Loud Thinking

Archive for the ‘Pakistan’ Category

All Islamic Countries Must Read This Latest Reuters Report & Immediately Snap Diplomatic Relations With Myanmar.

Rohingya health crisis in west Myanmar after aid groups forced out
By Aubrey Belford

KYEIN NI PYIN CAMP, MYANMAR | Mon Apr 28, 2014 3:43am EDT

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By Aubrey Belford

KYEIN NI PYIN CAMP, Myanmar (Reuters) – As three-month-old Asoma Khatu approached her final, labored breaths, her neighbor Elia, a 50-year-old former farmer, dug through the strongbox holding some of the last medicines in this camp for Myanmar’s displaced Rohingya.

First, some paracetamol for the severely malnourished girl’s fever and a wet towel for her forehead. Then some rehydration salts for her diarrhea. There was nothing else left.

The death of Asoma in a dusty, stifling hot camp a two-hour boat ride from Sittwe, capital of Rakhine State in west Myanmar, is part of a growing health crisis for stateless Muslim Rohingya that has been exacerbated by restrictions on international aid.

“I think my child would have made it if someone was here to help,” Asoma’s mother, Gorima, told Reuters, as she cradled the girl’s shrouded, almost weightless body in her arms.

In February, Myanmar’s government expelled the main aid group providing health to more than half a million Rohingya in Rakhine State – Medecins Sans Frontieres-Holland (MSF-H) – after the group said it had treated people believed to have been victims of violence in southern Maungdaw township, near the Bangladesh border, in January.

The United Nations says at least 40 Rohingya were killed there by Buddhist Rakhine villagers. The government denies any killings occurred.

Attacks on March 26 and 27 on NGO and U.N. offices by a Rakhine mob angered by rumors a foreign staffer for another group, Malteser International, had desecrated a Buddhist flag led to the withdrawal of aid groups providing healthcare and other essential help to another 140,000 Rohingya living in camps after being displaced by Buddhist-Muslim violence since 2012.

The government had pledged to allow most NGOs to return to full operation after the end of Buddhist New Year celebrations this month.

But so far only food distribution by the World Food Programme has returned to normal, and Rakhine community leaders in the state government’s Emergency Coordination Centre have imposed conditions on others wanting to go back.

NGOs will only be allowed to operate if they show “complete transparency” in disclosing their travel plans and projects and are not seen to favor Rohingya, said Than Tun, a Rakhine elder who is part of the center. Neither MSF-H nor Malteser are being allowed back in, he said.

“CONCENTRATION CAMP”

With foreign aid largely absent, every day of delay is measured in preventable deaths.

No one is there to count them accurately, but the average of 10 daily emergency medical referrals before aid groups left are no longer happening, said Liviu Vedrasco, a coordinator with the World Health Organisation.

Extrapolating from that how many people could be saved is impossible, Vedrasco said. “It was not ideal before March 27. NGOs were not providing five-star medical care. But they were filling a gap.”

Government medical teams have been making limited visits to Rohingya areas, but foreign aid groups say they are inadequate. Most of the slack has fallen to under-qualified Rohingya using whatever is at their disposal.

In Kyein Ni Pyin, nearly 4,600 Rohingya live under police guard and their movements are restricted. They are classified by the government as illegal Bengali immigrants. One foreign aid worker described the area to Reuters as “a concentration camp”.

Elia is one of eight people given seven days’ training to assist in an MSF-H clinic, which now sits empty. The only medicines he has are those he used on little Asoma and some iodine. Government doctors have made three visits of about two to three hours each, he said.

Eight people, including six infants, have died since the aid group left, he said. The night before a recent Reuters visit, one woman lost her baby during delivery.

“THEY REFUSE TREATMENT”

Win Myaing, a spokesman for the Rakhine State government, dismissed the notion that there is a health crisis in the camps.

“There is a group of people in one of these camps that shows the same sick children to anyone who visits. Even when the government arranges for treatment they refuse it,” he said.

The United States, Britain and other countries have called on the government to allow aid groups to return to Rakhine State, to little effect so far [ID:nL6N0MZ4K1].

Appeals by the international community for Myanmar to do more to end persecution of the Rohingya have similarly made little impression on a government that sees them as illegal immigrants and denies them citizenship.

U.S. President Barack Obama, speaking during a visit to Malaysia, said on Sunday that Myanmar would not succeed if its minority Muslim population was oppressed.

He may visit Myanmar towards the end of this year, when it is due to host a regional summit, and he could come under pressure from lobby groups to restore sanctions that have been softened since the end of military rule in 2011.

Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who led the fight for democracy while the military ran the country and now sits in parliament, has faced rare criticism abroad for her failure to defend the Rohingya.

GETTING WORSE

Visits by Reuters to the remote Kyein Ni Pyin camp, as well as several camps near Sittwe, reveal a widespread struggle with illness. In low-slung huts, dozens of mothers showed their emaciated children. There is no data to compare malnutrition rates to when NGOs were forced to leave.

Along the bustling main street of the Thae Chaung camp outside Sittwe town, thatched bamboo stalls that sell a limited selection of drugs have become makeshift clinics.

Mohammad Elyas, a 30-year-old who sold medicine in Sittwe’s market before he was driven out by marauding mobs in 2012, displays his laminated qualifications near the front, including a degree in geology and a certificate in traditional medicine.

Medicine is sporadically supplied by sympathetic Rakhine Buddhists in Sittwe, but they run the risk of retribution from their own community for doing so.

At least 20 to 30 people come each day seeking treatment, Elyas said. “Week by week it’s getting worse.”

“I’m just trying to save as many lives as possible. Even though I don’t have the proper qualifications, if I don’t do this work, people will die,” he said.

(Additional Reporting by Min Zayar Oo and Aye Win Myint; Editing by Mike Collett-White)

Cricket Crisis – Final nail is about to be hammered into the coffin

A Passionate Appeal to the PM Pakistan.

