Loud Thinking

Archive for February, 2016

Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif Sahab,

اسلام وعلیکم

Sir,

Today, our team just did not miserably got defeated against India; but it was an abject surrender against the Indians, again witnessed by us, after the surrender of 1971 at Dhaka.

Sir, this disaster was not a one off happening.

Since, you appointed Mr. Najam Sethi and later on, Mr. Shahryar Khan at helm of affairs of the PCB, our team is on an unending downward slide.

Sir, ever since day one, I have been informing you the abysmal conditions at the PCB, without any action from your honour.

Sir, now enough is enough. The buck obviously stops at the top. Kindly rethink your policy of giving free reign to your appointed men at PCB, which also includes all the members of the governing board.

Sir, Now the water has crossed over the heads.

Sir, it is not the high time but the highest time for you to immediately dissolve the entire PCB; and appoint non-political world class professionals, to run the PCB on corporate level.

Sir, a faulty factory can never produce a perfect product, which you have seen personally in the PCB’s case.

Hoping that in the national interest, you will not spare personalities, for the sake of image and prestige of Pakistan.

Best Regards,

Syed Nayyar Uddin Ahmad

I gave my team as below, on 9th February, 2016 and the PCB selectors announced national team on 10th February, 2016.

The following players may be considered for the Pakistani Squad.
1. Muhammad Hafeez (Captain and opening batsman).
2. Awais Zia (Most hard hitting left handed swashbuckling opening batsman in the country, who can take the attack to the opposition and turn the tables in the first 6 power play overs).
3. Baber Azam (He is an all rounder and excellent fielder who can also confidently open the innings, if required).
4. Sharjeal Khan (He has the advantage of being a hard hitting left handed batsman, who can also open the innings).
5. Umar Akmal (Vice Captain. He must not be sent below one down. Also the standby wicket keeper).
6. Sarfraz Ahmad (Wicket keeper. He must not bat below two down).
7. Imad Wasim (One of the best all rounder in the country, who is an excellent fielder, as well).
8. Anwar Ali (All rounder and an excellent world class fielder. He can also be used as an opening batsman as per requirement of the situation).
9. Zulfiquar Baber (Best turner of the ball. Left arm spinner).
10. Muhammad Nawaz (An extremely promising 22 years All rounder, basically a left handed orthodox spinner and LH batsman).
11. Zafar Gohar (21 years young very agile in the field, slow left arm orthodox and reasonably reliable left handed batsman).
12. Shahid Afridi (He deserves inclusion in the team on the basis of his spin bowling and his excellent track record against the Indian team).
13. Muhammad Amir (Highly talented LH pacer. An asset for any team in the world).
14. Junaid Khan (Left arm pacer, who has recently rediscovered his magic. Extremely talented player).
15. Bilawal Bhatti (Right arm pacer who can bat reasonably; well fit for the T20 format. Moreover T20 game is not Wahab Riaz’s cup of tea and BB is more fitter than Umar Gul, as well. Further, BB is preferred over Muhammad Irfan, due to Irfan’s poor fielding abilities and below Muhallah level teams batting abilities).
We should not be afraid to repose trust in the young generation players named above; and also not be shy of changing the captain at this late hour, because even Australia has today, changed its T20 leadership for the T20 World Cup, by replacing Smith with Finch.
Best of luck for the Pakistani cricketers.

Official Pakistani Squad:

Shahid Afridi
Mohammad Hafeez
Shoaib Malik
Mohammad Irfan
Rumman Raees
Wahab Riaz
Mohammad Nawaz
Babar Azam
Iftikhar Ahmed
Mohammad Amir
Umar Akmal
Sarfraz Ahmed
Imad Wasim
Anwar Ali
Khurram Manzoor

In my team there were no places for:

Shoaib Malik
Muhammad Irfan
Rumman Raees
Iftikhar Ahmad
Khurram Manzoor

An objective analysis of the recent decisions of the PCB..!

