December 29, 2007

On the Local Front: Pakistan 2007

February 19: Bloody attempt to derail peace train. Two crude incendiary bombs exploded inside the security-sealed train from Delhi to the border post of Attari, sparking a fire in which at least 68 passengers, including an unknown number of Pakistanis, were trapped to death.

The Chief Justice fiasco — March 9: Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry was suspended and escorted home. Justice Javeed Iqbal was sworn in as Acting Chief Justice (CJ). Later Justice Bhagwandas became acting CJ when he returned to Pakistan. The suspension was followed by nationwide protests, congregations and marches by lawyers which were later on joined by the political parties. The reference was challenged in Supreme Court by Justice Iftikhar. Local channels were later on, barred from airing the issue.

On July 20 the Supreme Court struck down the presidential reference against the CJ Iftikhar Chaudhry and restored him to his post, it proved to be the first verdict ever against a military ruler in Pakistan.

Lal Masjid tragedy — Students of Jamia Hafsa occupied the nearby children’s library to press for their demands. March 28, three women were kidnapped in Islamabad by Madressah force that becomes offensive in their strong hold of Lal Masjid. On April 5 Hafsa cleric set up Qazi court in Lal Masjid a parallel judiciary system in Islamabad challenging the writ of the government. Lal masjid threatened suicide attacks and followed it up by kidnapping of policemen and workers of a beauty parlour. On July 3 fierce gunbattles rocked the capital; a government building was set on fire by Lal Masjid students while curfew was imposed. Maulana Abdul Aziz, the leader of the Lal Masjid brigade, was arrested while trying to flee. More than 1,000 students surrendered. Maulana Abdul Rashid Ghazi and other militants vowed to fight till the end. Life in Islamabad was paralysed. The Lal Masjid tragedy finally came to an end when rebel cleric Abdul Rashid Ghazi was killed on July 10 July. The suicide bombing, blasts and carnages however continued in the capital and across Pakistan.

May 12: Karachi calm was disrupted by riots when Sharea Faisal turned into battlefield when rival political groups clashed with each other soon after the arrival of CJ Iftikhar Chaudhry, although he was confined to the airport before returning back to Islamabad. The dark day in Karachi was marked by countrywide shut downs and powers of ‘Shoot to kill’ for rangers in Karachi. String of suicide attacks, lawlessness and insecurity followed across the country!

June 24: Storm, rain and gale force winds killed more than 200 in Karachi. The cyclone rendered 250,000 homeless or severely affected in coastal areas of Baluchistan.

August 23: In a dramatic turnaround the Supreme Court (SC) ruled that the exiled Sharif brothers could come back home and asked the government not to obstruct their return ‘in any manner’.

September 1: A part of a key bridge of the Northern Bypass collapsed.

September 10: After seven years of exile Nawaz Sharif came back to Pakistan and was sent back to exile within hours by the government of Pakistan.

September 28: SC gave President Musharraf legal boost to contest the presidential election for second term in uniform.

October 6: General Pervez Musharraf won the presidential election but his fate still lay in the hands of SC.

October 18: Benazir Bhutto returned to Pakistan. More than 150 were feared dead when her procession was disturbed by two bomb blasts.

October 25: Bloodbath in Swat valley started which continued till date. The paramilitary soldiers tried to curb the militants headed by Maulana Fazlullah.

November 3: In what was termed as the General Musharraf’s second coup and a virtual Martial Law, president Musharaff acting as army chief imposed state of emergency throughout Pakistan, suspending the constitution, charge sheet against judiciary and media was drafted and made public. Provincial Constitutional Orders (PCO) was issued. CJ was forcefully removed and Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar became the new CJ.

November 5: Karachi Stock Exchange index plunged by 635 points to record heaviest ever single day decline.

November 16: Senate chairman Mohammad Mian Soomro took oath as a care taker prime minister.

November 21: News channels of Geo and ARY asked to shut down.

November 25: Nawaz Sharif finally returned to Pakistan.

November 28: General Pervez Musharraf handed over the command of the army to the new Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Pervez Kianai.

December 15: Amended constitution restored, as emergency was lifted.

December 19: 50 Eid passengers died and many were injured when Karachi express heading to Lahore derailed near Mehrabpur.

International: Across the Globe in 2007

February 13: North Korea agreed to take steps towards nuclear disarmament deal struck with six-nations fetching them $300 millions.

April: Sheikh Hasina Wajid and her arch rival Khaleda Zia were handed exile orders by the Bangladesh’s military backed emergency government. Hasina Wajid, however, returned the following month.