Dear Mr. Prime minister & The Patron in Chief PCB

AoA.

Sir,

At the outset, let me state that we are absolutely confident that you as the Prime Minister and the CEO of the country, will never allow any relations or friendship with you, come in way of the national interest, which is even enshrined in the oath, as well.

There is no shame in losing a match, but abject surrender is absolutely unacceptable.

Someone, somewhere, has to be held accountable for the disgraceful manner, in which Pakistan’s cricket team was thrashed by the West Indies team, in the super ten round’s last match of the T20 World Cup 2014. However, the entire nation is shocked with the decisions of the PCB chairman, which he has taken in the aftermath of the Dhaka debacle as below.

1. The entire team management and the T20 team’s captain, who were responsible for the shameful performance, in the first instance were relieved of their duties, immediately upon their arrival in Pakistan, not in good faith, but as a PR exercise, to cool down the public anger.

2. Just after the tempers cooled, the chairman PCB struck with a vengeance and recalled and rehired the entire incompetent team management personnel, with better positions and even the top nincompoop of them all Mr. Moin Khan, was rewarded for his failures, with a two years contract for double positions of the chief selector and the team manager.
Mr. Prime Minister, who else knows better than you that nowhere in the cricketing world, the post of manager has been held by the chief selector; for the very simple reason that the chief selector, is required to spend all his time in the country, to hunt the talent. How can this job be done in a proper manner, when the chief selector will be touring for weeks and months, with the team as a manager?
Sir, just for your information, recently the Indian cricket board has imposed a complete ban on the selectors, from going on foreign tours, with the team.

3. On top of all the wrong decisions, it has been reported that now the chairman PCB has decided to give a final death blow to the Pakistan cricket, by planning to close the departmental teams and ending the departmental competitions. This act will go down in the history, as the last nail hammered in the coffin of the Pakistan’s cricket.
As such, you are requested to personally intervene in the matter and direct the PCB to refrain from killing the departmental cricket in the country, which was the brain child of the legendary late Abdul Hafeez Kardar; and has always been the factory for producing super stars of Pakistan: to name a few of them Imran Khan, Zaheer Abbas, Wasim Bari and Javed Miandad, etc etc. Almost all and 100% renowned Pakistani cricketers have been the product of this system.
Mr. Prime Minister, just to pre-inform you that PCB will never admit that they are planning to disband the departmental cricket. In fact, PCB has apparently planned to obtain your approval in a disguised sugar coated scheme, wherein, it may be put up to you that departments will be merged with regions, to support the regional teams. Which in other words, will clearly mean that there will be no separate departmental teams.
Further, it is understood that the above sinister scheme has not even been approved by the Interim Management Committee of the PCB. In any case, this PCB management, is for an interim period and such basic and structural changes can only be made by a properly elected board. As such, even if this sinister plan is bulldozed, it may easily face litigation hurdles. Moreover, this scheme is a sure shot recipe for the joblessness on a mass level, of all the cricketers employed by the departments.

4. Coming back to the Dhaka debacle, we should also not forget that in the past, our team never performed so badly; and that for the first time in the history of the T20 World Cup, we could not even enter the semi finals, of the T20 World Cup tournament.

Now, after the miserable failure of the team, accountability is the need of the hour and the buck is sitting on your favourite Mr. Najam Sethi, who must be sacked IMMEDIATELY, for not just the defeat, but also for turning the Pakistani cricket team to a club level team, so that the whole nation knows, without any doubt that our Prime Minister Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, is a man of pure merit, and SIFARISH, friendship or relations will not come in his way, as far as the national interest is concerned.

We also know that you always believe in putting right man at the right job.

5. Sir, now your own image is at stake and Mr. Najam Sethi, who failed abysmally, as chairman PCB and knows nothing about cricket, must not be allowed to hide behind you.

Best regards,

Syed Nayyar Uddin Ahmad

Lahore.

Sent from my iPad3 4G LTE

War, cricket and the ICC..!

A refreshed write up of 3 March, 2012. May be it is still relevant now to a large extent…!

Promotion of the Cause of Peace Through Cricket : Why to punish Pakistan for fighting the world’s war on terror? Why to play into the hand of the terrorists?

It has been reported tonight (3 March, 2012) on TV that Bangladesh cricket team’s coach Stuart Law, who is of Australia origin, has declined to tour Pakistan with the Bangladesh cricket team, for it’s impending tour being scheduled next month in April. This news if correct, raises many questions with serious ramifications for the cricketing world.

However, before dwelling with the consequences of the above mentioned news, the following facts should also be kept in mind, to have a better prospect of the whole issue.

1. Newly appointed coach of Pakistan cricket team Dev Whatmore, is also a former Australian Test and international cricket player, who had no qualms ever for staying in Pakistan. In fact, he was one of the coaching candidates for the Pakistani cricket team, when another very famous former Australian international cricketer Lawson, was selected as coach for Pakistan. We understand that when he was removed to appoint Waqar Younis, Lawson never himself wanted to quit the job. And Lawson stayed in Pakistan (and also wanted to stay further), during much worse war conditions in Afghanistan and it’s spill over impact of very serious law and order conditions, then prevailing in Pakistan.

2. To say that Stuart Law is taking refuge under travel advisory of Australian government, is also a very weak argument, which does not hold water, as many Australian professionals are continuing to visit Pakistan and they even stay here for longer durations, without any fear of violence. As compared to this situation, we hear very regular news of violence against Asian migrants in Australia, but then again no body stays away from traveling there.

3a. One isolated incidence against the SriLankan cricket team, can’t be made an excuse to stop international cricket in Pakistan, forever. No foreign team ever stopped visiting SriLanka during it’s 25 years civil war, where matches continued even during bombings and explosions.

3b. Why no sportsmen or sports teams ever decided not to visit Germany after the Munich massacre attack during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany on 11 members of the Israeli Olympic team, who were taken hostage and eventually killed, along with a German police officer.

