Articles of the year 2011

In every institution an analysis of the reasons for failure are essential to establish the root causes, so that the mistakes are not repeated. In Pakistan ,unfortunately, as in any closed society a post mortem is never really allowed, or its findings are not acted upon, making the whole exercise Superfluous. This is the reason for the decline in our cricket. When it was apparent out that the Akmal brothers were not obeying instructions, and Kamran Akmal had performed below par, and on being told he was to be dropped for the next match he 'injured' his finger, alarm bells should have rung in the PCB chairman's head, and both brothers should have been sent home immediately but, the Chairman chose to ignore the warning signals, and continued with the Akmals.

Establishing the Chairman as the Godfather Of the Akmals. As a bookie on a talk show explained that in every 'fix' there was a protector in the Administration who would ensure no serious harm would befall the culprits. It has been amply demonstrated that no less than the Chairman Ijaz Butt has shepherded the Brothers up to the Semi-final. And is their final protector, with the full backing of the Patron in chief—aka the President of Pakistan. Whose position has been used to bludgeon all dissent into silence. We will not be in such a vantage position for a long time to come, and facing a weakened opposition. The Indians were over the hill, and their star Tendulkar scored his 84 with 4 lives. This was a legend used to making chanceless centuries. In Pakistan he was gifted these chances by a overly generous Pakistani field. If our team management sitting in Mohali pavilion was not asleep, they would have realized that Misbah was batting at a test innings pace. He played 40 dot balls (including a maiden over), and as we lost by 29 runs, it can safely be said that we gifted the match to India. Also the Indians saw Umar Gul as their threat being the best bowler from the Pakistani side and targeted him, taking 69 in 8 overs, with 21 taken off him in 1 over. Figures that can destroy any bowlers record, and did. Did our coach and managers not see quickly enough to take him off and stop the rot?

The stupidity of the Chairman filtered down to the field, and it is truly surprising that nobody could point out these blunders to the management, while the game was on. Surely the waterboy could have taken the message to Misbah to accelerate the score. Miandad won the world cup for us by keeping one eye on the scoreboard, and managed the pace of his innings.

With such a surfeit of talent in Pakistan, it is incredible that we could not produce a wicket keeper and Ijaz allowed ourselves to be blackmailed by the Akmal brothers. These two should be banned from Pakistani cricket forever, for their role in the New Zealand game. Umar Akmal should not be allowed anywhere near a cricket ground. All of these blunders can be blamed simply on the stupidity of the chairman, deliberate or otherwise.

Even his claiming the credit for the high finish is nonsense, for the cup should have been in our possession, so bad were the others. We were worse. Ijaz Butt used his arguments on the Patron in chief, who not knowing anything about cricket could not see through the arguments, and obviously not reading newspapers, or trusting them, so mortally terrified is our leadership of any criticism, that even a game like cricket is bent into a political instrument used to buttress the cronies leading to this debacle.

We have only our political leadership to blame, and ourselves for having allowed their elevation to power. Cricket is our national passion, and the entire nation feels gutted, and rightly so, for victory and the cup was so close.

It does seem that our country has been cheated, dismembered , sovereignity surrendered under our very noses by a handful of corrupt and unlawfully elected politicians. That even the Supreme Court itself despite its high ideals, and strong judgments finds its judgments pending execution. Why has the supreme court not ordered the COAS to implement its decisions including the removal and appointment of an honest Chairman of NAB. Until the Chief Justice and the COAS do not take charge, till then Pakistan will carry on as an unlawfully led country going from failure to failure. No number of postmortems can help, if the findings are ignored. Surely the COAS must be aware of how seriously his inaction is affecting the country? The people of Pakistan are not stupid, and realize how the CJ's judgements are also being trodden over. The CJ must now direct the COAS to have his orders implemented or he will also be liable to be questioned if and whether he did ask for assistance in the implementation of his orders. Because if he did not request for any assistance, the CJ is himself to blame.