The following squad was selected by the PCB for the coming T20 Asia and World Cup tournaments.

Pakistan: Khurram Manzoor, Iftikhar Ahmed, Anwar Ali, Wahab Riaz, Shoaib Malik, Rumman Raees, Mohammad Irfan, Mohammad Amir, Imad Wasim, Babar Azam, Shahid Afridi, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Nawaz, Sarfraz Ahmed, Umar Akmal

Unfortunately, there is only one player namely Umar Akmal in the above squad, who is a genuine world class T20 material.

However, with the inclusion of following players, we have made a complete mess and mockery of the selection of the Pakistani T20 team.

1. Khurram Manzoor:- (Classical case of rampant SIFARISHI culture prevailing in the PCB, where they are playing with Pakistan, not playing for Pakistan. Played his last ODI 7 years ago in 2009 and last Test 2 years ago in 2014. He has never represented Pakistan in T20 format. Surprisingly, he was not even selected among the 100 players of the 5 PSL teams. Since, cricketing logic and merit belies his selection, only the PCB and its selection committee knows the non-cricketing reasons, justifying his inclusion, which must be made public before some else, opens the lid of this so called secret matter).

2. Iftikhar Ahmed:- (Another out of merit selection, where he has never represented Pakistan in T20 format. His performance during the 2 ODI matches for Pakistan, is so pathetic that no other even non-Test playing team will select him as a 12th man.
His batting average is 4 runs with a strike rate of 25.80.
His bowling average is 49 runs per wicket with strike rate of 60 runs per wicket. With this ODI performance our PCB wizards have selected him for the T20 Asia & World Cup matches).

3. Rumman Raees:- Any person with minimum cricketing knowledge can observe that he is a below average player, absolutely not having the ability to make an impact at world level. It is a Classical case of selecting a below average, low calibre player. His selection exposes the abilities of the PCB and its selectors, in picking up the potential players for the world arena. Selection of such low potential players, have made the PCB and its selectors a laughing stock).

3. Wahab Riaz:- He is somehow himself proving that T20 game is not his cup of tea. Junaid Khan and Muhammad Sami are much better choices to replace him in the T20 format.

4. Shoaib Malik:- He is also past his prime and absolutely not a world level T20 stuff. And, after what Ravi Bopara has spoken about him, if I were in the authority, he won’t be allowed to come near the Gaddafi stadium. If the people at the helm of affairs in the PCB have not yet read his damning statement about Shoaib Malik, they must go through it, sooner than later; because Ravi Bopara has also said that he was compelled to tell the truth about Shoaib Malik, who advised him to bowl at off stump side, while fielders were placed at the leg side.

5. Muhammad Irfan:- He can’t be and must not be selected for the world level T20 games, due to his below club level fielding and batting abilities.

6. Shahid Afridi:- He can only be included in the team on his bowling and fielding abilities. As far as, his batting and captainship abilities are concerned, he is well past his prime and the less said the better it is. Moreover, as they say the proof of pudding is in its eating, the ranking of our T20 team is rapidly going down, under his leadership.

Muhammad Hafeez is in his prime form these days. Moreover, when he holds the world record for the most successful T20 captain, it was high time he was given the chance to once again lead the Pakistani T20 team.

The PCB has hit another six by appointing Azhar Mahmood as bowling coach.
The current PCB chairman was manager of Pakistan’s ODI World Cup team in 2003, which was played in South Africa. Hope he will be remembering how much problem was created for our World Cup team, which took an unfit player for the trip.
Although, that player got selected for the 2003 World Cup team, by getting the fitness clearance from the concerned authority, yet, he was declared unfit, after arrival in South Africa, without playing any match.
This situation forced our team to play the World Cup with only 14 players, because rules didn’t permit any replacement, for old injuries which didn’t occur during the World Cup.
Now, if the chairman PCB has decided to make such a person part of the team management, we can only pray for his success.

