| March 23, 2003 | Sunday | Muharram 19, 1424 |
PCB picks again tried, rejected men for team management: COMMENT
MMA’s Shariat decree: NEWS ANALYSIS
Security-related traffic jams: SOCIAL THEMES
Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) was provided with a God-sent opportunity to put its house in shambles in order, and start afresh following the team’s disgraceful exit from the World Cup 2003, the disastrous Test series against Australia and the tour of South Africa by inducting fresh faces having no hangover of the past failures.
MUTTAHIDA Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) leaders, who have been demanding about the enforcement of Shariat for years, now find themselves confronted with the practicalities of a social system based on centuries old experiments rooted in secularism.
SOME years ago, there was a time, perhaps not too long ago, the developed parts of this city, like the locality around the posh hotels of Karachi, were absolutely unaffected, when even there was any unrest, actual or anticipated. Unrest being used as a mild indicator of what one is actually referring to. Life was smooth.
BERLIN, March 22: The bombardment of Baghdad, broadcast live on German television, has brought back harrowing memories for many elderly Berliners who survived the horrific siege of their city during World War Two.
Tears welled in the eyes of dozens interviewed on Saturday as they remembered the Allied aerial bombing which destroyed much of the German capital.
“It’s all coming back again — the nightmares, the bombs, the fires and the dead bodies everywhere,” said Helga vom Bauer, 75, shaken by images of explosions in Baghdad. “I couldn’t sleep. The fears are back. I feel so sad and helpless again,” she told Reuters.
Emile Wilner, a retired electrician, broke down and cried when he saw the flickering TV pictures of Baghdad burning.
“The tears came and I just couldn’t stop crying,” said Wilner, 68. “My heart goes out to the poor people in Baghdad. I can’t stop thinking about them. My heart and head feel so heavy today. It’s so uncivilised. It’s so barbaric.” Iraqi ministers said three people had been killed and 207 wounded in the overnight attack.
More than 500,000 Berlin civilians were killed during World War Two. The city was pummelled by four years of American and British bombing before the Soviet army battered it with artillery at the war’s end.
More than 18 square kilometres of buildings were reduced to rubble and a half a million homes destroyed. Only five percent of the buildings survived intact. Fires caused by attacks burned nearly every night in the final years of the war.
“These revolting television pictures make me sick,” said Brigitte Berg, 72. “This war is just so wrong. Innocent people are being killed by these bombs, just like 60 years ago.”
There are many visible reminders of the battles in Berlin. Bullet holes still scar buildings and the ruins of the Kaiser Wilhelm memorial church damaged by Allied bombs were preserved in the city centre as a haunting memorial.
Unexploded bombs and shells are still buried in Berlin. Massive piles made from the 80 million cubic metres of buried rubble rise up hundreds of metres, giving the otherwise flat city hills high enough to ski down in winter.
“I couldn’t bear to watch anymore,” said Elise Stalder, 88, of Friday’s US-led bombing of Baghdad. “It upset me too much,” she said, tears running down her cheeks.
Eva Moeller, 72, said US President George W. Bush was right to fight to remove a dictator, but she hoped the US bombs really were as accurate as promised.
“I feel sorry for the poor ordinary people there,” said Moeller, who spent hundreds of frightening nights in Berlin bomb shelters. “It’s horrible when the bombs are falling on you. But I think this is the only way to get rid of a dictator.”
US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld went out of his way at a news briefing in Washington to say there was no way the precision bombs hitting Iraq could be compared to the bombs of World War Two.
“The weapons that are being used today have a degree of precision that no one every dreamt of in a prior conflict. They didn’t exist...” he said.
But a 75-year-old man named Gerhard, loath to reveal his surname because he deserted his anti-aircraft post as a teenager near the end of the war and evaded Soviet captors, said he didn’t believe that only military targets were being hit.
“Innocent people in Baghdad are suffering like we did,” he said. “This misery is being caused because Bush and the other war-mongers never were in combat themselves. They never had bombs falling on them or saw people next to them killed.”
‘CHILLING IMAGES: Canadian Deputy Prime Minister John Manley, widely regarded as the most pro-American member of the cabinet, on Friday said the images of bombs striking Iraq were “chilling” and urged Washington to help rebuild the country properly to avoid a backlash.
Manley’s comments were the first by a Canadian federal government minister since the start of a massive U.S. bombing campaign against Baghdad and other Iraqi targets.
“It’s chilling. It’s unimaginable what it must be like to be there, to be in your home and see and hear the force of that attack and to feel the helplessness that must be felt by ordinary citizens of Iraq. One can only hope it doesn’t last very long until peace returns,” he told CBC television.
