7/7 anniversary a low-key affair

LONDON paid a subdued homage to the victims of 7/7 bombings on Monday as hundreds of people visited the spots where the bombs went off taking a toll of 52 people on the fateful day three years ago. The low-key affair was understandable as Londoners were more preoccupied with the present rather than the past.

Only last week terrorism was replaced by knife crime as the No 1 priority for the Metropolitan Police following the death of the 18th victim of knife stabbing since January this year. Deputy Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson announced the formation of a special knife-crime unit to address the recent spate of fatal stabbings in London as he admitted that moves to stop teenagers carrying weapons were not working.

Knife violence in Britain has lately become a serious menace with almost 14,000 people taken to hospital for injuries caused by knives and other sharp weapons last year. According to the latest Department of Health statistics, an average of 38 victims of knife wounds are admitted to accident and emergency departments across the country every day.

London remains the centre of what is increasingly viewed as a nationwide epidemic. Fatal stabbings of teenagers in London total 20 since the start of the year compared with 27 for the whole of last year.

Giving evidence to a select committee last week, Mrs Cherie Blair, the wife of former prime minister Tony Blair, said the government’s crime statistics hid the true extent of gun and knife crime among young people and that, as a parent, she worried about her children on the streets.

The recent rash of stabbing deaths in the capital has alarmed police and politicians, and led to calls for tougher penalties for knife crime and that too among the teenagers. The whole of last year, the politicians, both in the government and in the opposition as well as social scientists, were seen groping in the dark to get a handle on the steep jump in binge drinking among the youth. And now they seem as much clueless about what makes a ‘normal’ teenager take to knife crimes.

Perhaps it is the result of expanding social and economic gap between the rich and the poor. When the country was enjoying over a decade long cycle of economic boom (which ended last year) poverty at the lower level is estimated to have become more acute increasing the number of destitutes. Low-paid jobs are now being filled by Polish immigrants. Perhaps, it is also the result of a steep jump lately in the number of single parents.

It is rather doubly difficult for one person to keep a close watch on the growing children while making both ends meet. Perhaps it is the result of a combination of all this and more. It is, however, strange that all those think tanks with which UK is crammed have so far failed to come up with any concrete answer to the question.

DESCENT INTO CHAOS: It was in this tension-filled backdrop last week that Ahmed Rashid, Pakistan’s journalist-cum-author launched his new book, Descent into Chaos: How the war against Islamic extremism is being lost in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asia. The launch venue was the International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS) and he was interviewed at the prestigious Frontline Club about the book by BBC’s Lyse Doucet who was based in Islamabad during the first Afghan war.

Ahmed’s thesis is, the US had bungled in its war on terror and so had Musharraf and his Army. The people of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq are paying a big price for these follies with their lives and livelihood with no end to their misery in sight. You are fighting an ideology in which there are no physical battle lines for the armies to cross over and capture. You need to fight it with a superior ideology. You need to change the mindset, re-brainwash the misguided. You need to win hearts and minds by taking socio-economic development deep inside the tribal territories on both sides of the Durand Line.

And according to the 200 or so demonstrators who chanted full-throated slogans against Pakistani Taliban and the Pakistan army in front of the Pakistan High Commission last Friday, Parachinar in Kurram Agency is today at the mercy of the Taliban.

Talking to Dawn, the leader of the demonstrators alleged that for the last three months the Taliban have starved the people of Parachinar. “They have not allowed either food or medicine to enter the area. It is like a curfew in the town. They disappear when the regular troops or Frontier corps come in and return as soon as the troops leave the town. We plan to organise Europe-wide protests about this situation. Pakistani media has completely blacked out our plight,” he complained.

The new High Commissioner, Wajid Shamsul Hasan who had taken charge only a couple of days ago, invited the leader of the demonstrators for talks inside the High Commission. On his return the leader said the HC promised to talk to the adviser on interior, Rehman Malik, about the situation. Later talking to Dawn, Mr Hasan said that Aga Khan had also told him almost the same thing about the situation in Parachinar when he had dinner with him last Thursday and requested him to look into the matter.

