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CRICKET: PAKISTAN LOSE
NAWAZ UN TRIP
TO BE TRIED ON TELEVISION
THE PRITHVI
QUOTABLE QUOTES
ON RECOGNIZING ISRAEL
THE INDIANS ARE CRAZY
CENSUS CANCELLED YET AGAIN
HERE WE BUG EVERYONE
RIGHTSIZING GONE AWRY
THE SAME OLD ECONOMIC STORY
The pakistan cricket team lost the five match sahara cup 4-1.They played well on three occasions out of six. In one match they lost due to the crumbling of the middle order.The only player to bat consistently was Shahid Afridi (three times out of five). The bowling attack lacked sting and despite good performances from Aquib, Azhar and Saqlain the support bowlers failed to come upto the mark. Anyway none of the bowlers was frightening or even threatening. They all seemed to depend on the batsman making a mistake rather than trying to bowl them out. Even at the time of the selection the weakness of the bowling attack was felt but the selectors and the board did not bother.In the end despite shoring up the bowlers with Akram and Shahid the bowling performance fell short of expectations. Apparently Kabir Khan was injured before leaving for toronto showing the boards apathy towards the teams fitness. Ramiz failed consistently with the bat and seems to lack captainship skills. Of the three sifarishis ie Hasan Raza, Mohd Hussain, and Azhar Mahmood only azhar showed a certain quality. Even Azhar who is considered an allrounder batted superbly only once and failed miserably on four occasions. Hasan Razas inexperience showed thru and it is felt that he is not yet worth selection. The selection committee should at least make sure the player has enough experience to survive difficult conditions. As it is Hasan has only one score of 41 in eight outings. The other seven scores are all below 12. Shoaib Akhter, Mohd Waseem or some other upcoming young batsmen should have been included. The team also needs a second spinner as Mohd Hussain has been given the necessary tryout. For that too we should look to the emerging spinners in the under 19 group. Shoaib Malik or Imran Qadir could be given a try. It is also certain that the board can find better seamers than Shahid Nazir and Mohd Akram. Kabir Khan should only be included when fit. It is extremely necessary that form and fitness of the players be checked when sending them on a foreign tour. Most of the teams batsmen and bowlers were not in form and several competitive matches should have been arranged to get them into nick before the tour. The captain and manager should see to it that players who are not in form are made to practice in all available free time. It is also about time that the selection committee be replaced as its thought process and selections have failed repeatedly. Ijaz did a wonderful job as the opener in the last match and some thought should be given to making him the permanent opener and bringing Saeed Anwar down to number three. Ramiz and Hasan Raza should be dropped and Mohd Waseem and another talented / experinced batsman be brought into the team. Salim Malik too is playing too many childish strokes although he batted well in the first two matches. Thought has to be given to to the seamers to be included. Shoaib Akhter and Mohd Razzaq seem to be the only youngsters well thought off. Maybe one of the older more experienced seaners could be tried.
On the indian side the performances of Debashish Mohanty and Saurav Ganguly were exceptional with Azharuddin ,Jadeja,Tendulkar and Harvinder playing good support roles. Tendulkar has for the first time looked a good captain especially when compared to the dull,ineffective and frightened Ramiz.
Added on 26-9-1997--Ramiz has been dropped as captain and Saeed Anwar who is said to be injured has been named captain with Moeen as vice captain. Others dropped are Salim Malik(surprising)and Mohd Akram. brought into the side are Salim Elahi, Mohd Waseem and Waqar Younis. Shahid Nazir,Mohd Hussain and Hasan Raza have been retained despite poor performances. Shoaib Akhter has also not been included.
Added on 26-9-1997--Pakistans junior hockey team also played poorly and could not make it to the semi finals of the Junior World Hockey. This is the first failure of new Pakistan hockey Chief Akhter Rasool.
ADDED ON 4-10-1997
Pakistan has finally won a one day tournament after a long time. They defeated India 2-1 at home and Ijaz played one of the best innings of his life in the final match. The team seemed relaxed under Saeed Anwar the new captain. However Saeed made several tactical errors in the matches especially in who to bowl and when. That caused the indians to win the second game and they came back in the third from 75-5 to 216. Saeed seemed to lack confidence in Waqar Younis and was overconfident about Saqlain. Another controversy is brewing on the selection front for the tests against South Africa. Will they select the new legspinning sensation Ali Hussain(took eleven wickets against S.A. in the three dayer)? Or will the injured Mushtaq Ahmed become uninjured seeing a replacement for his style of bowling emerging on the scene. Ali Naqvi after scoring 62/113 in the 3-dayer vs SA seems set to open the innings with Saeed Anwer with the selectors thinking about who to play at no six. The contenders are Saleem Malik/Mohd Ramzan/Saleem Elahi/Hasan Raza/Rana Qayum.The fast bowling spots are up for grabs too as the top contenders havnt been bowling too well lately. So lets see whether the selectors can come up with a working and winning combination. The South Africans are better rated than the indians but we have a relatively better test record.