Best of luck for the Pakistani team in its endeavours to win the T20 Asia Cup and the World Cup.

 

The current situation in Balouchistan can not be fixed without finding a complete solution of the current socio economic problems of the country, as a whole.

We can not keep our eyes closed from the fact that the deliverance and governance has miserably failed to meet the needs of the fast growing population in  providing proper facilities of health and education, eliminating poverty and delivering justice in its true meanings, particularly to the weaker sections of the society.

Our whole system was designed to serve just the elite class population of about 1-2%. So, to expect from the remaining 98-99% people to keep themselves bonded with the idea of nation hood, for such a long wait, was just like living in a fools paradise.

Another huge mistake which we are again committing for quite a long time, is to think and relax that our armed forces are there to fight the enemies inside and out side the borders. Firstly, the size and resources of our forces are extremely small for such a huge task and secondly, no armed forces in the world are created to deliver in the governance field. They are part of a country’s system, not the system.

It is the major responsibility of the civil society to immediately revamp the faulty system, for automatically serving the teeming millions, if the country has to sustain, grow and develop as a progressive society.

Give a country the system suited to serve its poorest of the poor and no enemy can succeed in harming that nation.

We must realise without any doubt that the salvation of Pakistan lies in the economic emancipation of the down trodden Pakistanis. If military might was the guarantee of the integrity and solidarity of any nation, the USSR would never have disintegrated into 15 states in 1991.

Our intellectuals of the civil society while drawing up a new new system of governance for Pakistan, should write in the preamble, the following motto for the civil and military bureaucracy of Pakistan.
“Recall the face of the poorest and the weakest man whom you may have seen and ask yourself if the step you contemplate is going to be of any use to him.”

The burning question of the teeming millions of Pakistan is that why not to change the ENTIRE decadent system and why we are still living in a quasi one unit system?

The fact is that even after 70+ years of age, Pakistan is still standing at a dead end. The reason being that almost 98% population is totally disconnected with the concept of Pakistaniat or our nation hood, which means “the state or quality of having a status as a separate and independent nation”. Alienation of such a huge population from the main life stream of Pakistan, is virtually, a fatal disease.

This alienation of 98+% country’s population is tearing apart the country which has already been economically and socially blown to the smithereens by terrorism and other violence.

The terrorism can never be eliminated from its roots, if the society cannot provide justice and social security to its poorest of the poor. In fact, injustice and social inequality, breeds violence and terrorism.

As such, our current system, is the biggest enemy of our statehood.

However, the fact which is more dangerous and perilous is that we have turned ourselves into a more fragmented society than our forefathers could have ever imagined.

The schism (division or disunion), is so intense that if immediate corrective steps are not taken, God forbid, this country may even see, more turbulent times.

And from this divided society, the hydra (Greek myth a monster with nine heads, each of which, when struck off, was replaced by two new ones) of sectarian violence, is massively shaking the foundations of Pakistan.

The writing on the wall is clear for all to read. The decadence of Pakistani society in every sphere of life, is abysmal, to say the least.

Hardly, any day passes without reports of suicides committed by the poor, due to the economic hardships. Children did not not die in dozens, but in scores, due to the measles outbreak and; strangely enough, no soul moved and not even a single person was held accountable.

imagine the level of meanness and corruption that children were provided fake polio medicines to mint money over the haplessness of the poorest of the poor.
Years after years, hundreds of hundreds kids, women and men are dying in Thar area, just due to diseases and malnutrition, but our ministers and public representatives made sure to enjoy their feasts, right in the middle of the starving population of Thar. These beasts are more callous, than the Changez Khan.

To top it all, the worsening conditions of law and order, excluding the war on terror connected problems, with particular reference to the violence on ethnic and sectarian grounds, is a matter of highest alarm, which deserves top priority tackling, not only by the government and its law enforcing agencies, but by the civil society, as a whole. Such problems can never be resolved till such time we abolish different  educational systems and traditional systems of police and  justice serving only the elite class.