3c. Why no sports teams ever boycotted sports events in America after the Centennial Olympic Park bombing of a terrorist bomb attack on the Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, Georgia on July 27 during the 1996 Summer Olympics. The blast claimed 1 life and injured 111 people, while another person died of a heart attack.

3d. Also no one stopped visiting New York or USA after 9/11. Similarly, Pakistani players were once mugged in South Africa. One off incidents or accidents do happened in the past and will continue to happen in the future everywhere. So why to single out only Pakistan. People don’t stop air travels, just because airplanes do meet accidents every now and then.

4. Now, if today Bangladesh cricket board succumbs to the blackmail tactics of their coach or support staff, this matter will not stop here. Indiscipline and black mail if not nibbed in the bud, spreads like cancer. Tomorrow, other boards should be ready to face much worse pressures for even more ridiculous demands. This situation may even force the boards to consider putting new clauses of conditions in the agreements, to safe guard their national interests with iron clad wordings.

5. Above all, the planned tour of the Bangladesh cricket team shall be arranged after clearance of double security checks by the BD government and the the ICC, with security cover equal to the head of the state. Believe me, this security may not even be available to Stuart Law, neither in BD nor any where else in the world. And the planned tour is going to be over in just few days with only three matches, it will not last even few weeks.

6. Last but not the least, this tour will tremendously help the cause of cricket in this part of the world. It will also prove the resolve of the world that terrorism threat can’t hold for ransom, the game of international cricket in Pakistan. In fact, this epoch making tour will highly contribute to the cause of peace in the world. These people must not forget that Pakistan stood like a rock before the terrorists, for more than a decade, so that this menace does not spread to any other parts of the world. And many Australian troops also gave their lives in Afghanistan, for the same cause. So today if with the decision of an ill informed Australian, the terrorists gains strength, it will be a great betrayal with the cause, for which the Australian troops shed their blood.

7. So come on Bangladesh, let us give peace a chance through cricket and let the posterity record that Bangladesh was the first great nation which revived international cricket in Pakistan.

8. It is now a time of reckoning for the ICC to ponder very seriously, whether, it wants to continue playing into the hands of the terrorists or to prove that peace and cricket are synonymous with each other. ICC must advise all its members to immediately start visiting Pakistan to send a firm message that Cricket can not and shall not be ever defeated by the terrorism.

9. ICC must beware of the verdict of the posterity lest it may be recorded in the pages of the history that this sports organisation was responsible for knowingly playing into the hands of the terrorists.

After 66 years, Pakistan is 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 see even more turbulent times.

The writing on the wall is clear for all to read. The decadence of Pakistani society in every sphere of life, be it political, economic, educational, industrial, agricultural, religious, law and order or any other segment worth naming, 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.

Recently, hundreds of hundreds kids, women and men died 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.

Maybe, 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; because, for the overwhelming majority, a time is coming that the masses may will be forced to think: no life no nation.

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.

All stakeholders must wake up, as the nation is moving towards destruction and business as usual, can do no good for Pakistan; our survival is directly linked with the existence of our nationhood. Nationhood means, “the state or quality of having a status as a separate and independent nation”.

Pakistan needs a turnaround for which the basic need is our adaptation and readiness for the change, not in cosmetic but real sense. We need a complete change from one era to another, like the one, witnessed by China, under Mao Zedong.

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 of Pakistan, who always pay 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.

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. So, if the basic electoral process is retarded, how can it give birth to genuine representatives?

Changes must be made in the constitution, to make it a presidential form of democratic set up. The election system should also be changed, so that the whole country directly votes for the president. However, before voting, the candidates of all political parties for presidential post, must notify a list of their MPAs, MNAs and Senators, who will be automatically considered elected, according to the percentage of votes cast, in favour of the main candidate for the top post of the country.

The decision for Pakistan’s charter of development for building dams and mega projects for the next 50 years should also be finalised, on which, later on, no politics should be allowed. In other words, the representatives of the nation should decide now, where they would like to see Pakistan, in each and every field of life after 50 years. This plan should be further divided into ten five years plans.

In order to decentralise and empower the maximum number of people, to enjoy the fruits of self-rule, we should convert every division of Pakistan into a province. This will also work as a panacea (an answer or solution for all problems or difficulties), for the eradication of linguistic 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 or separatist activities, currently prevailing in some parts of the country.

————————————–

How the Asia Cup was lost?

Syed Nayyar Uddin Ahmad

Published by the daily “Pakistan Observer” Tuesday, April 22, 2014

– THERE is no shame in going down fighting. As they say, if fate has ordained defeat for you, give it a good fight. However, any team is as good as its leader. And there can’t be a better saying to describe the importance of a leader, than the one associated with Alexander the great, quoted as below:

“I am not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep; I am afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion.”

What happened in the Asia Cup final at Dhaka on Saturday, 8 March, 2014 is a classic example of mental bankruptcy of the Pakistani cricket teams think tank, or the tour management committee, consisting of Messrs Zaheer Abbas, Zakir Khan, Moin Khan and Misbah ul Haq.

At the out set, two basic and important decisions (team selection and the decision to bat first) were wrong, where we made sure that the match was lost, even before a ball was bowled.

Always the basics of team selection stipulates that only fit players are selected. The whole world knew that Umar Gul, Junaid Khan, Sharjeel Khan and Shahid Afridi were not 100% fit. If at all, we had to take chance with an unfit player, only Shahid Afridi was the person, where the gamble was worth taking. Otherwise, Suhaib Maqsood and other two fit players viz., Bilawal Bhatti and Anwer Ali should have played, for the unfit Umar Gul and Junaid Khan.

Now, coming to the batting first decision, again the whole world knew that we earlier won very close matches against India and Bangladesh, by chasing the target. May be the long list of unfit players included in the team, was the reason for the surprise decision of batting first, so that the injuries does not further aggravates, in fielding first.