May 6: Right-winger Nicolas Sakozy scored emphatic victory to become new French president.

June 27: Gordon Brown took over from Tony Blair as British Prime minister who stepped out after 10 years. Tony Blair was confirmed appointment by United Nations as international envoy to Middle East.

July 15: Shimon Peres was sworn in as president of Israel.

July 18: Deadliest plane crash in Brazil’s history kills more than 200 passengers.

July 21: India got its first woman president when Pratibha Patel won 65.82 per cent of the votes.

August 04: South Asia flood kills more than 1,400, displaces 25 million. Northern India, Bangladesh and Nepal were the most affected.

August 28: Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul elected Turkish President making him the secular republic’s first head of state an Islamic past.

September 2: President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad claimed Iran reached a key goal in its atomic drive by putting into operation more than 3,000 uranium enriching centrifuges in defiance of World Powers.

September 3: Khaleda Zia, former Bangladeshi PM, arrested on charges of corruption and abuse of power, sent to jail in Dhaka.

September 12: Japanese PM Shinzo Abe resigned from the post following string of scandals.

Court sentenced former Philippines president Joseph Estrada to life imprisonment.

September 23: Japanese ruling party choose Yasuo Fukuda as new PM.

October 1: Two Indian trucks carrying tomatoes crossed the Wagah border and into Pakistan for the first time since independence, marking the beginning of a new era of trade between India and Pakistan.

October 4: North and South Korean leaders signed a peace accord for a nuclear free peninsula to end the World’s last Cold War divide.

October 31: Oil prices hits record high exceeds $94 per barrel.

November 24: Eleven-year rule of John Howard came to an end when Australians elected Chinese speaking Kevin Rudd as their new PM.

November 25: Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili resigned amid demonstrations outside the parliament.

December 1: Turkey strikes at Kurds in northern Iraq in an intense intervention.

December 10: Christina Kirchner, the first woman to be elected President of Argentina, was sworn in today.

December 23: Islam Karimov was re-elected by the Uzbekistan as their president.

December 24: Nepal’s major political parties agreed to abolish the world’s last Hindu monarchy as part of a deal to bring former communist rebels back into the government.

Winning or losing…The Sporty 2007

January 5: Australia claim Ashes whitewash (5-0) after 86 years. The test proved to be the final test for three great players ever to be produced — Shane Warne (highest test wicket taker ever), Glenn McGrath (highest wicket taker for a fast bowler) and Justin Langer (one of the most prolific and competent opener of the Modern era).

January 27: Serena Williams defeated Maria Sharapova to win Australian open final.

January 28: Roger Federer defeated Chilean Fernando Gonzalez to lift his 10th Grand Slam title, the Australian Open.

Cricket World Cup 2007

World Cup was officially opened on March 12. Sixteen teams contested for 47 days. The tournament, however, lost the colour initially due to the early knock off of Pakistan and India, and then due to the length of the competition. Shahid Afridi was banned from the first two matches, while Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Asif and Abdur Razzaq were declared unfit even before the start of the tournament, thus reducing the strength of Pakistan to virtually half. It was a sad World Cup appearance for Pakistan, when they lost to Ireland and were virtually eliminated from the tournament. The cricket tragedy was followed by the death of Pakistan’s coach Bob Woolmer in mysterious circumstances.

Four days later Ex-Irish cricket chief Robert Kerr became the second fatality of the Cup when he died a natural death.

Pakistan conferred Sitara-e-Imtiaz, the highest civilian award, on late Bob Woolmer. Greg Chappel resigned as Indian coach.

Inzamamul Haq announced his retirement from ODI and quit captaincy. After Younis Khan declined captaincy, Shoaib Malik was named new skipper of the Pakistani team.

Brian Lara of West Indies ended his illustrious career playing his last match against England.

Dejected Kiwi skipper Stephen Fleming resigned.

Defending champion Australia defeated Sri Lanka in the rain shortened final to lift the trophy again! Adam Gilchrist was named as the Man of the Final while Glenn McGrath of Australia was named as Player of the Tournament.

May 13: Australia defeated Malaysia 3-1 to win Azlan Shah Hockey Tournament. Pakistan poor run continued as they were not able to make it to the top four even.

June 09: World number 1 Justine Henin completed a rare French open hat trick defeating Ana Ivanovic in the woman’s final.

June 10: Rafael Nadal beat Roger Federer to complete a hat-trick of French open in Men’s Final.

