitable ban (s) from Test matches, on South African captain GC Smith, for claiming a false catch of Misbah ul Haq, on the 2nd day (Tuesday,15 October, 2013) of the 1st Test match, being currently underway at Dubai, just like Ramdin, the West Indian Wicket Keeper, was punished by the ICC, for the same offence very recently, during the Champions Trophy in June, 2013; and also in the past Rashid Latif was imposed a 5 matches ban in the year 2003, for claiming a false catch of Alok Kapali, of Bangladesh’s team in 3rd Test match at Multan.

I firmly hope that it will not be a case of “what is good for goose is NOT good for the gander” and as the late world’s one of the famous commentator, Mr. Omar Qureshi once said “When a Pakistani umpire committed a mistake, it was called cheating and when foreign umpires did the same mistake, it was called a human error”.

Best regards,

Syed Nayyar Uddin Ahmad

I strongly urge upon the ICC to impose a penalty of ban from Test matches, on South African captain Mr. Smith, for claiming a false catch of Misbah ul Haq, just like Mr. Rashid Latif was banned, under exactly the same situation and circumstances.

Compliments is a polite expression of praise or respect.

“I firmly believe in small gestures: pay for their coffee, hold the door for strangers, over tip, smile or try to be kind even when you don’t feel like it, pay compliments, chase the kid’s runaway ball down the sidewalk and throw it back to him, try to be larger than you are— particularly when it’s difficult. People do notice, people appreciate. I appreciate it when it’s done to (for) me. Small gestures can be an effort, or actually go against our grain (“I’m not a big one for paying compliments…”), but the irony is that almost every time you make them, you feel better about yourself. For a moment life suddenly feels lighter, a bit more Gene Kelly dancing in the rain.”

Jonathan Carroll (born 1949);
Author

Who said it was a Banana Republic?

Who said it was the 51st State of the USA?

Who said it was colony of the USA?

No Sir, it is abject slavery…if this news is correct.

But the most worry some part of the news is that “State Department sources have confirmed the developments and said that they had started collecting information on these names and it was expected that a detailed discussion would be held with the Pakistani PM during his visit to the US on October 21, as these key Pakistan army posts are of vital importance with respect to the situation in Afghanistan and war on terror.”

Full news is reproduced as below.

US consent awaited: Decision on new army chief, CJCSC deferred
– (A Pakistan Today news of 15 October, 2013).

The matter of decision on who will be the new army chief and chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC) has been postponed until after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s visit to the US later this month.

The reason behind this delay is to take the US on board regarding these important armed forces posts, sources said.

In this regard consultations are being carried out with US officials. According to sources, Lt Gen Haroon Aslam, Lt Gen Rashid Mehmood, Lt Gen Tariq Khan, Lt Gen Rahil Sharif and Lt Gen Zaheerul Islam are being considered for the posts. Lt Gen Haroon Aslam and Gen Rashid Mehmood are retiring on April 9, 2014 while the remaining on October 1, 2014.

State Department sources have confirmed the developments and said that they had started collecting information on these names and it was expected that a detailed discussion would be held with the Pakistani PM during his visit to the US on October 21, as these key Pakistan army posts are of vital importance with respect to the situation in Afghanistan and war on terror.

Sources said during his visit to the US, the PM also would seek guarantees that the new army chief and CJCSC would not interfere in government affairs, so as to stop the repeat of military coups.

Silence of Pakistani media is meaningful..?

A Times of India Report.

Arafat was poisoned with radioactive polonium, Swiss radiation experts say

Kounteya Sinha, TNN | Oct 14, 2013, 08.00 PM IST

Swiss toxicologists and radiation experts reveal that traces of Polonium found on Yasser Arafat’s clothes confirms that he was poisoned to death.

LONDON: Nine years after the mysterious death of Yasser Arafat, Swiss toxicologists and radiation experts have revealed that they have found traces of polonium on the Palestinian leader’s clothes. This almost confirms that the Palestinian leader was poisoned to death in 2004 while in France.

The case report of the findings, published in the British medical journal Lancet is available with The Times of India.