After the disastrous top batting order collapse (exclusive responsibility of which falls on Zaheer Abbas, the chief batting consultant), Misbah and Fawad Alam, almost consecutively played four maiden overs, which practically reduced our innings to 46 overs. Such type of defensive approach is never adopted in an ODI match, under any circumstances; because of its limited overs nature. Yes, Test matches are saved under such type of circumstances, but in an ODI match, game is only played for victory; and victory can not be achieved by playing record number of dot balls, even if there is a collapse. How can any team forget the adage that offence is the best defence.

Furthermore, unfit Shahid Afridi was not played for his bowling prowess. Obviously, he was included, keeping in consideration his tremendous batting form. As such, at least for the last five overs Fawad Alam should have been called back, as retired hurt, to allow Afridi to have a go. Afridi was our nuclear weapon and the enemy was allowed to conquer us with, worlds most potent weapon in our arsenal, unused. We could not have given a bigger gift to our enemy, that too, in the most important final match.

In the bowling department, we perhaps wrongly believed that only one fit bowler i.e., Saeed Ajmal will single handedly take ten wickets in his ten overs. After all, the Sri Lankans were not in the finals for nothing.

The most pathetic and abysmal performances were given in the fielding and wicket keeping departments. Our teams fielding just gave a look of a third rate club team, if compared with the fielding performance of the Sri Lankan team.

As such, not only Mr. Shoaib Muhammad, but all those PCB stalwarts, who selected and appointed him as a fielding coach, must be debarred from handling any independent and important assignments in future. Pakistani team gave a much better performance in the fielding department, during the last UAE series matches. This proves that our fielding coach practically contributed in the down fall of the teams fielding levels. Hence, he also deserves to be banned from any future PCB assignment.

Misbah ul Haq, has again proved that he is not at all capable to lead Pakistani team to the victory podium of the 2015 ODI World Cup. He is being retained as captain, at our own peril. If Sachin Tendulkar, Younis Khan, Kumar Sangakara and so many other legends can play under their juniors, why can’t Misbah ul Haq be asked to play under a junior player?

The people of Pakistan need to know from the concerned in the GOP, the answers to the following questions:

1. Why there was no bidder for the expired license of Instaphone? Who is responsible for this grave failure?
Here it must be remembered that despite the false myth, of the stiff competition, the Pakistani telecom market is working like dollar manufacturing machine, for the telecom companies, which are regularly earning and remitting billions of USD, back to their parent overseas companies. However, these companies do not want to invest a single penny in Pakistan from their overseas wealth, that too earned from Pakistan.

2. Why the procedure of auction was designed in a manner which facilitated the alleged pooling? Has any action been taken against the consultants, who were hired for very hefty amounts?

3. What reciprocal benefits were BARGAINED with the telecom companies, in accepting their HUGE DEMAND, for allowing the payments in Pak Rupee (after it was decided and notified in the Information Memorandum (IM) that the entire auction payments will be required in the USD) which effectively confirmed that no foreign investment will be coming to Pakistan, in this auction?
In fact this acceptance of demand changed the whole scenario of the auction.

4. Why no serious efforts were made to invite new foreign telecom companies? Does it mean that the few telecom operators in Pakistan, would not allow any new entrant in their field to guard their monopoly?

5. Why no new foreign telecom company came to Pakistan, when major current telecom companies in Pakistan are doing such a ROARING business (against the wrong myth of stiff competition) that they are REGULARLY sending around $2 billion per annum profit out of Pakistan, which is more than the combined yearly profits of the two world leading US soft drinks companies in Pakistan?

6. And despite such a huge earnings of the telecom companies in Pakistan, why the FBR is not pressing, for its many years old claim of more than PKR 50 billion, usurped by these companies, on account of payables to the government, collected from the public, on GOP’s behalf?
This amount must be recovered now with the accrued interests, for which if required, the matter may be got decided from the courts; and till such time the decision is pending from the courts, this amount should be taken from the telecom companies and kept with the courts.

7. When the whole world is crying foul in the 3G/4G bids submitted by the four Telecom companies, why the government gave statements that the auction will fetch a satisfactory amount of $1.3 billion, when even these payments will be received in the Pak Rupee? Here, why the public is not being told the fact that even this amount will not be received in full, but only PKR 65 billion will be received as lump sum; and the remaining 50% amount will be received in easy instalments, spread over 5 years?
This virtually means that GOP has given a major concession of “pay as you earn” to the telecom companies, which again proves that there will be no inflow of foreign investments, in this auction.

8. If earlier the GOP accepted the demands of the telecom companies, to withdraw from the notified IM the payment condition in USD to PKR, why no bargaining was made to get the entire auction amount in the first instance without any instalments; and why the telecom companies were not forced in the same bargaining of depositing their outstanding amount of PKR 50 billion, which actually don’t belong to these companies, as it was the amount of taxes collected from the public on the government’s behalf?

9. Why the government relaxed the rules to allow the participation in the telecom spectrum auction, of a defaulting telecom company?

10. Why the $800 million due from a defaulting telecom company since 2006 is not being forcefully recovered for the equal of the more than 95-97% properties, already transferred in that defaulting telecom company’s name.

11. Why the defaulting telecom company is holding $800 million of the GOP, just for the non transfer of less than 3-5% properties? Why the government has allowed it self to be black mailed in this case, when on an another account a Turkish power company’s ship was seized by the GOP for its default? Why UAE’s telecom company is being given a preferential treatment, over the Turkish power company?

12. Why the government has not decided to cancel the privatisation of the PTCL to Etisalat Telecom on its about a decade of default of $800 million, which in real terms now means almost equal to near about $5 billion?

13. When specially 3G spectrum is a life and death matter for the telecom companies in Pakistan, why Warid Telecom has decided to stay away from the bidding?
This question has many aspects and need deep investigations to find the true answers.

14. Why not immediately scrap the 3G, 4G telecom spectrum auction till some more companies also join the telecom business in Pakistan?