The current frame work, under which the country is being run will not take Pakistan any forward, even if it is allowed to continue as such, for another 100 years. All small and big nations in our region and the world have overtaken us, in the basic fields of health, education, justice, law and order and food security.

On the other hand, the exploitation of the country’s resources by the powerful elite has made them the richest rulers of the South Asian region.

It is high time that all stakeholders in Pakistan must wake up, as the nation is moving fast towards destruction; and business as usual, can do no good for Pakistan; our survival is directly linked with the existence of our nationhood, whose essence is vast vanishing in the thin air.

Pakistan needs a turnaround; for which the basic need is our adaptation and readiness for the CHANGE, not in cosmetic but in the most real sense. We need a complete change from one era to another, like the one witnessed during the past 4-5 decades by China, South Korea, Singapore, UAE, Malaysia and Indonesia. And the secret of their rapid success was keeping the self interest and politics, subservient to the national interest.

Hence, for all Pakistanis, failure is not an option, but success is also not automatically guaranteed. In this regard, I would like to suggest that we formulate a new social contract, for the common people (95+% of the country’s population) of Pakistan, who always pays 100 percent bills and taxes; and never defaults on their bank loans.

Let us make a new Pakistan, which is redesigned to practically cater to the needs of the exploited masses.
In this connection, we must know that the biggest ailment of Pakistan and its governance is the order of the CENTRALISATION, which started from the concept of the ONE UNIT. Still, geographically and population wise, these four provinces are so huge and un-manageable that for all intents and purposes, they are still ONE UNIT, for the general masses.

We have to realise that the very survival and interest of Pakistan is far more supreme than the political interests of some large and small political parties of Pakistan.
All crime centers can be easily located, controlled and eliminated, if the administrative units are minuscule. I wonder ever in their life time, a CM or an IG has ever visited Minchinabad, Maroot, Panjgoor and many such far off Pakistani towns. In fact, in such far flung areas, the SHO, is the IG for the local population and the Assistant Commissioner, the Chief Minister.

However, If we have to put the politics of the vested interests before the national interest, then forget about the survival of the country.

What we have to and we must do, is to first determine the national interest and then keep it supreme over all other considerations.

In my opinion now a time has come for taking the following decisions IMMEDIATELY:

– To create easily governable administrative units or provinces. In this regard, there should be no discrimination or injustice with any province and ethnic or linguistic group; and each division of the country repeat each division, should be converted into a province, which may for political reasons be given the name of an administrative unit or RIASAT etc. Moreover, in order to remove any semblance of ethnicity or linguistic bias, these provinces/administrative units/RIASATS should be named like the NA seats; and mentioned as PK1, PK2, PK3 and so on.

No need to panic in creating about three plus dozen provinces in Pakistan. Turkey has 81 provinces and same is the case with Iran, Afghanistan, China, India and Thailand etc.

This will also work as a panacea (an answer or solution for all problems or difficulties), for the eradication of linguistic, sectarian and any other type of frictions and doubts, about the hegemony of one class of the people, over the other.

In fact, it will work wonders in the speedy development and unity of Pakistan; and kill instantly, any secessionist (particularly in Balouchistan), linguistic, or sectarian activities, currently prevailing in some parts of the country.

– Moreover, the current election system is so flawed that any Tom Dick and Harry can easily manipulate it to defeat the basic purpose of the democracy. Just imagine in the current system, one can easily get elected by getting even less than 10% of the total registered voters. So, if the basic electoral process is retarded, how can it give birth to genuine representatives of the authentic democracy?

Changes must be also be made in our constitution, to make it a presidential form of a democratic set up, where the whole country directly votes for the president.
However, before voting, the candidates of all political parties for the presidential post, must notify (in advance) a list of their MPAs, MNAs and Senators, who will be automatically considered elected, according to the percentage of votes cast, in favour of all the candidates, for the top post of the country.