Added on 4-10-1997
Aquib is a surprise removal from the side for the test series against SA. The newcomers are Ali Naqvi and Mohd Ramazan(despite a bad performance in the 3-dayer against SA). The surprising omission is that of Ali Rizvi despite taking 11 wickets. Also Rana Qayum should have been preferred over Mohd Ramazan.Saeed now has the option of selecting either Salim/Ramazan for sixth batting place in the team. the bowling attack will consist of Waqar,azhar,mushtaq and saqlain and most probably the two other pacemen Shahid and Akram will be serving as drink waitors and substitutes.
Added on 19-10-1997
The pakistan hockey team has lost in the champions trophy in the worst possible manner. They literally lost to all the best teams in the world. They played poorly and barely avoided coming last.The team seemed incapable of making any coordinated moves and looked unlike a pakistani team who can generally play well despite not being able to win. This is the second defeat in a row for the political head of the pakistan hockey federation Akhter Rasool.
Added on 28-10-1997
South Africa humbled Pakistan by winning the last test and series. In a match riddled with bad umpiring the pakistanis were bowled out for a paltry 92 in the second innings. In the South african second innings there were five LBW,s of which three seemed doubtful. With Pakistan unable to score 142 against a mild attack there chances for the upcoming one day series against SA,Sri Lanka and West Indies seem minimal. Saeed Anwar has been replaced as Captain by Waseem Akram because he could not motivate the team and is in poor form. The selectors have given a very complicated 14 which are Waseem Akram, Saeed, Amir, Ijaz, Rashid, Inzamam,M. Waseem, Moin, Aquib, Azhar, Mohd Hussein, Afridi, Waqar and Saqlain. Rashid is a surprise recall and will complicate the selection as Moin is an adequate wicketkeeper and batsman. Playing/selecting Moin purely as a batsman is questionable. Therefore his selection in the 14 when Rashid Latif is the first choice keeper is meaningless . Mohd Hussain is also a useless selection as he will only make the side if Saqlain and Amir are both injured. The selectors it seems are divided on what they are aiming at and there seem quite a few selections that have probably been dictated from outside. Since both Saeed and Amir are not in good form it would be very interesting to see the playing eleven that Waseem decides on. Selecting the bowlers is easy but deciding on the batsmen and choice of wicketkeeper will be something to watch and wait for.
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Nawaz Sharifs trip to the USA is being termed a failure by the opposition PPP and independent critics. He is only coming back with instructions from his boss to end terrorism, drug trafficking and improve human rights. He again offered a no war pact to india which was sort of spurned, advocated the kashmiri cause in his speech and opposed Security council membership for india. He obviously forgets that a peaceful resolution to the kashmir cause is impossible given indian intransigence.One finds it extremely difficult to imagine how nawaz is going to forward his pathetic peace agenda with india and also support the kashmir struggle to join pakistan.Nawaz will have to revamp his foreign office team which failed miserably in organising his tour and also could not arrange a meeting with the french president which they say needed a few weeks of prior information. Was the Foreign office asleep three weeks ago as the trip was arranged several months ago.
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According to Saifs latest revelations he is going to try to have Benazirs and Zardaris corruption trial relayed directly on public television. That would make it the pakistani trial of the century rivalling only Zulfikar ali bhuttos trial in pakistani legal history. That would get the maximum possible political exposure for both sides.
He has also disclosed that he has a copy of the agreement between the Bhuttos and the firm ME JEN SHLEGELMILCH who operated the six companies which ran the accounts that have been suspended by the Swiss govt.
The PPP on the other hand is watching events closely and if there is any substance in the accusations will obviously have to ditch the Bhuttos. But that is not expected before any conviction as the evidence at the moment is flimsy and unreliable. With no heir apparent waiting in the wings the selection of a new leader will be extremely difficuly for the PPP. Some of the obvious successors have already jumped ship and the selection will have to be made from a few of benazirs chahetas some of whose loyalties have always been considered doubtful.
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Added on 4-10-1997
News from washington is that the us senate has passed a resolution allowing military and economic assistance to pakistan but the restrictions on F-16's have not been removed as yet.
On the home front Nawaz Sharif has announced an end to his peace initiative with india and a rethink has been ordered on a new policy towards an over aggressive India.
The no war pact offered to India has been withdrawn and will be on offer only after a satisfactory solution on kashmir is reached. This was stated by the army chief. This is supposedly a victory for the pakistani army chief as Nawaz has not been able to achieve anything with his meek peace peace policy.
Added on 7-10-1997,br>
The army chief in a relatively aggrieved manner has taken back his statement on the no war pact. He said that nawaz had not discussed it with him and that he had assumed that the kashmir problem would have to be solved before any nowar pact can be activated.He also stated that the political govt has to make all decisions and be responsible for all the decisions it makes. The army he said would follow all govt decisions and that the army was attempting to turn itself into a peace time army.
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Incompetent people occupy all high positions in Pakistan
--------------------------------------Faruk Leghari
I will blowup all corrupt people------Nawaz Sharif
I do not have any accounts in Swiss banks but if I do give me a third of the money and give the rest to Abdul Sattar Edhi.