June 17: 23rd Asian Snooker Championship held in Karachi won by Supoj Saenia of Thailand beating Yasin Merchant of India in the final.

June 21: Pakistan’s Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi created history by becoming the only Pakistani to enter Wimbledon through qualifying rounds.

June29: Saachin Tendulkar became the first man to cross 15,000 ODI runs.

July 07: Venus Williams defeated Marion Bartoli to win her fourth Wimbledon title. Roger Federer equaled legendary Bjorn Borg’s record of five successive titles when he defeated Rafael Nadal in the final.

July 16: Geoff Lawson, the former Australian fast bowler, appointed Pakistan cricket team coach.

August 20: Pakistan all-rounder Abdur Razzaq announced retirement from international cricket following his exclusion from the cricket team. He however took back the decision.

September 7: Shoaib Akhtar was sent home from the Twenty20 world cup after a bust up with team-mate Mohammad Asif.

September 09: Indian retained men’s hockey Asia Cup when they defeated South Korea (7-2) comfortably. Pakistan continued its dismal performance finishing on the sixth spot.

Belgian Justine Henin defeated Kuznetsova to win US Open title.

September 11: Pakistani cricketer Mohammad Yousuf receives the ‘Player of the Year’ award.

September 14: Rahul Dravid quits as Indian Captain.

September 24: A dream final was played between Pakistan and India in the Twenty20 World Cup. Though India won the game, it was the cricket that emerged victorious in a thriller.

Year comes, and years pass by; time files, sometimes leaving fond memories and sometimes scarring the history for the generations to follow.

One might remember 1914-1918 or 1939-1945 as the years when two great World Wars were fought or when first atomic bomb was dropped. Some might remember 1947 as the year of Pakistan’s independence, some as the division of subcontinent. Some might remember 1971 as the year when Pakistan disintegrated, for some it might be the year when Bangladesh got independence.

Different people, as a whole or as an individual, remember different years due to different issues. The year I graduated, the year I got married, the year my son was born and the list continues…

Just seven years back it was some experience for zillions when the year 1999 was changing into year 2000 AD — a century coming to an end, a millennium coming to an end. For weeks one would find many putting on wrong dates. Not getting used to the 00 in YY column. Not used to writing 2000, a number starting with a digit ‘2’ instead of ‘1’. Remember the scares of Y2K.

Well 2008 has not started yet and we are already marking it with the Beijing Olympics.

Every year is marked by different events that occurred that year. Similarly 2007 was no different. Here is a list of some events which marked the year, making it memorable one ay or the other.

* Champions Trophy was shifted from Pakistan to Malaysia amid security concerns. Eight teams took part in the tournament. Germany defeated Australia to win the trophy. Pakistan spineless performance resulted in their omission from the next Champions Trophy.

September 30: Haile Gebrselassie broke the marathon world record when he won the Berlin marathon in 2 hours 4 minutes and 26 seconds, breaking the record by 29 seconds.

October 3: South Africa’s Mark Boucher broke Ian Healy’s World record for most dismissals by a wicket keeper.

October 5: Gentle giant Inzamam ul Haq announced that he will retire from the test cricket after the last match against South Africa. He fell a couple of runs short of the national record for the highest runs in Test Cricket by Javeed Miandad. Inzamam remains the highest ODI runs getter for Pakistan and only Pakistani to cross 10,000 runs.

October 21: South Africa dethrones England (15-6) to life Rugby World Cup at Paris.

November 20: Former Sri Lankan Captain Marvan Atapattu announced his retirement from international cricket, just 11 days after he launched a stinging attack on the national selectors.

December 03: Sri Lankan off-spinner bowled Paul Collingwood of England to become the highest wicket taker ever. He broke the record of Australian Shane Warne who had 708 test wickets to his name.

December 12: Pakistan lost the ODI series (3-2) and Test Series (1-0) to India. It was India’s first home series victory over Pakistan in 28 years!

Films, shows, gossips and scandals… media 2007

January 29: Shilpa Shetty won the UK reality TV show “Celebrity Big Brother” televised by the Channel Four Broadcaster. Shilpa faced racist comments by Jade Goody who was voted out of the show in the following week.

March 16: Police personnel raided, attacked and ransacked the office of Geo TV few minutes before the conclusion of Supreme Judicial Council proceedings against the sacked CJ, apparently in an effort to stop the channel from airing live action between the police and lawyers. Later president of Pakistan came on-air and apologised for the incident.

April 14: Britain’s Prince Williams broke up with his long time girl friend Kate Middleton after a romance conducted under the full glare of media spotlight.