This change of electoral system will greatly facilitate participation of expatriate Pakistanis and also allow local Pakistanis to vote at any polling station of the country, consequently, increasing the overall voters turn out.

– The decision for Pakistan’s charter of development for building dams and mega projects like CPEC etc., for the next 50 years should also be finalised, on which, later on, no politics should be allowed, for any political party.
In other words, all the registered political parties must decide now, where they would like to see Pakistan, in EACH and EVERY field of the life, after 50 years. This plan should be further divided into ten five year plans.

In view of the foregoing, may be, we have one last chance to stem the rot; to unite the people and to give them a prescription, to rise again and re-build the nation from the ashes.

What NAP missed?

By Rauf Khattak.

LOOK closely at the National Action Plan. The minds working to address one of the most serious challenges in our history — perhaps second only to the East Pakistan crisis — came up with a laundry list to confront the danger.

The best that the best minds could think of included measures ranging from setting up special courts, banning armed militias, revitalising Nacta, cracking down on hate speech, etc.

Does this lead us to conclude how this fitna emerged? Was it because of money; foreign meddling; zealots travelling from the Middle East via the Afghan jihad; our own policies to outsource our wars? Yes, it is all of this, but that is not all.

There is one grievous omission from the measures which NAP outlined. It is social and economic justice and equality between classes and regions. Why is it that there are so many men who blindly follow the merchants of death, to do the dirty work for them in exchange for money? The answer is simple: they have no stake in this life and in this country.

Terror was unleashed by the disenfranchised of yesterday.
They are not the enemies of this country. The system is their enemy. They have no decent clothes on their backs and no nourishing food in their bellies. Fire burns in their bellies. That is why no act is gruesome enough for them. A hungry man is an angry man. According to a Chinese proverb, he who has no shoes on his feet is never afraid of one who has boots on.

Make an economic and regional profile of all those that we have arrested, hanged, killed and are fighting against and only one dark picture will emerge — a pathetic, miserable figure. He talks about great ‘jihad’, Islam in danger and says that anyone who does not take up arms in order to establish ‘God’s law’ in this country and drive away all ‘infidels’ from Muslim lands, is a kafir.

He will kill all such men in bazaars, mosques, their children in schools and colleges, anywhere in fact. You look more closely at this miserable figure and you will be convinced that he is totally ignorant and may not even be saying his five daily prayers correctly. Yet he lectures us on what real Islam is. He only parrots his mentors who are connected to remote ideologues. He does not know the message of peace in Islam.

And that there are more sensible views than what Sayyid Qutb of Egypt preached and Osama bin Laden of Saudi Arabia practised. Our hungry man has got a platform and poisonous words placed in his mouth to froth out and take his revenge on the rest of the society.

NAP is indulging in administrative and military whip-cracking. This is fine but we have been using these methods for the last decade. Our wound is large and cannot be covered by band-aids. Where is the statesmanship? Statesmen do not create history. They seize the opportunity presented by history. President Obama in his last State of the Union address alluded to decades of instability in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Some of our nationalists were not amused. Obama was dead right.

Our response is to wish away the problem by announcing each day that the back of the militants has been broken. They, in turn, present us with a new horror the next day.

There cannot be complete equality on earth. Men and regions have been created with different potentials. Will Durant in The Lessons of History said: “We conclude that the concentration of wealth is natural and inevitable and is partially alleviated by violent or peaceable partial redistribution.” The lower classes will rebel if inequality is extreme.

The militants may have been pushed back. But the problem is not going away. The ruling classes of Pakistan were lucky this time. Remember how young, un­­known men around 2002 started appearing in one place after the other in KP to ‘spread virtue and eliminate vice’ from the society? Terror was unleashed by the disenfranchised of yesterday whose ranks were swelling by the angry unemployed — both educated and uneducated — criminals and the ‘pious’ alike.