The United States is Canada’s most important ally but Ottawa has not committed troops to the war. Many legislators from the ruling Liberal Party are deeply unhappy with Washington’s decision to attack Iraq.
Canadian business executives are increasingly worried that the lucrative trade relationship between the two countries could be hurt if the criticisms do not stop.—AFP/Reuters
Yet PCB chief, who considers himself beyond accountability, wasted this chance by opting to name tried and rejected officials as coach, manager and captain while a controversial former skipper Aamir Sohail was picked to replace Wasim Bari as the new chairman of selection committee entrusted with the onerous task of rebuilding a new team.
The changes look more like a clearance sale of a departmental store declared bankrupt. Javed Miandad, Rashid Latif and Haroon Rashid have replaced Richard Pybus, Waqar Younis and former diplomat Shaharyar Khan. Seen in the present context of Pakistan cricket, it is no more than a backward step taken by those who have no vision but are trying desperately to hang on to their high-profile jobs.
A cursory glance of the three appointees confirms the mental bankruptcy of PCB think tank managing its affairs. The trio hd been assigned the same tasks before but found wanting only to be sacked.
Judging from their past record it is very unlikely and in all probability they would meet the same fate again, only to wait in the wings for another turn to serve in the “best interest of the country”.
With no disrespect to Miandad, undoubtedly country’s best- ever batsman, but unfortunately a flop when it comes to coaching. He was twice forced to step down from the same assignment. To bring him in again for the third time could prove even more damaging. Will Miandad be able to deliver the goods this time around, only the coming months will tell.
The most mind-boggling decision is the appointment of Rashid Latif as skipper of the team. No spring chicken, the 34-year-old Rashid, is hardly an inspired selection, in view of his past record as skipper and his reputation as whistle blower against his own colleagues.
Rashid himself had announced his retirement from Test cricket and the World Cup was to be his swan song. But in an U-turn, the wicketkeeper, like the PCB boss, accepted the offer and took the new responsibility and the challenge to play a “key role” in restoring Pakistan’s battered and bruised reputation as one of the top playing nations with the much maligned cliche “ in the best interest of the country and the game”. His appointment exposes the double standards and the adhocism practicised by the PCB boss and his advisors.
Instead of giving Rashid a second chance to lead Pakistan, PCB should have made a clean break and gone for a younger player likely to last till the 2007 World Cup.
But logic and reasoning do not go together as far as PCB is concerned. How long Rashid, also injury prone, will last is a million dollar question that only the General could answer.
Another intriguing selection is of Haroon Rashid as manager who somehow or the other gets himself a “lucrative” job regardless of whoever calls the shots in PCB. He must be “indispensable” and a man for all seasons. He seems to be always on the right side of PCB but eventually gets dumped.
An ordinary Test and one-day player, Haroon, has in the past served PCB as coach and manager for both senior and junior teams, quite an achievement.
If the appointments of Miandad, Rashid and Haroon are definitely backward measures the selection of Aamir Sohail is even more controversial.
A player with poor discipline record and one who once even did not turn up to lead Pakistan in a Test match. His selection is another decision that shows utter lack of imagination on part of the PCB.
It is also an open secret that Aamir has attitude problem. This could pose problems between him, his co-selectors and the team management, not a good omen when trying to rebuild a new squad under a new team management.
We must keep our fingers crossed and hope for the betterment of Pakistan cricket after the nightmarish last six months that has plunged this cricket crazy nation into being bracketed with the likes of Zimbabwe and Bangladesh. And with the present all-powerful one-man show the outlook appears anything but gloomy for Pakistan cricket if one takes into account the results of past three and half years.
For the MMA, Islamization may be necessary, but it cannot be limitless. They are aware of their constraints. They cannot tamper with the spirit of the constitution as military rulers have done through the Legal Framework Order.
After the events of 9/11, they are caught in a web of fear. They express their abhorrence of terrorism, but supported Taliban rule in Afghanistan. They name their silence over the US strikes on Iraq as their strategy. In this scenario, they were not expecting to be heading a government, but they had been given this task to intimidate the Americans sitting across the border.
The political role of some of the MMA components is not accepted in good spirit. The general people take them as pseudo-opposition, trying to cloud the role of a genuine opposition.
It will take a long time for MMA to restore its political image as a democracy-loving force. The Islamization of provincial laws is a step towards the image-building exercise.
The MMA has selected certain areas where it wants to bring vital changes. The law and order, judiciary, minorities, health, women and education are on top of its list. The alliance wants to overhaul the entire policing system by putting an end to “thana culture”, for which it has suggested the police should be depoliticized and freed from the clutches of influential families. But it does not have a blueprint on the issue.