Tying the Knot… Abhishek weds Aishwarya

April 20: Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai, one of Bollywood’s best-known screen couples, dubbed as “Abhiash” by the Indian media, married in a traditional Hindu wedding. Rai, 33, is a former Miss World and Bachchan, 31, belongs to Indian film royalty, being the son of Amitabh Bachchan, the country's best-known actor who has a huge fan following around the world.

The ceremonies concluded three days of celebrations at the actors' homes in India’s entertainment capital of Mumbai, creating, what industry pundits said is, Bollywood’s ultimate power couple.

June 04: President imposes sweeping curbs on electronic media sparking protests from journalists, politicians and lawyers.

July 31: Famous Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt was sentenced to six years imprisonment for illegal weapon possession in connection with serial killing in Mumbai in 1993.

December 1: 23-years old Miss China Zhang Zi Lin was crowned as Miss World 2007 in Hainan, China. Miss Angola came second and Miss Mexico was third.

Talking about films…

Although Transformers did a great business at the box office, the year 2007 can be termed as the year of trilogies. Youngsters got away with films like Shrek the third, Pirates of the Carribean 3 and Spiderman 3. Amongst the recently launched movies Bee Movie and I am Legend are expected to be a big hit.

In the Bollywood too Shahrukh Khan’s flick Chak De became quite popular amongst the Indian cricketers and spectators. The film, however, was related to Women hockey!

It was however SK’s Om Shanti Om that again made him unmatchable this year.

On the Pakistani scene it was the one film Shoaib Mansoor’s controversial debut Khuda kay Liay. The film, although a masterpiece especially in comparison with other local films, created quite a debate whether the idea behind the film was right or not!

And for the readers…

J.K. Rowling’s seventh and final Harry Potter book was launched on July 21. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows flew off the shelves as the fans world over snapped the copies to discover the fate of the boy wizard and his Hogwarts pals.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist by a Pakistani author Mohsin Hamid became one of the finalist for the Man Booker Prize, Britain’s most prestigious award for fiction. The award however went to Irish writer Anne Enright for her book The Gathering.

And the winner is… making it big in 2007

Nobel Prize:

a.. American Mario R. Capecchi and Oliver Smithies alongwith Briton’s Sir Martin J. Evans (for Medicine/ Physiology)

b.. France’s Albert Fert and German Peter Gruenberg (for Physics)

c.. Germany’s Gerhard Ertl (for Chemistry)

d.. Britain’s Dorris Lessing (for Literature)

e.. Former US Vice President Al Gore and UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climatic Change, IPCC (for Peace)

f.. Americans Leonid Hurwicz, Eric S. Maskin and Roger B. Myerson (for Economics)

Knighted

In June, Ian Botham (the former England all-rounder Cricketer) was knighted by the Queen.

Oscars:

79th Oscar winners include

Best Actor: Forest Whitaker for his film The Last King of Scotland

Best Actress: Helen Mirron for The Queen

Best Animated Feature Film: Happy Feet

In a nutshell…

a.. Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov became Turkmenistan’s new president on February 14th.

c.. Khalid Sheikh confesses to masterminding 9/11 terrorist attacks on USA. He was considered to be third in command behind Osama and Zawahiri. He was capturued in Pakistan in 2003 and handed over to USA.

d.. 14th Saarc Summit begins in April, as Afghanistan was inducted as the 8th member.

e.. Pope Benedict XVI named Italian cardinal and Vatican secretary of state Tarcisio Bertone as the new camerlingo of the Roman Catholic Church.

f.. The 13-day crisis came to an end on April 4 when Iran released 15 British sailors as a gift to the people of Britain, marking the birthday of Holy Prophet (Peace be upon him). The 15 sailors were arrested while patrolling the northern Gulf between Iran and Iraq.

g.. Director of World Bank faulted institution’s chief Paul Wolfowitz for pushing through the promotion and salary package of his girlfriend, Shaha Riza. He resigned on May 18.

h.. North-Korea shut downs Yongbyon nuclear facilities.

i.. More than 50 killed in Vietnam bridge collapse in Hanoi.

j.. Mexico flood renders 800,000 homeless.

Believe it or not… unbelievable 2007:

.. ‘Jungle girl’ found in Cambodia on January 19. Ro Chan H’pnhieng who went missing for 18 years, would rather crawl than walk.

.. Ewa Wisnierska, 35, termed as the ‘luckiest woman on Earth’ after she survived the storm in eastern Australia that sucked her glider to an altitude higher than the Mount Everest! She unbelievably survived although another paraglider was killed in the same incident.