15. GOP announced in very categorical terms that 3G Telecom Spectrums will be auctioned to the 3 Telecom Companies out of the 4 bidders. Why then in the end this farce of auction was turned into an virtual allotment; and instead of giving licences for 3G/4G Spectrum to the first 3 highest bidders it was virtually ALLOTED to all  the 4 bidders that too practically at base price?

16. This also means GOP allowed pooling of the bidders as no bid was effectively, substantially and reasonably above the base or reserve price.

17. If in the end instead of auction, the licenses were to be ALLOTED or just upgraded, then why GOP spent millions of Rupees/Dollars to hire the services of the consultant.

18. The two telecom companies namely Mobillink and Telenor are owned by VIMPLECOM. Now these companies are blocking one license for a new company/foreign investment. Why this aspect of monopoly has been ignored by the GOP.

19. If Mian Mansha can be called by the NAB on MCB’s  privatisation irregularities why can’t the responsible GOP persons of the GOP be called by the NAB on converting an auction into an allotment/up-gradation?

 

 

Once bitten twice shy..!

We may have many differences of opinion, about the way late Zulfiquar Ali Bhutto ruled Pakistan. But, there are no two opinions about his financial integrity and loyalty with the country. It is a known fact that the USA’s government at that time, used every bait and pressure tactics, to force ZAB to cancel Pakistan’s agreement of Nuclear Reprocessing Plant with France. A time came, when ZAB was forced to utter the following historical words, to the then US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger:

“If you spit and ask me to clean it, I will clean it. However, if you spit and ask me to LICK it? I will not”

The moral of the story is that the cricket lovers of Pakistan, can not imagine in their wildest dreams that the honourable members of the top PCB management, also headed by an honourable person Mr. Najam Sethi, will commit the same mistake again, of putting their hands in the same hole, from where they have been already bitten once.

There are reports that Mr. Moin Khan, is being again taken back into the folds of the PCB, for either the role of the chief selector or as a cricket manager.

We are at a loss to understand, why PCB wants to bring back the same person, who miserably failed, during the last many months in not just one capacity, but also in various positions as a chief selector, manager and the head coach, as well.

During these stints of Moin Khan, Pakistan lost an ODI and a Test match against the lowest ranked team Zimbabwe. Then, we lost a Test match in UAE against the South Africans, which was very winnable. Finally, our team’s dismal performance in Asia cup and the T20 World Cup tournaments, is so fresh in the minds that it needs no repetition. However, the lowest score world record (13/4 in 6 power play overs of a T20 match), our team created under the management leadership of Moin Khan, playing against the West Indian cricket team in Dhaka, will always haunt the Pakistanis and can not easily be erased from our shell shocked minds, for a long time.

As a manager, Moin Khan is also singularly responsible, for the irreparable loss to the Pakistani team, due to the side-lining of pacer Muhammad Irfan, because of his injuries, which were caused from the overplaying of this precious bowling asset.

If, the PCB is hell bent to take back Moin Khan after all these shameful and abysmal performances of our team, where he was part and parcel of all the botched selection of some of the known nincompoop players, as well as, the non selection of Anwer Ali; and also including Shoaib Malik and Kamran Akmal, in the playing eleven, then why not call back Zaheer Abbas and Muhammad Shaoib, as well?

Here, the air must be cleared about the flimsy argument that Moin could not produce results, as the time was too short for him to prove his skills. No Sir, his incompetence has a very long story of our team’s failures, dating back since Mr. Najam Sethi took over. And also, if he was unable to give the desired results in this stint, then at least, the performance graph of our team, should not have fallen to a third class club level team. Who else except Moin Khan is responsible for this down slide?

Under the circumstances, if the PCB top notches don’t like the faces of some of the men of professional excellence, repute and integrity like M/S Javed Miandad, Wasim Bari, Muhammad Yousaf, Abdul Qadir and Amir Suhail; then at least they should consider Mohsin Hassan Khan, for the position of chief selector, coach or the cricket manager, who is equally renowned, famous, honest and proven successful person.

Mohsin Hassan Khan, is the man who delivered AMAZING results as a chief selector and even more AMAZING results as a coach, in much much lesser time than Moin Khan. Moreover, he is also the man, with most clean reputation. He has never ever being named in any match fixing scandal of Pakistan, the ICL (Indian Cricket League) or the IPL.

I don’t know why, but on this occasion the following couplet of the famous poet Mirza Ghalib, comes to my mind:

KA’BA KIS MONH SAY JAO GAY GHALIB ( How will you Ghalib Ka’ba face, )

SHARAM TUM KO MAGAR NAHI AATI (Ashamed of self you do not seem.)

A blue print for the PCB’s revamping..!

Pakistani cricketers always bear the burden of representing the image and the hopes of millions of fans. Their on and off the field behaviours, have a social and political significance, that goes well beyond the field and enters into the homes of all the citizens and the most powerful institutions. The victory in a world cup ODI or T20 contest, can move nearly all sections of the Pakistani nation, in an incomparable manner.

Thus, for the ordinary Pakistani cricket fan, PCB is not just an organisation; rather, it is looked upon like the institution of the Pakistani armed forces, where they can’t imagine, any compromise shall be made, on the image and reputation of the country; and where rather than lowering the national flag and pride, our sons sacrifice their lives.

Hence, the PCB and not the players…. needs a turn around..!

We should not be so naive to expect production of a Mercedes car from the manufacturing plant of a motorcycle. Moreover, as Albert Einstein defined insanity as “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” As such, we must not expect miracles by sending players to army institutions, for some rigorous training. If that was the case, why armed forces sports teams world over and in Pakistan, are NOT the number one teams, in all the sports they participate?

Nowadays, like the management, sports is a science and the role of the amateur handlers is over. Only QUALIFIED professionals can train sportsmen, for producing world beaters.

