Metro Voice: PAC should do some soul searching

KARACHI: The Pakhtoon Action Committee (PAC), a body that mainly represents the transporters, observed a wheel-jam strike on Friday for the acceptance of its demands. The demands related to ‘protection of Pakhtoons’ rights’.

The PAC leadership claims the lives and properties of their community are not safe and their children are denied admission in Karachi’s government education institutions in Karachi.

They also allege Pakhtoons face hurdles in obtaining national identity cards (NICs), besides police high handedness and demolition of the kutchi abadis where their community is in majority.

To protest against cruelties and demand one’s rights is the basic right of every citizen and people have been doing so in our country. The Pakhtoons are also the inhabitants of this city and have the right to lead honourable lives, but by obeying the prevailing laws of the country.

The PAC leadership has seen what happened as a result of the strike call and should have realised who is responsible for the ugly incidents which took precious innocent lives. To blame the police for the untoward incidents is very easy, but one must be realistic and admit one’s mistakes.

To give a strike call is easy, but to face its repercussions is very difficult. At the time of giving the strike call there were dozens of leaders jointly raising their hands on stage, all of them were nowhere to be seen on that fateful day to control the wild mob that had taken control of the roads.

The question is who is responsible for the turmoil? The PAC leaders will have to answer why is there a difference between their words and deeds? The Pakhtoons are considered very civilised people even when not educated, but those who take others’ lives or destroy others and state properties cannot be Pakhtoons.

All Pakhtoons are not transporters, nor is transport owned only by Pakhtoons. Similarly, only Pakhtoons are not residing in kutchi abadis, that the PAC has taken it upon itself to rise for their protection.

What this scribe observed in parts of Orangi and Baldia towns on the day of the strike would make Pakhtoons hang their head in shame. No one has the right to destroy private and state property.

Dozens of Pakhtoon notables have condemned the turn the protest took and expressed their total dissociation from the groups that turned the wheel jam strike into a violent mob on rampage.

Some of them said they suspected the involvement of Afghans and the Kabul administration in the violence. They demanded a probe and said the culprits be caught and given exemplary punishments. The said the PAC leaders are morally bound to find who sabotaged the peaceful strike.

At the same time, it is the duty of the Pakhtoon transporters to repair or get rid of all smoke emitting vehicles (if they have any)and play their role to keepthe city clean, where three million Pakhtoons also reside, and have a right to a clean atmosphere.

Test cricket is back in business

NEWSPAPER headlines at the conclusion of most Test matches played before the advent of the New Millennium would often read as ‘A Boring Draw’, ‘The Dull, The Drag and The Dreary’, ‘An Insipid Affair’, etc.

Indeed, a time had come when there were even pleas made to abolish Test match cricket altogether and to replace it with one-dayers or some other limited overs format.

Had the pundits of the game bowed down to such pressures, it would have been a colossal tragedy. I, for one, am a firm believer in the fact that there’s always room for improvement. One can always innovate and make things better. But, for that to happen, it is necessary that the basics of a tradition or concept are preserved in its essence, and the fundamentals of cricket are the Test matches, without any shadow of doubt.

The recent years have seen a very high number of Test matches yielding results or ending in exciting draws. Today, it can be safely said that the thrill and excitement of Test matches can every-bit match the sizzling flavour of the one-dayers, making the five-day medium compulsive viewing and fairly absorbing to watch.

For instance, all the three Test matches that ended on Dec 18 yielded exciting results. And, mind you, these were not ordinary Test matches; One meant regaining of the Ashes for Australia - after England had regained it in 2005 – while the other saw the Sri Lankans bouncing back to win the second Test against New Zealand (their only second win on NZ soil) by a huge 217-run margin at Wellington after they had lost the first Test by 5-wickets.

And last but not the least, Rahul Dravid’s Indians bamboozled a strong South Africa side at Johannesburg to register their first ever victory in that part of the world after a dismal show in the one-dayers earlier this month. Most of these games were played to packed houses, endorsing my point that Test match cricket is experiencing a revival of sorts.

On the home front, Pakistan beat the West Indies quite comprehensively in the three-Test rubber played last month.

Reviewing some of the salient performances in these Test matches, I really take heart from the fact that the younger players performed outstandingly in the Test matches for their respective teams.

Let’s look at the Pakistan-West Indies series first. Apart from the impressive shows from tried and tested seniors such as Inzamam, Yousuf, Younis and Razzaq, younger players like Umar Gul, Shahid Nazir, Imran Farhat and Mohammad Hafeez really came good at crucial times to win the series for the hosts despite the fact that two of our most accomplished bowlers, Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif, were not playing. The fine effort in Tests was followed by some brilliant stints in the One-day Internationals particularly from Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, who bowled superbly to earn the Man-of-the-Series, and left-arm spinner Abdur Rehman, who was a revelation with his variety and economy rate.

With more young players in Rao Iftikhar, Mohammad Sami, Yasir Hameed and Shahid Afridi and now cleared Shabbir Ahmed waiting in the wings, one can say with confidence that the team has a wealth of high-quality back-ups in place. This augurs tremendously well for the home side specially with the 2007 World Cup barely three months away.

Elsewhere too, the new generation of Test cricketers made their mark. There was beguiling magic of Monty Panesar (5-92 at Perth), fantastic hundreds from Australia’s Michael Hussey and Michael Clark, flamboyant strokeplay of England’s Kevin Pietersen, and match-winning efforts from India’s Sreesanth and Sri Lanka’s Silva.

For India and Sri Lanka, who were seen as the underdogs as visiting teams who were playing under alien conditions, the away wins were major morale-boosters. They won by big margins against home teams, making the Test scene as one of the most competitive ever.