The denouement was reached by 2009 when the local Taliban were at a striking distance from Islamabad. The state was alarmed and in May 2009, operation Rah-i-Rast was launched with full fury and the militants were rolled back.

The Taliban failed this time not because of the operations against them but because they espoused non-issues like beards, banning music and religious orthodoxy. Had they stressed the right issues such as social and economic injustice, the flood would have swelled from every city, village and valley in Pakistan drowning the exploitative class. Islamabad would have been theirs. Prevent the next storm by adding social and economic justice to NAP.

The writer is a former federal secretary and has authored a book on the Taliban.

raufkkhattak@gmail.com

Published in Dawn, February 17th, 2016

Dear Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif Sb.

اسلام وعلیکم

The below mentioned statement of the BJP’s National Secretary, reveals the following:

1. The Indians have never accepted Pakistan’s existence.

2. They have a burning desire to corner Pakistan by putting false flag operations blame on Pakistan, by every conceivable means.

3. The visit of the Indian PM to Lahore, was not and never an attempt to improve relations with Pakistan, but it was a tactical, very thoughtful and carefully planned move to defame Pakistan (just see the timing of the Pathankot Airbase episode which happened within a week of his visit and also during your strategically important visit to Sri Lanka), and to get an excuse to avoid impending Secretary level talks, which were bound to mention Kashmir; and falsely project his own image, as a man of peace, who went an extra mile.

4. The recent Indian government’s decision not to play bilateral cricket with Pakistan, even on a neutral venue; and the latest decision to lodge a protest with the US government, over supply of JUST 8 F16’s planes to Pakistan, are an EYE OPENERS that how deeply the current Indian government hates Pakistan, even on minor and insignificant issues, which may be of some far fetched interest or benefit to Pakistan.

As such, Sir, until and unless Pakistan also pays back in matching ways to Mr. Modi’s government, on each and every minor issue/account, the attitude of the hegemonist Indians will never improve.

Sir, the recent Indian blockade to punish Nepal, for changing its constitution to declare it as a secular not Hindu country, speaks volumes about the policy of the Indians, towards it neighbours.

The sooner Pakistan realised that India will never reciprocate our appeasement policy, the better it is for the peace of the region.

Yes, there is no need for going to war with India. But, there is also no need of chasing and begging the Indians to play cricket or have a dialogue with us.

The Indians very desperately need Pakistan’s support and help in moving their goods by land route to Afghanistan; and for the permanent seat at the UNO.

Moreover, they have openly stated that India will do everything possible to stop the construction of CPEC in Pakistan.

As such, all our planning and policies towards India, should be formulated keeping in view of their week points, requirements and intentions.

“If it (Pakistan) fails to fight terror on its own, India would make all diplomatic efforts globally to have it declared as a terrorist state,” BJP National Secretary Siddharth Nath Singh told TOI.
Link:-http://m.timesofindia.com/india/BJP-to-Pakistan-Check-jihadis-or-will-push-for-terror-state-tag/articleshow/50980195.cms

Players selected for a national team are beyond the ordinary, or should be beyond the ordinary.

If there is no change in the attitude of the players, however; if there is no change in the selection process; if there is no change in the personality and quality of coaches to get the players to listen to them and to try and follow their instructions; and if there is no change in the quality of players coming out of the domestic competitions, the result will be the same – probably even worse.

In the modern day game of cricket the captain, coach and the chief selector are the three main pillars, absolutely responsible for the performance of the team.

Now, we are also seeing the evolution of the fourth pillar i.e., the mentor of the team, generally called as the Team Director.

These four pillars must not select the team before they have chalked out the strategy of the matches to be played with their players.

All planning must have a clear objective and should be obviously based on the playing conditions to be faced by the team.

After the strategy the selection process should be based on the following principles:

– Select horses for courses.

– Be ruthless in team selection with emotions getting no place in the realm of the national prestige.