Polonium as little as a speck of pepper is lethal for the human body. The radioactive substance can enter humans orally through food or drink or through inhaling. Radiation poisoning from polonium looks like the end stage of cancer leading to death in just days.

To investigate whether Arafat who led the Palestine Liberation Organization for 35 years and became the first president of the Palestinian Authority in 1996 died of polonium ingestion, the scientists focused their radio-toxicological analyzes on visible body fluid stains from specific belongings – underwear, toothbrush, hospital cap and sportswear.

A thorough analysis was carried out on 75 different samples, 38 of them taken from Arafat’s belongings.

The case report says “The remaining 37 samples were references, which were not artificially contaminated with 21°Po (polonium). These included cotton items that had been kept for 10 years and protected from dust and products of radon decay in an attic”.

The report then said about the findings “Several samples containing body fluid stains (blood and urine) contained higher unexplained 21°Po activities than the reference samples. These findings support the possibility of Arafat’s poisoning with 21°Po. According to biokinetic modelling, the measured activities of 21°Po of samples are compatible with a lethal ingestion in 2004. Moreover, his clinical presentation could not rule out 21°Po poisoning”.

Arafat died in Percy Hospital, France on November 11, 2004 at the age of 75. Doctors were unable to specify the cause of death as no autopsy was carried out in line with his widow’s request. Arafat’s medical records said he had a stroke resulting from a blood disorder.

Radio analysis was undertaken by the Institute of Radiation Physics and medical analyses by the University Centre of Legal Medicine team. Professor Gerard Waeber from the department of internal medicine, Lausanne University Hospital investigated the medical records of Arafat.

The scientists who published their findings on October 12 said at the time of publication, the remains of Yasser Arafat have been exhumed and are being investigated for cause of death.

He presented with a medical history that began in Ramallah on Oct 12, 2004, with nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, and diarrhoea. Shortly after, his general health deteriorated with continuing gastrointestinal symptoms, thrombocytopenia, apyrexia, but the absence of inflammation.

According to the case report available with TOI, “On Oct 29, he was admitted to Percy Hospital. He had diarrhoea, nausea, vomiting, and generalized abdominal pain with mild liver and kidney failure that was associated with disseminated intravascular coagulation syndrome. His condition worsened, with acute renal failure, aggravation of a cholestatic jaundice and neurological coma. He was transferred to the intensive care unit, where he died of a cerebral haemorrhage. Despite numerous toxicological and clinical investigations, the cause of his illness remained unknown”.

“There was no evidence of infectious, vascular, or cancerous disease and the treatment had been symptomatic only. Poisoning was considered but never confirmed by toxicological analyses. After the death of Alexander Litvinenko in 2006, 21°Polonium poisoning was considered as a possible cause of Arafat’s death. Although the absence of myelosuppression and hair loss does not favour acute radiation syndrome, symptoms of nausea, vomiting, fatigue, diarrhoea, and anorexia, followed by hepatic and renal failures, might suggest radioactive poisoning”.

The report added that from a medico-legal perspective, this hypothesis is justified given the absence of a characterised cause of illness and the absence of toxicological evidence, including radiations, as well as the dearth of scientific literature in this topic.

The Swiss scientists said “In February, 2012, Arafat’s widow made his medical records and his late belongings available to us. DNA analysis confirmed that the belongings were Arafat’s. Toxicological elemental analyses done on his hair were unremarkable. Further investigations on several belongings did not reveal any known poison”.

The scientists said that in radionuclide therapy, side-effects include nausea, vomiting, fatigue, and abdominal pain, with hair loss being less common. Toxicity can occur in bone marrow and, to a lesser extent, kidneys and liver.

“In Arafat’s case, low marrow cellularity associated with ageing and non-bone-seeking biodistribution of 21°Po might have attenuated myelosuppression. Since ingested 21°Po is eliminated primarily through faeces, the gastrointestinal syndrome, associated with multiple organ failure, could be a predominant cause of death. The fact that around 20 half-lives had elapsed was clearly a challenge for measurement of 21°Po”.

At present, three scientific teams are currently analysing body, shrine, and earth samples. Because of legal procedures, the date of publication of the detailed results of the exhumation analyses is unknown. An autopsy would have been useful in this case because although potential polonium poisoning might not have been identified during that procedure, body samples could have been kept and tested afterwards.