Until and unless, PCB itself is turned upside down, our cricketing standards will keep on sliding into the abyss. The culture of taking work from the qualified professionals can NOT be handed over to the existing SENIOR staff of the PCB, who can’t even develop a multi-media presentation. Everyone knows how many managers and above in the PCB, can truly handle the computers, beyond the emails reading?

It is suggested that PCB must be totally revamped (with a vision statement of BETTER THAN THE BEST) from the top to the bottom, to make it function like a top class world level organisation, with zero tolerance for old amateur and bureaucratic style of working, which breeds intellectual, moral and financial corruption, nepotism and favouritism, in each and every sphere of its operations. Right now, PCB has become the last and final resting place of the great nincompoops of Pakistan.

However, the greatest harm the PCB is doing to the nation is that it is being run on a system, which is doing double damage; in the shape of production of mediocre run of the mill players; and at the same time, talented players are facing hurdles, in coming into the lime light.

If the PCB wants to survive in the fast changing world of competition, it must change its old habits and rebuild itself inside out. PCB must know that a professional organisation is “of and for professional people”

For the inside out rebuilding, the PCB must come out in a crystal clear manner that “how it want to be thought of” and then consider every thing that the PCB “say and do.”

Every PCB department must also be converted into a “cost center” responsible for its revenues and expenses.

Side by side, the PCB must also shun its CULTURE of politics and self serving policies. This is absolutely necessary, because culture of an organisation is the environment under which all it’s employes perform their duties. What is needed by the PCB is to create a culture of team work, which stimulates the employees for working with absolute honesty and recognises and rewards employee efforts and permeates the entire organisation.

While chaos, politics and leg pulling is rampant in the rank and file employees of the PCB, how it can be expected to produce players, who will not be equally, if not more, afflicted by these malaise? As they say in the IT jargon, garbage in garbage out, or output can not be more than the input.

However, the top notches of the government and the PCB, must know very clearly that the PCB can not be turned out into a first class world level organisation, by just transfers, postings, change of designations, hiring or firing of employees. In fact, such steps breeds even more discontent and ill will, among the employees and the general masses. To achieve the desired results, PCB needs a total and complete overhaul, disregarding any political or other pressures for serving any vested interest(s), examples of which (running the organisation on an absolutely 100% merit basis) can be seen in many Pakistani organisations like LUMS, SKMCH & RC, IBA and the GIK etc.

Till such time, the PCB itself is turned into a center of excellence, it can’t produce a bunch of players, who can be the world beaters, on a consistent level.

In any team game, a team do not need champions like Don Bradman or David Beckham to be the world beaters. But, greats like Don Bradman and David Beckham in any team, can not excel, without the cooperation of other team members.

For our players to consistently excel at the international arena, PCB coaches need to repeatedly hammer into the minds of the players, the following famous quote of Aristotle.

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit.”

Now world over competitive sports is not considered just a past time hobby or entertainment and fitness activity. Rather, sports activities are considered and handled as a science. As such, the PCB must shun business as usual, decades old approach. Moreover, the PCB think tank must “PLAN FOR SUCCESS” with clear and measurable objectives.

The PCB must also not forget that the world’s best and most expensive coaches are NOT the recipe for the success. If this notion was true, rich countries like the USA and the Saudi Arabia, would have been the world champions, in many sports like football etc.

The recipe for success mostly lies in the smooth working of a well defined system, lead for which must come from none other than the PCB chairman.

Gone are the old decadent ways of assembling players for a camp, just before the tour to show their fitness and playing abilities. It must be the specified duty of the think tank and the selectors to devise a plan to monitor 24/7 the health, eating habits, general behaviour and performance of the CONTRACTED players, in a scientific manner. These contracted players must not be allowed to have a free reign, even during the off days, as they are almost like paid employees of the PCB.

Moreover, the FINE TUNING and grooming of the marked pool of all the talented and upcoming players (non-contracted) should be the SPECIFIC responsibility of the NCA staff, who must constantly produce, highest calibre five players, for each position of the game, both for the men and the ladies teams.

As such, rather than hiring a foreign coach for the national team, we need to hire an experienced and QUALIFIED foreign expert, who has the experience of running the sports academy on professional lines, may be from Australia. This expert should be assigned the task to turn the academy into a center of excellence.

It will not be out of place to conclude, by mentioning the quotes of the two famous sports coaches, for the motivation of our players, who are under tremendous pressure to perform on a consistent level.

“Life’s battles don’t always go to the stronger or faster man. But sooner or later the man who wins, is the man who thinks he can.”

– Vince Lombardi

“When you’re playing against a stacked deck, compete even harder. Show the world how much you’ll fight for the winners circle. If you do, someday the cellophane will crackle off a fresh pack, one that belongs to you, and the cards will be stacked in your favor.”

– Pat Riley

Pakistan cricket team always had the potential and talent to win, any and all of the past cricket ODI world cup tournaments. As such, there should be no doubt, about its chances of winning the next cricket ODI World Cup scheduled to commence from February 2015, to be played in Australia and New Zealand.

In this regard, PCB must prepare a plan named ”Vision 2015″. This plan should be a fool proof strategy with specific focus on winning the 2015 ODI World Cup tournament, considering all risk factors, like sudden unavailability of any player due to various reasons, at least five umpiring decisions going against us (two in batting & three in bowling innings), dropped catches/missed run outs and failure of main bowlers and batsmen etc.

We should remember that plans never fail, we fail to plan. Moreover, the PCB “Vision 2015” must state that “You were born to win, but to be a winner, you must plan to win, prepare to win, and expect to win.”

The broad outlines of the “Vision 2015″ are defined as below.

1. A pool of 50 talented, but mostly youthful players, having world class potential (like Sami Aslam, Awais Zia, Anwer Ali and Usman Shinwari {who has already attained 150 KMPH bowling speed} should be immediately called at the NCA, to be throughly trained in all the aspects of the game, for later stage short listing of 30 and final selection of 15 players, to represent Pakistan in the World Cup 2015.