– Remove any iota of likes/dislikes and strictly adhere to the merit policy, not entertaining any undeserving recommendations, from any level.

– No physically unfit player should be selected at any cost.

– No player should be selected if he is not fitting in the mould of the earlier formulated strategy.

The following players may be considered for the Pakistani Squad.

1. Muhammad Hafeez (Captain and opening batsman).

2. Awais Zia (Most hard hitting left handed swashbuckling opening batsman in the country, who can take the attack to the opposition and turn the tables in the first 6 power play overs).

3. Baber Azam (He is an all rounder and excellent fielder who can also confidently open the innings, if required).

4. Sharjeal Khan (He has the advantage of being a hard hitting left handed batsman, who can also open the innings).

5. Umar Akmal (Vice Captain. He must not be sent below one down. Also the standby wicket keeper).

6. Sarfraz Ahmad (Wicket keeper. He must not bat below two down).

7. Imad Wasim (One of the best all rounder in the country, who is an excellent fielder, as well).

8. Anwar Ali (All rounder and an excellent world class fielder. He can also be used as an opening batsman as per requirement of the situation).

9. Zulfiquar Baber (Best turner of the ball. Left arm spinner).

10. Muhammad Nawaz (An extremely promising 22 years All rounder, basically a left handed orthodox spinner and LH batsman).

11. Zafar Gohar (21 years young very agile in the field, slow left arm orthodox and reasonably reliable left handed batsman).

12. Shahid Afridi (He deserves inclusion in the team on the basis of his spin bowling and his excellent track record against the Indian team).

13. Muhammad Amir (Highly talented LH pacer. An asset for any team in the world).

14. Junaid Khan (Left arm pacer, who has recently rediscovered his magic. Extremely talented player).

15. Bilawal Bhatti (Right arm pacer who can bat reasonably; well fit for the T20 format. Moreover T20 game is not Wahab Riaz’s cup of tea and BB is more fitter than Umar Gul, as well. Further, BB is preferred over Muhammad Irfan, due to Irfan’s poor fielding abilities and below Muhallah level teams batting abilities).

We should not be afraid to repose trust in the young generation players named above; and also not be shy of changing the captain at this late hour, because even Australia has today, changed its T20 leadership for the T20 World Cup, by replacing Smith with Finch.

Best of luck for the Pakistani cricketers.

According to a news by the daily “Express Tribune” now it seems that Pakistan is being taken for a ride by two telecom companies.

If the below mentioned news is true isn’t it a fit case for the cognisance of NAB & subsequent trial in the military courts for looting the general public in broad day light and government officials sleeping over it?

NEWS:

Pakistan’s LTE speeds one of the slowest in the world.

A new report has revealed that Pakistan’s recently launched LTE network is the fourth-slowest in the whole world in terms of speed.

A detailed report released by Open Signal on 4G LTE speeds and coverage around the world for Q4 2015, revealed that Pakistan has an average LTE speed of just 4 Mbps; which is slightly above the average for speeds of 3G (3.5 Mbps).

When compared to the world average speed of 13mbps, Pakistan fares extremely slow.

South Korea and Singapore have set themselves apart by providing the best coverage and the best speed, respectively. Singapore provides its citizens the fastest average LTE speed of 37 Mbps.

Pakistan ranks way below; at the fourth-last position with an average of 4 Mbps, followed by Saudia Arabia, Costa Rica and at the very last, Iran.

Pakistan’s broadband subscriptions cross 25 million mark

Despite its huge population and large surface area, neighbouring India provides average LTE speeds of as much as 13 mbps. However, Pakistan does have better coverage with 58% compared to 49% of India.

Moreover, according to the report which is based on the overall performance of the world’s global LTE operators, factoring in both average network speeds and network availability, LTE speeds in Pakistan have fallen down for both Zong and Warid in the last quarter from 8 mbps to 7 mbps and from 5 mbps to 4 mbps, respectively.