.. To mark his daughter’s birth this year, Moroccan King Mohammed VI pardoned 9,000 prisoners.

.. Ninety-five-year-old, Nola Ochs became the world’s oldest person to receive a college diploma. She received her Bachelor’s degree in General studies and history at Fort Hays State University, Kansas.

.. Jan Grzebski, 65, of Poland who fell into a coma in 1988 following an accident, regained consciousness after 19 years when he woke up on June 3 this year.

.. Pakistani Zafar Gill broke the World Record for ‘ear-lifting’ in Vienna carrying almost 62-kg from a cord attached to his right ear. His feat earned him a place in Guiness Book of the World Records.

.. British adventurer Jason Lewis finally came back home on October 7, after biking and hiking on his 26-foot yellow pedal craft completing a 13-year 74,000km human powered circumnavigation of the globe.

.. On November 21 scientist found the fossilised claw of a 25-metre sea scorpion (larger than a human being). The specimen is believed to be 390 million years old.

.. The special V150 French TGV high speed train sets world speed record at 574.8km/hr at Bezannes, France on April 3.

And the count ends… those who left us

..Zafar Ali Kazmi, 74, noted artist, sculptor, poet on January 12.

Eminent poet Mohsin Bhopali dies.

..81-year-old Pulitzer prize winning columnist Art Buchwald expired.

..January 28 O.P. Nayyar, Indian music director famous for his memorable tunes in 1950s and 1960s.

..Ahmed Ali Khan the formed chief editor of Daily Dawn.

..Famous writer Sidney Sheldon.

..Yelena Romanova Russian runner and Olympic gold medalist died in Volgograd.

Ray Evans a profilic song writer died at 92.

..Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. the Pulitzer Prize winning historian and Kennedy insider who helped define mainstream liberalism during the Cold War died at 89.

..Bangladeshi test cricketer, 22-year-old, Manjural Islam Rana was killed in a road accident.

..One of the most iconic musicians of the country Nisar Bazmi passed away. He was 82.

..Asia’s richest woman, Nina Wang of Hong Kong died of unspecified illness leaving behind $4.2 billion fortune. There however started a disputed when two separate wills were made public, one donating all her fortune to her trust while the other one to her personal fortune teller. The family members took the matter to the court.

..One of the beloved local ghazal singers Asad Amanat Ali died in London.

..Wahiduddin Ziauddin Ahmed, 91, one of the most outstanding film director of the subcontinent passed away.

..Tahir Mirza, 70, former editor of Dawn.

..Chinese Vice Premier Huang Ju.

..Kurt Waldheim, 88, the former UN Secretary General and president of Austria diedin Vienna on 14th of June.

..Former Russian president Boris Yeltsin, 76, who played a key role in the collapse of Soviet Union and introduced free market democracy to Russia.

..US space pioneer Wally Schirra one of the original Mercury 7 astronauts died at age of 84.

..Bill Johnston, a member of Don Bradman’s 1948 ‘Invincibles’ cricket team died at 85.

..ICC President Percy Sonn, 57, died in Cape Town. Ray Mali took over as the president of the cricketing body.

..Former Indian Prime Minister Chandra Shekar dies in New Delhi.

..Afghanistan’s last king Mohammad Zahir Shah died in Kabul aged 92. Considered ‘Father of the Nation’ he ruled for 40 years until 1973 when he was exiled for almost three decades.

..Legendary Swedish film director Ingmar Bergman 89 dies at Stockholm.

..Urdu novelist Quratulain Hyder expires in New Delhi.

..British film actress Deborah Kerr dies at 86.

..Paul Warfield Jr., the pilot who flew the plane that dropped the first Atomic bomb devastating Hiroshima in World War II dies.

..Bombay cricket hero K.C. Ibrahim expired in Karachi.

..Veteran TV actor Shafi Mohammad Shah, 58, passed away on 17th of November.

..French choreographer Maurice Bejart, 80, considered one of the greatest figures in contemporary dance dies.

..Art icon Gulgee, his wife and their maid were found murdered in their house.

..Famous TV and film actor Izhar Qazi died.

All in all though 2007 had its own share of ups and downs, but being a Pakistani it was not a year to remember. Indeed if you review it with minor details, you will certainly feel a chill down the spine.

Thankfully, we always have this tomorrow, the next day, the new beginning and a new year to follow. We should try to make the most of it, trying not to repeat the mistake again! Happy New Year.