Excuses, experimentation not to bring laurels for Pakistan hockey

THE euphoria around the much-trumpeted Moscow four-nation victory against the underdogs of the hockey world last month suddenly died last week when many chinks in the Pakistan armour were rudely exposed in China’s quadrangular Good Luck Beijing tournament where they finished third after a mediocre performance.

Although the members of the squad that played in Moscow against rookies Russia, Scotland and Ukraine, might not have been proud or satisfied with their achievement, chief coach Islahuddin Siddiqui was simply elated at “winning the title”.

The fact is that the Russia event was nothing more than an opportunity to grab an elusive title, no matter how insignificant it was. The national side got a real taste of quality competition in Beijing and it proved far from the cakewalk which boastful statements of team officials had made it out to be.

Starting with a shock 2-2 draw with 17th-ranked China, Pakistan held Australia 2-2 before once again caving in against 16th-ranked Malaysia with yet another 1-1 stalemate. As usual, after falling by the wayside in crucial matches, the team won 4-1 against Malaysia in the third place playoff.

The scorelines speak themselves as it is obvious that Islah, who is also the manager, along with coach Manzoorul Hassan, failed in instilling the necessary confidence among the players. It could be established by the fact that Pakistan led 2-0 against China till the 61st minute but gave in to the hosts who later pumped in two goals to put the game on an even keel.

As for Australia, they indeed played a draw but proved that it was merely a hiccup in their otherwise meticulous planning when they thrashed hosts China 9-0 in the final. The draw against Malaysia was again surprising not only because Pakistan first grabbed the lead and then faltered but also because they were held to a draw by a weaker side.

The success in the playoff couldn’t satisfy hockey aficionados as they are accustomed to such face-saving and consolation wins for the past several years.

Logically, Pakistan should have met Australia in the final but they failed to prove that they could pose any real threat to their rivals during the Lahore Champions Trophy in December or during the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

In this sort of situation, what utility does Islah have after being given charge to regain the lost glory at Olympic Games?

In a most hilarious statement recently, the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) chief Zafarullah Jamali blasted Olympic champions Australia for pulling out of the Lahore Champions Trophy, saying they did so because of fear of losing. He must have realised his folly after Australia hammered China in the Beijing final. The reason — Kookaburras have class while PHF thrives on rhetoric.

While the hockey federation, naturally, wants to see Pakistan excelling at the Beijing Games, rather strange preparations by Islah during training camps are unlikely to pay off for the team.

With various combinations which are still being tried by the Olympian, it appears that he is either disoriented or keen to appease certain quarters. With the Champions Trophy hardly three months away and the Olympic Games slated for August next year, Islah has been constantly following the chop-and-change policy, overlooking many young and talented players.

For instance Rashid Imran, who could undoubtedly be dubbed as one of the best right-ins available for national duty, has been sidelined since the Azlan Shah Cup last May without any valid reason. Astonishingly, Islah has been trying him out as a full-back during the camps.

Akhtar Ali, who is originally a left-out was tried as left-half and even as a full-back during the camp while Mohammad Mudassar was fielded as left-half when he is actually a left-out.

Talented left-in Muhammad Zubair went into the oblivion after Islah took over while right-in Adnan Zakir has also been dropped. The pair could have bolstered goal-shy forward line but unknown Mohammad Arshad and Majid Khan popped-up out of nowhere.

The fact of the matter is that Islah is yet to form a winning combination for the forthcoming events which had been his prime task. When Islah had taken over the charge of national team, he had categorically stated that there would hardly be any changes in the squad that participated in the Doha Asian Games last December. But then came the U-turn and the chief coach started harping on the “rebuilding phase” for which there appears to be no end.

Islah has been repeatedly insisting that the forwards lack firepower and needed to score but the question is why has he not been able to overcome that grey area after watching the forwards in three international outings since his appointment?

Although the forthcoming Asia Cup, a gala of underdogs with the exception of South Korea and India, will not be the real test but it will prove where Pakistan hockey stands and if it really is on its way to getting back on the track.