“Talent is a gift that brings with it an obligation to serve the world, and not ourselves, for it is not of our making.”

— Jose Marti

Terrorism is only temporary – peace is forever..!

Sports is more powerful than government in uniting the people

An Open letter to the Prime Minister of Pakistan on way forward in Sports

Honourable Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif Sahab,

AoA.

Sir,

It may not be a news for you that Pakistanis are a true sports loving people. Nothing unites the nation more than the news of an international level victory in any sporting arena. I am greatly surprised about the fact, that why our successive governments failed to channelise the energy of our youth, towards the various traditional and non traditional sports, to lure them away from the engulfing culture of drugs and related crimes.

It should also be understood that Pakistanis not just only love the sports, they also understand its very basics as well. While victories are celebrated like a festival, defeats suffered after putting up a good fight, are also duly appreciated.

Nevertheless, the masses are so intelligent that they can easily smell the rat, when our teams lose to the minnows like Bangladesh, Ireland and Zimbabwe etc. Similarly, the whole nation knows how politics coupled with corruption, has spoiled the sports in the country, which has earned the distinction of the worlds BIGGEST nation, NOT to have earned a single medal in the Olympics, since the year 1992. While much smaller and poorer countries like Ethiopia and Kenya, have proved that winning medals at international levels is just a matter of commitment, dedication and simple hard work, sans politics.

In the past, luckily our cricket, hockey, squash and some other sporting teams and players have been bringing laurels for Pakistan; with very little money, extremely small size governing boards and minimal politics. Gradually, the foundations of key sports in Pakistan were eaten up by the greed of money, rampant corruption, nepotism, politics and incompetencies of the successive governments, sports managers and the players combined.

If, we have to put the sports in Pakistan back on the right track, two basic things are necessary. Firstly, a vision and secondly, visionary leaders, to put Pakistan back on top, at the worlds’ sports map.

As far as, the vision is concerned, nothing ever said about sports can match the following quote of Mr. Nelson Mandela, “Sport has the power to change the world…it has the power to inspire. It has the power to unite people in a way that little else does. It speaks to youth in a language they understand. Sport can create hope where once there was only despair. It is more powerful than government in breaking down racial barriers.”

Now, taking a cue from the above mentioned statement of Mr. Nelson Mandela, it is suggested that Pakistani government should slightly re-phrase it and declare the following as its mission statement: “Sports has the power to change Pakistan…it has the power to inspire. It has the power to unite Pakistani people in a way that little else does. It speaks to the Pakistani youth in a language they understand. Sports can create hope for the entire Pakistani nation where once there was only despair, lawlessness, hunger, poverty, drugs, suicide bombings and alarming increase of suicides, due to the economic hardships. It is more powerful than government in breaking down the menace of terrorism which has blown the country to the smithereens.”

Coming to the visionary leadership, may be Pakistan is very lucky in the sense that its current Prime Minister, is himself a born sportsman. Moreover, if in the past, we had world class sports administrators cum leaders, like Syed Wajid Ali, AIS Dara, Brig. Rodham, AH Kardar, Air Marshal Noor Khan and last but not the least Zakir Hussain Syed; then even today we are lucky to have a great sports administrator cum leader (AVM Farooq Umar), who can be appointed as advisor to the PM, for revamping the entire sports canvas of Pakistan, in consultation with the provincial governments, all the sports governing bodies and sports lovers of the country.

The need for a dedicated advisor to the PM on sports matters is all the more urgent and necessary, keeping in view of the imminent lurking danger of the imposition of international sporting ban, on the participation of Pakistani players, due to the dispute, arising out of the warring sports bodies in the country, which may cause unimaginable and irreparable loss to the sports in Pakistan.

it is hoped that the above submissions, if juxtaposed with your recently announced package for youth, may bring the desired results for which, you have been dreaming about, for so long.

Wishing you all the success and Godspeed in your endeavours to turn around Pakistan, in all walks of life.

Trust before you love, know before you judge, commit before you promise, forgive before you forget and appreciate before you regret.