‘Women’s cricket in Pakistan will take time to improve’

PRESENTED the trophy of ‘Best Female Cricketer of the Year’ by the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) in Pakistan, awards are nothing new to Mithali Raj. Known to be the second-highest scorer in women’s test cricket – a grand knock of 214 – she is the captain of the Indian women’s cricket team.

The 25-year-old began her international career in 1999 against Ireland, scoring an impressive century in her debut match. The absence from the crease of this right-handed batswoman in the 2002 World Cup due to typhoid was said to be one of the reasons India missed the title. However, she did lead India to win its fourth consecutive Asia Cup in May 2008.

On her second visit to Pakistan, Mithali Raj, who came last time to play, was invited by the ACC to attend its Silver Jubilee celebrations held recently in Karachi.

“The award was a great surprise for me. I was invited by the ACC to attend the function in the capacity of the captain of the team as they wished for the participation of women cricketers as well. However, I am happy with the award nonetheless,” she said smiling.

The cricket journey for Raj began when she was almost nine-and-a-half-years-old.

“I started playing cricket in school. I was too young to understand if I liked the game. It was something new therefore I enjoyed it,” said the player explaining what had brought her into the sport. “It was fun to travel with girls and meet new people. I started taking the game easy and it was then that my father provoked me by saying that I was not a great player and I should quit cricket. To prove him wrong I worked very hard and started giving good performances in matches, therefore I was selected for the national team,” she revealed with a chuckle.

However, the cricketer does not intend to stay in the game for a long time as she thinks that when women hit 30, their performance gets affected. “Women have a short career span. They have to get married by a certain age and start a family. Then there are other issues as well, like lack of hand-eye coordination and players start to get a little lethargic,” she said. “Once a player gets married she has to see if her in-laws give permission, though there have been instances where they continued to play after marriage as well,” Raj added. With plans to retire after the World Cup and Twenty Twenty next year, she has no clear plans about what she wants to do after cricket. However, she maintained that she would like to be associated with the game in one way or the other.

“I would like to give something back to the sport. Maybe I can work at the administration end or as a coach in the long run,” she revealed.

Talking about the hardships faced by women cricketers, the captain of the Indian women’s cricket team said that things have been pretty difficult in India as well as far as other sports are concerned. However, she feels that ever since the International Cricket Council’s decision to take the women’s team under its wing, things have improved somewhat. But other sports are nothing to write home about.

When asked about the difference between the standard of men’s and women’s cricket, she said that there was a lot of difference. “The men’s sport is a much more power-packed game, which is a disadvantage for women. It is also a matter of publicity,” she remarked. “Men’s cricket is about entertainment and once the media and corporate investors start to take interest in the women’s team, it will also improve,” she added.

As for the Pakistani women’s team, she felt that expectations were high, but the team has not improved much.

“In the last Asia Cup, the Pakistani team gave us a few jitters in the first match we played against them and proved themselves well for a debut team,” she remarked. However, she said that as the Indian and Sri Lankan women’s cricket teams had been playing for a longer period, whereas the Pakistan team had started playing only four to five years ago, it would take time for the Pakistanis to improve.

Employed by the Indian Railways Mithali, when in her own city – Hyderabad Deccan – goes to work daily. “Apart from tournaments, when I am granted leave, I attend the office. However, when I return from tours I take a couple of days off to spend with my mom and dad as there is so much to catch up on once I return after a long tournament,” she said.

Her family encouraged her to play at a time when women’s cricket was not well known. Recalling an interesting episode, she said: “When I started playing I was travelling by train and a couple of guys in the train looked at my kit and asked if I was a hockey player, since the women’s hockey team was known to people. When I told them I was a cricketer they joked and laughed at the fact that a woman could play cricket,” she said with a smile.

Mithali Raj said that Karachi was little different from any Indian city except for the mini-buses – which she termed ‘gypsy’ – and Urdu written on hoardings and signs. “My notion of Pakistan being an orthodox country had been proven wrong upon my visit. People here, like in most Asian countries, are warm and hospitable,” she concluded.