While Zong, the first network to launch 4G in Pakistan, provides more than double the speed when in comparison with the 3 Mbps provided by Warid, it however loses its edge when it comes to coverage; with 70% offered by Warid while Zong has only 56%.

Link..http://tribune.com.pk/story/1041448/pakistans-lte-speeds-one-of-the-slowest-in-the-world/

How champions take their game to the next level.

What makes the great ones great..!

How did Michael Jordan help lead his team to win six NBA championships? Many of us know Michael as a tremendous three-point shooter, but what was surprising that when Michael joined the NBA, he was celebrated only as a high–flying dunker, making a mere 17 percent of his three–point shots! And early on in his career, the Chicago Bulls were consistently knocked off in the playoffs because of their apparent lack of teamwork.

So what did Michael have to do, as a leader, to convert winning games into winning championships?

The answer is: he had to consistently adjust his game in order to adapt to the changing seasons, strategies, and opponents.

Turns out, constant adaptation was the only way to remain successful and dominant.

So are you directing your time and energy to the right areas of your life? Are you focusing on changes that will propel you beyond good…to Greatness?

If not, Don Yaeger has written a marvellous book titled “What Makes the Great Ones Great: 16 Characteristics of a Champion”, to help anyone take his game to the next level.

In his book, What Makes the Great Ones Great: 16 Characteristics of a Champion, Don Yaeger gives us some basic principles on how great winners set themselves apart by thinking, preparing, working, and living differently.

Don is an exceptional writer and has had 5 books on the New York Timesbestseller list.

He is also a great speaker who shares his message with audiences all over the world. I’m honoured to compile brief excerpts of 16 characteristics of a champion as below:

Habits found among the greatest champions, and most successful people of all time.

1. It’s Personal
The Great ones hate to lose more than they love to win.

2. Inner Fire

They use adversity as fuel.

3. Rubbing Elbows

They understand the value of association.

4. Do Unto Others

They know character is defined by how they treat those who cannot help them in return.

5. Visualise Victory

They see victory before the game begins.

6. When No One is Watching

They are comfortable in the mirror. They live their life with integrity.

7. What Off-Season?

They are always working towards the next game. The goal is what’s ahead, and there’s always something ahead.

8. Hope for the Best, But…

They prepare for all possibilities before they step on the field.

9. Contagious Enthusiasm

They are positive thinkers. They are enthusiastic… and that enthusiasm rubs off.

10. Ice in Their Veins

They are thoughtful risk-takers and don’t fear making a mistake.

11. Not Just About the Benjamins

They don’t play just for the money.

12. Records are Made to be Broken

They know their legacy isn’t what they did on the field. They are well-rounded.

13. Believe

They use adversity as fuel.

14. The Ultimate Teammate

They will assume whatever role is necessary for the team to win.

15. When Everyone is Watching

They embrace the idea of being a role model.

16. When All Else Fails

They know how–and when–to adjust their game plan.

(This is not my write up, just compilation from Simple Truths and excerpts from What Makes the Great Ones Great by Don Yaeger)

How the hell some wise men of the country blame the PIA employees for its sufferings, when the top management appointed during the tenures of PPP and PMLN shook the foundations of PIA by anti PIA decisions?

All such RESPONSIBLE  persons MUST be tried in the military courts for their ECONOMIC TREASON with Pakistan.

PIA suffered more because of giving landing rights to other airlines without ensuring a reciprocal treatment.

Please read the full news item published today by the daily The Express Tribune at the following link.

However, the relevant excerpt of the news item is quoted below:

Quote.” Recent briefings by the PIA management to the National Assembly Special Committee on PIA Privatisation revealed that the national flag carrier suffered more because of giving landing rights to other airlines without ensuring a reciprocal treatment and a wrong marketing strategy.” Unquote.

..http://tribune.com.pk/story/1040018/change-of-plans-imf-agrees-to-delay-pia-sell-off-for-six-months/