--------------------------------------Asif Ali Zardari
Pakistani banks work on the principle that big loans can be rescheduled, written off, etc but not tiny loans which have to be repaid in full -----------------------Unknown Banker
We cry over 20 billion loaned to taxi drivers but not over the 600 billion loaned to industrialists and agriculturists. --Unknown Politician
We can strike down bad legislation--SC CJ Sajjad Ali Shah
The Supreme court should not challenge the supremacy of parliament--Lawyer Asma Jehangir
BRITAIN IS A THIRD RATE SUPERPOWER--GUJRAL
WE CAN GET TO THE THROATS OF THE PRESENT RULERS TOO--AJMAL KHATTAK-ANP PRESIDENT AND GOVT ALLY
India is a conglomerate of nations held together by oppression--Dan Burton,US lawmaker
i am your loyal subject--Pakistans lilliputian Speaker of the National Assembly to the Queen of Britain
I am ready to negotiate even with the Devil--Chandrika, Sri Lankan President attempting to solve her problems with her Tamils
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IT IS UNECESSARY AND IMMATERIAL--IKRAM UL HAQ
It is immaterial whether we do or donot as pakistan is not involved in any way on either side --General Mirza Aslam Baig
We should recognize Israel--Siddiq ul akber(press secretary to the Prime minister)
The Chief Justice is an angry controversial figure--Siddiq ul akber
We will never recognize Israel--Mushahid Hussain(Information Minister)
It is generally thought that if we recognize israel we might get the F-16's easily(USA will be bowled over by our action). The other view is that having an embassy in TEL AVIV will help us in helping the palestinians morally and and might be in other ways too.Still another view is that while we already have problems with enemies that we do recognize it will not make a hell of a difference if we donot recognize israel as it is involved against our interests in a number of situations. But others say why not be like Turkey, Egypt and Qatar and maybe we can get F-16's as well as aid.A typical Catch-22 situation. Most likely we will wait until Palestinian-Israel problems are resolved to a greater degree.
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1.A dominant indian political party has suggested that nuclear weapons be installed at the pak-india border. One can only surmise that they are afraid that the nukes might fall on them when fired from within india.
2. Recently the Indians while exchanging fire blew up a pakistani bunker killing 14 people. When the pakistanis retaliated a few days later and blew up two indian bunkers killing 35 they started to protest. The pakistanis who had forgotten to protest earlier also protested at the unprovoked indian firing.
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The Pakistani Census has been cancelled yet again. The Census which was to be held in 1991 has already been delayed by six years because of various factors which include politics, terrorism, uncertainty about the results, veracity of declarations, ethnic concerns and just a plain lack of managerial capabilities. A mock census was carried out in the Benazir era but the results were found to be inconsistent with realities and govt sensibilities.The housing census which obviously cannot be too exxagerated was carried out twice but both times doubts arose. The main concern the unreliability of enumerators; was solved by the decision to use the army for the purpose. However the census was cancelled purportedly on ISI advice that india might be preparing for a war in the near future. A war especially in the kashmir sector would be difficult in winter but it is possible October. That concern has been further strengthened by the removal of indian forces from occupied kashmirs towns. Coming on the heels of other disconcerting signals the army refused to have 200000 of its jawans on census duty. Some of the other reasons could be a lack of funds, a lack of training, planning and the ability to tackle problems that might occur. Ethnic fears were also aroused. The MQM has the known capability to inflate figures and with others such has sindhis, balochs, balochi pathans and some punjabi groups willing to follow the same tactics the exercise would have become a futile power struggle. Fears were also expressed about bad weather conditions in some areas. The karachiiites are known to have inflated their population figures by a at least 50%. The collective concerns caused a rethink and a further six months for more adequate planning were sought. Now the Census is supposed to be held in March 1998. Doubts have already been expressed about whether it will ever be held. With the next census year 2001 so near the point of the exercise will be lost and thought should be given to holding it in the year 2001 by which time the countries feuding ethnicities might have learned to live in greater harmony. Fears have also been expressed by some groups in the punjab that the census might be used to reduce punjabs numeral majority in the national assembly so as to make other provinces happier. However the real situation tends to show a much higher if not equal growth in punjabi population . Both Balochistan, NWFP and to very minor extent Punjab are fearful of the inclusion of Afghans in the census. Sind on the other hand wants the exclusion of afghans, burmese, bengalis,indians and any other undesirables from the census. These are the reasons for which the census has been delayed for so long and it might be delayed to the year 2001 or might be forever.
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Added on 23-10-1997
The devaluation which has been criticised by most critics has caused a general price hike in all marketable items. However the people have not reacted and that submissiveness will cause them further problems down the road.The main suggested reason for the devaluation has been achieved in the sanction of the $1.6billion IMF facility. However further problems are foreseen down the road as the WB is suggesting further stiff taxation, and an increase in power rates of upto 22% and ending of subsidies to fata,armed forces and the low end electricity users.This in a country already groaning under a heavy tax burden and ever escalating prices will be a bit too much to bear . The failure of the agriculture tax should have demonstrated to the govt how unpopular excessive taxation can be. But they say that economists ,politicians and the WB never learn from their mistakes. Already politicians are suggesting a further devaluation as this one has been accepted without much aggravation.
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