Imran Khan’s letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi was debated
hotly. The Cricketer turned politician
claimed to have written “Pakistan
remains ready to discuss terrorism... I wish to propose a meeting between
Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi and the External Affairs
Minister Sushma Swaraj before the informal meeting of the SAARC Foreign
Ministers at the sidelines of the upcoming United Nations General Assembly in
New York. The summit will offer an opportunity for you to visit Pakistan and
for us to restart the stalled dialogue process.” ~ there were some negative comments on Indian
response as well !
The neighbours
have played Cricket – Imran is a known figure in India, Navjot Singh Sidhu
attended the swearing-in. .. remember, there were no series between Pakistan and India from 1961
till 1978. Both the countries had played three 5-Test-rubbers from 1952 till
1961, but none for the next 17 years. The Indian touring squad in 1978 was led by the classic slow left-arm leg
spinner, BS Bedi. At that time, 5 Pakistani
players who had joined the WSC had been banned. They were - Mushtaq Mohammad, Asif Iqbal, Majid Khan,
Zaheer Abbas and Imran Khan. The embattled
Pak Cricket board decided that they would take back them and suddenly, the
outcasts got rousing welcome.. Kapil Dev made his debut
then
India, not so
strong in limited overs Cricket, won the first ODI at Quetta, thanks to
Mohinder Amarnath’s all-round efforts. A four-pronged fast bowling attack
helped Pakistan square the series at Sialkot.
At Sahiwal, Mushtaq Mohammad won the toss and elected to bat on what
looked like a flat track. Karsan Ghavri, Srinivasan Venkataraghavan and Mohinder Amarnath bowled well to confine Pakistan to 205 for 7
wickets in 40 overs. Sunny Gavaskar did
not play and openers were Anshuman Gaekwad and Chetan Chauhan, then came leftie
Surinder amaranth. Indians were 183
for the loss of 2 wickets at the end of 37 overs, requiring just 23. Sarfraz
Nawaz ran in, and bounced. The ball went
too high and landed in Wasim Bari’s gloves. The batsmen stared in astonishment
as it was not called a wide. Perhaps it was a one-off error of judgement, the
Indians thought. But Sarfraz bounced yet again. Once again it was too high for
anyone to reach. Yet again, the umpire stood unmoved. Sarfraz did it for a
third time — with the same response from the umpire. And, incredibly, for a
fourth time in a row he bounced so high that even the six-foot Gaekwad, batting
on 78, had absolutely no hope of getting anywhere near the ball. The Pakistan
game plan was clear — to bowl beyond the batsman’s reach. Equally clear was the
complicity of the Pakistani umpires — this was before the advent of neutral
umpires — to help the home team achieve their goal .
The bewildered
batsmen looked at their captain Bishan Singh Bedi in the pavilion. Bedi saw the
futility of the situation and called the batsmen, Gaekwad and Viswanath, and
conceded the match, which was reduced to a farce. Just like he had declared
India’s innings prematurely at Kingston in protest to Clive Lloyd’s ruthless
bouncing tactics in 1975-76, Bedi was not afraid to bring put an end to the
farce of a ODI at Sahiwal. Pakistan’s tactics won them the series 2-1, and
Sahiwal never hosted another international match. So much so, for Paki antics
on field and off too .. .. !!
Elsewhere, Prime Minister
Imran Khan reiterated his pledge to tackle corruption, saying the
accountability process will not end until justice catches up with corrupt
elements. Addressing the inaugural ceremony of ‘Pakistan Citizen Portal’, an
application developed for citizens to register their complaints and suggestions
with the government, Imran Khan said corrupt elements will not be spared. Referring
to the workings of the application, the prime minister said that the portal
would enable the government to understand the performance of ministries and
departments. “Every citizen will know how much time it will take to respond to
their query since each case is different. We will publish all the complaints
data coming in, so the public holds provincial governments accountable too.
A simple search on the
Captain reveals that PM Imran Khan’s sister is among 44 prominent political and
government figures owning benami properties in United Arab Emirates, revealed a
Federal Investigation Agency list submitted to the Pakistan Supreme Court. The
list was part of the annexure submitted to a three judge SC bench, headed by
Chief Justice Saqib Nisar, seized with a case relating to illegal transfer of
money from Pakistan to foreign countries, the Dawn reported. The list has
identified those who owned properties registered in the name of other people,
the report said. It contains the name of Aleema Khanum, a sister of Khan, who
has been identified as ‘benamidar’ of a property. A notice has been issued to
her, but her servant said she is abroad. The list also includes the name of
government spokesperson on economy and energy issues Farrukh Saleem’s mother.
There is
another interesting media report too ! The Supreme Court of
Pakistan has reintroduced the ban on Indian content on local channels in the
country. All Indian content including films and television shows have been
banned from playing on TV channels, as per a report by news agency PTI. The judgement was passed by the apex court as
Chief Justice of Pakistan Saqib Nisar observed that the channels should
"only air appropriate content". The hearing was for a case filed by
the United Producers Association pertaining to the broadcast of foreign content
on local television channels, as per a report by Dawn. “They are trying to (obstruct the construction) of our
dam and we cannot even ban their channels?” Pakistan Chief Justice Saqib Nisar
is quoted as saying.
Getting back to that letter
of Imran – one need to read the current affairs - BSF
Head Constable Narendra Kumar was abducted and tortured before his throat was
slit by Pakistani Rangers in Ramgarh Sector of Jammu along the International
Border (IB). His body—with three bullet wounds and slit throat—was retrieved
from a spot ahead of the India-Pakistan fence after the Pakistani side did not
respond to calls for six hours to maintain the sanctity of the IB and ensure
that the BSF search parties were not fired upon. Second, Pakistan issued 20
commemorative postage stamps portraying slain terrorists and some others as
victims of atrocities by Indian troops in Kashmir. And third: To India’s
insistence that “terror must stop before talk”, Pakistani Army chief Qamar
Javed Bajwa said a few months ago: “Ultimately they (India) will have to talk
!!
The message from Pakistan
is explicit: We will continue using terror against you and you will continue to
talk to us whenever the amnesia strikes you. Some are of the view that this
meeting of foreign ministers is a diktat from the United States, but that may
not be true because the US recently admonished Pakistan for not doing enough to
curb terror and said that Pakistan does not favour a stable Afghanistan.
With regards – S.
Sampathkumar
28th Oct 2018.
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