2. 4-5 youngsters from the pool of 50 players should be selected for the future 7-10 years captain’s role. This set of future probable captains should be throughly trained and groomed for leadership role by the professional leadership trainers, from the civil and military field.

3. Before deciding the future captain and vice captain of the national teams, these short listed players should be assessed by a board of civil and military psychologists, for providing their opinion about the potential leadership abilities of these players. This will help the PCB, in easily deciding to hand over the reins of the team to a player, as a future captain and vice captain, for a longer period.

4. As is practised in football and few other games, PCB should revolutionise the role of the head coach or cricket manager, by shifting to him almost all the responsibilities of the captain including even the selection of the playing eleven and decision of the batting order etc. Captains role should be just limited to leading the players during the fielding, that too under active supervision of the head coach or the cricket manager. This change will also eliminate the rampant politics and blackmailing of player power, which is highly visible in our cricket team players. Plus it will also minimise the chances of spot or match fixing from our team.

5. A visionary cricketer (who must have the reputation of an unsaleable commodity) of an ultra high calibre, should be appointed the coach or cricket manager of the Pakistan cricket team. This time the head coach or the other support staff must NOT be selected on the likes and dislikes of the coaching staff selection committee members, as was done in February 2014, when almost 100% recommendations of the committee proved wrong and Zaheer Abbas, Moin Khan and Shoaib Muhammad were recently sacked ignominiously by the PCB. Here, the argument of the committee members that these coaches could not perform in a short period of two months, does not hold water, because what happened with the wrong selection on likes and favouritism was, that, for the first time in the history of the T20 World Cup, our team failed to reach the semi finals stage. If these coaches were handicapped by the short time, at least our teams performance must NOT have gone down. There is no justification for the surrender, to the extent that our team created a shameful world record of scoring 13 runs for 4 wickets, in 6 power play overs when ONLY 2 fielders are allowed outside the circle.

6. We should also set a new trend and hire a full or part time world class mentor, for which I recommend Sir Alexander Chapman “Alex” Ferguson, CBE, who is a former Scottish football manager and player who managed Manchester United from 1986 to 2013. His time at the club has led to Ferguson being regarded as one of the most successful, admired and respected managers in the history of the game. PCB must ensure that in the hiring of Sir Alex Ferguson, money should not be a barrier, notwithstanding any amount demanded by him. PCB should consider this expense as an investment in 24K gold. The mentor should be specifically responsible for making our players mentally the strongest in the world, along with his other defined duties.

7. All cricket playing centers of PCB in Pakistan, should remodel the boundary distances to 90 meters (matching the size of huge Australian grounds to used for the World Cup 2015) and batsmen should practise taking 5 runs, in case, ball is fielded before it reaches the rope.

8. Any player who is not of age and fitness to serve the country for next 5 years, should be discarded now, for ODI and T20 games.

9. A world class fielding coach of the calibre of Jonty Rhodes, should be appointed for the team. If we have to be world champions there should be no compromise on the quality of the coaches due to any monetary constraints. Remember, quality never comes cheap and second or third class coaches can never produce world beaters.

10. We must find more than five bowlers from the tribal belt or any rugged area of the country, who should be able to bowl at 100 MPH speed. To attract the country talent of fast bowling, a handsome prize should be annouced, as an incentive for this ultra high speed bowling.

11. Cricket academy at PCB HQ Lahore, must be headed by a world renowned batsman.

12. PCB should take on the challenge of round the year cricket (in summers, games starting at 5 PM) playing arrangements of local and foreign teams in Pakistan. And in summer 2014, PCB should arrange late start ODI/T20 matches in Pakistan. Efforts should be renewed to invite teams of Afghanistan, Ireland or Netherlands for providing experience to our youngsters.

13. All PCB grounds in the country (even in smaller cities/towns), should be provided with lights for night games.

14. In order to prepare fast and bouncy tracks on all PCB grounds, suitable soil and if possible prefabricated pitches may be imported from abroad. We should try use these pre-fabricated pitches during our home series in the UAE, as well as for the proposed PSL matches in the UAE.

The fox is out of the bag..!

And the Indian government and the politicians had the guts to talk about minority rights in Pakistan.

May be one day the secrets of the Indian Parliament and Mumbai attacks will also unfold as false flags to corner and pressurise Pakistan..???

A Times of India eye opening report dated 4 April, 2014.

NEW DELHI: An elaborate sting operation, conducted on 23 key people of the Ram Janambhoomi movement, claims that the demolition of the Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992, was elaborately planned by the various wings of the Sangh parivar and executed with precision by trained volunteers. It wasn’t, as it is claimed, a case of mob frenzy going out of control, leading to the fall of the disputed 16th century structure.

The investigation, carried out by Cobrapost, claims that by piecing together the versions given by the top Ram Janambhhomi players, among them Sakshi Maharaj, Acharya Dharmendra, Uma Bharti, Mahant Vedanti and Vinay Katiyar, it is apparent that top BJP leaders like L K Advani and the then UP chief minister Kalyan Singh, as well the former Congress PM, P V Narasimha Rao, were aware of the planned demolition of Babri Masjid. TOI has no independent confirmation of these claims, or whether the purported confessions are accurate or not.

Posing as a would-be-author researching his book on the Ayodhya movement, Cobrapost associate editor K Ashish travelled to Ayodhya, Faizabad, Tanda, Lucknow, Gorakhpur, Mathura, Moradabad in UP, Jaipur, Aurangabad, Mumbai and Gwalior interviewing 23 of those who participated in the operation. He clandestinely recorded conversations with them.

If what they claim is true, the Ram Janambhoomi leaders and activists toiled secretly for months on a plan codenamed ‘Operation Janmabhoomi’ and executed it with military precision. Volunteers were trained, logistics painstakingly put in place and the assault on the disputed shrine launched using large surging crowds with volunteers skilled in demolishing structures embedded in it.