Given the fact that both Islah and Manzoor are paid officials, it’s now time to kick start the accountability process. Pakistan who gave their worst-ever performance at the Azlan Shah Cup last May, redeemd themselves a bit in Moscow but slipped up again in Beijing. The most ironic is the “satisfaction” which Islah expressed upon the team’s return from Beijing which is certainly not a good omen at this stage.

After assessing the scenario, one can safely say that “rebuilding” is not just a buzzword in Islah’s vocabulary but will become his favourite excuse if Pakistan fail at the Olympic Games.

Is Islamabad the new Karachi?

MANY of the capital’s denizens, who endured audacious actions last month that went beyond the pale of July heat are convinced after a spate of violent episodes, some unprecedented in their enormity, intensity and consequences, that it is.

There is both a serious and lighter side to what has given birth to security concerns in Islamabad. The stressful Lal Masjid siege was followed by a bloody military operation, whose reverberations will be felt for a long time to come.

As if evidence was needed, it was summarily provided by mind- numbing suicide attacks within days: first, outside the venue where the chief justice was to address the bar two days before his landmark reinstatement and the second in the city’s busy Aabpara market near the Lal Masjid when the city’s administration tried to re-open the mosque — in a disquieting beige colour that was perhaps, reflective of the city’s loss of more enterprising shades.

The bizarre arrest of the mosque’s chief cleric, Maulana Abdul Aziz, before the military went into overdrive provided a rare diversion from the mystery and intrigue of the drama played out on more than a dozen television channels whose audience and the time span of their focused attention must surely have created a Pakistani record.

It was enough of humiliation for a burqa-clad Aziz to have been caught on tape trying to flee — he claimed he was going out in that garb for talks with an unidentified high-up only to be deceived into a trap.

But the cleric’s subsequent scripted coup de grace by the state-run PTV probably beat the insult borne by Saddam Hussein at the hands of a probing American doctor once the dishevelled Iraqi dictator had been forced out of a rat hole near his hometown Tikrit, nearly four years ago.

The orchestration was typical of those who run the official show for their masters in Islamabad: trying to be more loyal to the king than the king himself. Most of us in the capital knew when the cleric was made to lift the veil of the burqa he was forced to wear again for programmed derision that the anchor holding the cleric to account would be in trouble before long.

And so it has come to pass. The said anchor is enduring a nightmare these days, having received threats by unidentified sources — no prizes for guessing where the sympathies of such elements lie — to take him out.

It is difficult to imagine he would be able to conjure up a groundswell of empathy even though he was only following what, in the local parlance, is known as ‘orders from the top’. The moral of the story? Never try to be funny with serious people.

The ‘worried-to-death’ anchor may perhaps, argue that he had no choice in the matter — to be sure, the PTV management has since, implied in a clarification, that he was not to blame — but then some choices are predictable by way of consequence. On the flip side, perhaps the state-run entity could enlighten us on the culprit, who naively attempted to tickle the nation.

Who knows if this harebrained idea had not been resorted to — Maulana Abdul Rashid Ghazi initially, appeared favourably inclined to give up but hardened his stance upon seeing how his brother was treated — many innocent women and children could yet have survived the tragedy.

The fabled serene capital of Pakistan appears to be star- crossed these days. A whole generation has grown up here not knowing what curfew and a deadly pitched battle is. In this respect and the bloody aftermath, the Lal Masjid episode has been a page-turner.

It has the potential of snowballing into a major amplifier of terrorism across the country — as has been proved with more than 200 fatalities in a spate of retaliatory suicide bombings and ambushes by Islamic radicals in its aftermath.

Removed from these ramifications, is the endless chatter about how Islooiites are now drawing just deserts for what its power purveyors have wrought in the rest of the country for decades. And to this end, despite the current lassitude of its residents, the metropolitan still draws comparison — disregarding size, population and history — with Karachi.

The May 12 mayhem in the Sindh megapolis is already old hat for Islooiites, who contend they are now more violence-prone than their predecessors in the old capital.

Believe it or not, some of my battle-hardened Karachi relatives (who coped admirably with the staple diet dished out in the reign of the Don) have refused to come down here for a visit, claiming it was unsafe!

I could no longer turn around and tell them: Look, who’s talking!

The writer is News Editor at Dawn News. He may be contacted at kaamyabi@gmail.com