The judges of superior courts, appointed by the president, will be empowered to interpret the new laws. They will also look into the affairs of Qazi courts. The minorities have been assured complete protection of their basic political, economic, social and civic rights as citizens of the province. “They will be free to observe, preach and promote their basic creeds like a Muslim. They will be equal in all affairs as citizens with the Muslims”, announced Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani at a news conference.
The MMA has put a ban on all tribal customs which encroach upon the rights and dignity of the womenfolk. It declared ‘swaray’, the tribal custom where a killer hands over his women to the slain family for a settlement, un-Islamic and liable to be punishment.
It has also declared honour-killing as an act of wilful murder and banned the buying and selling of women. It has termed divorce (in one go) destructive for family life and liable to be punished. It has not come up as a clear-cut order on purdah, but has declared wearing of the scarf as a symbol of modesty. Womenfolk have been blessed with a hereditary share, but they are not given their share. The MMA will make it possible for them to get it. Education up to the middle level has been made compulsory and its violation will be tantamount to crime. The MMA says a uniform and meaningful educational system will be introduced to cater to the needs to the nation.
The MMA has pledged that it will provide free of cost life-saving drugs in the province. It will also urge the federal government to cancel licences those pharmaceutical companies who are playing with the life of people in the country.
These are some of the things which the alliance has planned to do in the province after getting the Nifaz-i-Shariat Act passed from the provincial assembly.
Which means that when there was trouble or strike or closure in most parts of the city, places like Clifton and Defence, and also the area around Frere Hall and Club Road would remain peaceful, undisturbed. That somehow seems to have all faded away. Sad.
See what happens in many instances now. It is not quite the other way round. But now there is terribly heightened security, and widespread caution in these posh areas, and the developed parts of the city. Like one feels that there is more armed security, and private guard umbrella in Defence Society, than say in the former district Central, or even the PECHS, generally speaking. The purpose here is not to compare one locality with another, but perhaps the point to underline is that we live in a strange Karachi. Now the more the power, the more the insecurity. Of course, more power also means economic power, which means the ability to hire more private security.
Now in the midst of all the visible security arrangements that we have seen in the city, ever since the war on Iraq began on Thursday, especially in areas around the foreign consulates like the US Consulate-General and the British Deputy High Commission to mention only a couple, the normal question that arises is this: how much visible security will be provided to these places causing an annoying delay and disturbance to the average citizen. How much of a dislocation are we to bear, caused primarily by traffic jams, that result, examples of which we saw on Thursday and Friday, at different times of the day. Thank God, the two roads were reopened.
Residents of the Askari Apartments 2 and 3 on School Road are amongst the worst affected by the closure of Abdullah Haroon Road, opposite the US Consulate-General, or Fatima Jinnah Road, where the residence of the US Consul-General is situated. What the enhanced security measures have done to the area around Runnymede is also a story well known, especially since the 9/11 tragedy.
In passing one may mention the stifling traffic jams and congestion that are created by the arrival of VIPs in town, for whom security measures taken include the closure of roads. Has any one realized that there could be someone who needs to be rushed to hospital for a life-saving proposition, and that this kind of closure could only aggravate the patient’s condition. Has anyone realized that there may be airline passengers who need to take a fight from the airport, and may actually miss that flight? Not just these examples, but there are other ways in which poor helpless citizens suffer, when security measures are unduly heightened. No one objects to security but it must take into account the huge inconvenience caused to the people. Take the example of popular book fair at Frere Hall that had to be stopped because of security measures that were enforced last year and the road opposite the US Consulate-General was closed to all traffic.
Following public resentment and a realization that “enough was enough” the roads were opened, but not before discerning citizens had begun wondering whether or not a better thing to do would be to shift such places as the US Consulate-General and the British Deputy High Commission from the heart of the city, so that Karachi’s mainstream traffic is not jammed.
One has spoken to several citizens on this subject of security which is itself creating a feeling of insecurity, in a big way. It makes you wonder whether this city is that insecure, that VIPs need such abnormal visible measures to protect themselves, said one person who has to drive through to work, from Clifton to Chundrigar Road daily, and frequently faces delays as traffic cops have closed roads and lanes.
There was another Karachiite, an elderly lady, who philosophized that it was strange that as soon as a person got elected to the parliament or a provincial legislature, he seemed to need to stay away from the very people who had brought him to that office.
There was another Karachiite who referred to the security-related traffic jams, and believed that these were likely to increase in the days ahead, keeping in view the sort of political climate that prevailed, and the way in which this city was shaping out, in view of the politics in the region, and the world generally speaking. He said that the government should initiate a public debate on the issue.