Not only do those interviewed spell out details of the planning, they also allegedly reveal how enthusiastic young participants were deliberately used as cannon fodder by provoking a police firing on kar sevaks in 1990 because of the belief of some leaders that the movement would not gather steam unless ‘some Hindus die’.

Many of those interviewed by the make-believe author are accused in CBI cases pertaining to the demolition. Yet, they seemed to have no qualms in “confessing” (or boasting) about their role in the episode that left a deep communal schism in India.

Some of those interviewed were, B L Sharma Prem, Dharmendra Singh Gurjar, Jai Bhagwan Goel, Pawan Pandey, Santosh Dubey, Ramji Gupta, Ramesh Pratap Singh, Sadhavi Ritambhara, Kalyan Singh, Prakash Sharma, Champat Rai Bansal, Satish Pradhan, Mahant Avaidyanath, Moreshwar Save, Lallu Singh, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh and Swami Nritya Gopal Das.
Their versions make it appear that the plot to demolish the mosque was hatched amid utmost secrecy. Those recruited for training weren’t told their mission till a month ahead of Babri’s fall. At Sarkhej, Gujarat, Bajrang Dal conducted a month-long training in June 1992 for 38 of its cadre from different regions. The trainers were retired high-ranking military officers, while Acharya Giriraj Kishore, Acharya Dharmendra, Praveen Togadia, Jaibhan Paweya and Ashok Singhal held indoctrination sessions.

In subsequent drills at Neela Teela the cadre learnt skills such as climbing tall structures using grappling hooks and ropes. At a top-secret meeting in the basement of Ram Katha Manch, top VHP office bearers asked this band of 38 to form a Laxman Sena specifically to tear down the disputed structure.

Ramesh Pratap Singh recalls, “Five of those who trained at these camps attended this meeting. The sixth person was Ramji Gupta and there was Durg Singh Chauhan. After the meeting, this office bearer told us Durg Singh will be our contact point and he’ll coordinate all meetings. Decide what you want, how you will form it (Laxman Sena). Thereafter, the office bearer disappeared.” The VHP office bearer he mentions was Champat Rai Bansal.

While the VHP and Bajrang Dal were holding a secret meeting at Ayodhya to plan the Babri assault, Sena leaders too were deliberating on the fate of the shrine in North Avenue. Save and Pradhan, among others, attended the meeting. If everything failed, Sena had a plan B: Dynamite Babri.

Claims Goel: “Humare paas dynamite bhi thha, hum dynamite bhi lekar gaye thhe wahan par agar zaroorat padti usko bhi chala dete iss taiyari se gaye the hum (We were carrying dynamite. If the need arose, we had gone prepared to use it).” In 1990, Sena’s Suresh Baghel had tried this, but his attempt was foiled and he was arrested with 28 dynamite sticks.

In the end, petrol bombs were apparently used. Former BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh was seen planting a petrol bomb by fellow karsevak Jaibhan Singh Paweya. Here’s what Paweya claims: “Ek petrol bomb do baje koi lekar aaya jo eent mein lagane ke baad dhuan nikal kar reh gaya uske baad hila bhi nahi … Brij Bhushan laya thha arre petrol bomb (Somebody brought a petrol bomb around 2 pm and planted it between the bricks. It didn’t work, only released some smoke. Brij Bhushan brought the petrol bomb).”

Apart from petrol bombs, the Bajrang Dal forward squad used chisels, hammers, pickaxes, spades and grappling ropes to bring down the shrine.

There were two determined attempts to demolish the shrine – first in October 1990 and the second in December 1992. The first attempt ended in police firing in which karsevaks died. Recounting the incident, Sakshi Maharaj says VHP leader Ashok Singhal was to blame for it.

“In front of me, Singhal told Maharaj (Vamdev), the movement won’t gain momentum unless some people die. Maharaj Vamdev said it’d be disastrous if children die. Singhal again said the movement won’t get a fillip until they die.” Sakshi claims well-known karsevaks like the Kothari brothers from Bengal and Mahendra Singh of Rajastan were targeted by police at the behest of vested interests spearheading the Ram Janmabhoomi movement.

Uma Bharti blames Vinay Katiyar for the killing of Kothari brothers: “Jo log marey thhe wo Vinay ki galti se. Galti bhi nahi wo bhagdar machi, wo gali chhoti thhi. Galti matlab wo bhag gaya chhodkar bhag gaya (They got killed because of Vinay’s mistake. A stampede began and the lane was narrow…I mean he fled the scene abandoning his group).

Sensing the do-or-die mood of Ram bhakts in Ayodhya, a sankalp, or oath was administered. The task of initiating the oath fell on Ram Vilas Vedanti. The vow said: “On this day of December 6 we Ram bhakts take this oath on the premises of Ram Lalla that it is necessary to remove the structure from where it stands to make a grand temple. It is necessary to remove the structure to make a Ram Janmabhoomi Temple. We take this oath for Ram Lalla.” Immediately after the oath, the Babri assault began.

Some leaders at the forefront of the movement, like Vinay Katiyar, B L Sharma, Santosh Dubey, Sakshi Maharaj and Mahant Ram Vilas Vedanti openly acknowledge the then prime minister Narasimha Rao’s ‘supportive role’.

The then CM Kalyan Singh apparently knew of the demolition plan. Mahant Vedanti claims to have informed him about it a day before: “Paanch December ki raat ko hi Kalyan Singh ke paas samachar bhej diya gaya thha aur usmein ye kaha gaya tha ki yadi awashayakta padti hai toh dhancha bhi tod diya jayega aapko kya bhoomika nirwah karni hai vichar kar lijye (On the night of December 5 Kalyan was informed. He was told that if need be the structure would be felled. You decide what you’d do).”

Apparently, Kalyan Singh made up his mind to resign on December 6 morning, when he came to know the assault on the structure had begun, but senior leaders like H V Sheshadri and Murli Manohar Joshi dissuaded him, while BJP leaders in Lucknow made him captive the whole day until a clean job of the mosque had been made.