While you were glued to your flat screen, with your eyeballs popping out every time the ball was hit for a six, in a dark corner of India – in a Haryana village very close to the national capital – a dog was barking. Since it was a Dalit dog (in India, even dogs have caste), the upper caste Jaats were getting all riled up. So they decided to teach the dog a lesson. A bunch of them surrounded a Dalit house and set it on fire. Inside the house were trapped an 18-year-old girl and her old father. Since the girl was physically challenged and could not move out of the burning house, she and her father were engulfed and consumed by the fire. This is how people teach a lesson to dogs in New India: by making the poor, lower castes die like dogs.
Even as you were glued to TV, watching the IPL drama – both on the field and off field – a few more things happened. Highly dangerous radioactive material affected several people in a scrap market of Delhi; more than 100 people died in the cow-belt areas as mercury touched 43 degree mark; more people died of hunger and starvation across the country; new figures revealed that the number of poor in India stands at 800 million and not 327 million as claimed by the government; and it was reported that the government was tapping the phones of important political leaders. It may also be tapping the phones of ordinary citizens.
NEW DELHI: The authorities may have refrained from calling the blasts in Bangalore a terror act, but the incident can well be a wake-up call ahead of the Delhi Commonwealth Games as it exposed chinks in the armour of the security agencies.
The low-intensity explosions were set off by devices with timers, pointing to an expertise that can be used to engineer mayhem on a bigger scale. In fact, in crowded settings, even low-intensity blasts can exact a disproportionate toll by triggering panic leading to stampede.
That the packets carrying explosives went undetected in an area which is supposed to be thoroughly scanned, considering the known plan of terrorists to target Bangalore and sports venues across the country, has distressed the authorities.
MUMBAI – Hindu extremists have a plan or two up their sleeve for Sania Mirza and Shoaib Malik.
The Indian tennis star has decided to marry the ex Pakistan cricket captain and this has not gone down well with Hindu extremists such as Shiv Sena, which has organised protest rallies all over India in which posters and effigies of the bride and groom were set alight.
Though the Sena does not have a good enough presence in Hyderabad it is doing everything possible to make its presence felt on the D Day of Sania’s marriage. It is believed that there would be a protest organized by the Sena in conjunction with many other Hindu extremist groups near the hotel where the marriage would take place.
Bal Thackeray is said to be fuming ever since the news of the marriage broke in the media earlier this week.
‘They are attacking us with their terrorists, they are kicking us out of Afghanistan, they are sidelining us at major global summits and conferences, and now they are stealing our women? Is India a land of neuters that she has to go find a man in Pakistan to marry? (India mai kya hijray rehte hai jo woh mard dhoondne Pakistan gaee hai)’, Said Bal Thackeray this morning.
The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) which is known for its violence against North Indians in the state of Maharashtra has also joined in the chorus.
The MNS is headed by Raj Thackeray, nephew of Bal Thackeray, who had split from the Shiv Sena in 2006.
‘We’ll see how this Pakistani takes our girl. This is an insult and we will not let this happen at any cost’, Raj Thackeray is reported to have said.
It is believed that Sania and her family will be enhancing the security arrangements of the marriage as Shoaib’s family from Pakistan could be targeted.
A security report will advise England’s eight Indian Premier League players to pull out of this year’s tournament due to threats from al-Qaeda.
By Nick Hoult
Telegraph Sport understands the report, commissioned by the players’ unions in England, Australia and South Africa and written by the England team’s security adviser Reg Dickason, will state the players’ safety cannot be guaranteed and threats issued by al-Qaeda sources last week were credible.
Fica, the international players’ union, expects a mass pull-out of players from the tournament this week unless security concerns are addressed or the IPL is moved out of India. The report will be passed on to the IPL’s international players, who will then make the decision to travel to India on an individual basis. The tournament starts in Mumbai on March 12, but the majority of the eight franchises begin training as early as next week, meaning the players will have to make a quick decision.
Bollywood stars Shilpa Shetty and Preity Zinta have added a new twist to the IPL affair by claiming that they were threatened into snubbing Pakistani cricketers at the auction. According to a report by an Australian publication ‘The Age’, Shetty told India’s ‘Mid-Day’ that threats were made against her team and any subsequent Pakistan cricketer picked by her franchise.
“You must look at it pragmatically and see that we have had these people who are constantly threatening,” Rajasthan co-owner Shetty told Indian publication Mid-Day. “It’s not something we hold against the Pakistani players.
“We completely understand the situation but as franchise owners are we willing to take that risk? If something happens to the Pakistani players, the onus lies on us and who is going to take responsibility for a situation like that?
“When we said ‘availability’, we wanted complete assurance that those players would be available in the country and that we were going to be able to provide security for them,” she added.
CENTURION – Within minutes of Pakistan’s last ball defeat at the hands of Australia at the Centurion ground in South Africa, Indian Minister for Extrenal Affairs S M Krishna has sensationally pointed the finger at Kashmir-based militant group ‘Lashkar-e-Tayba’ which it alleges is supported by Pakistan’s InterServices Intelligence Agency (ISI).
‘We know there is no way Pakistan would have lost to Australia after being in a winning position towards the end. We have intercepted calls from Lashkar-e-Tayba masterminds made to the Pakistan dressing room in those last few minutes of the game. You can see why Misbah-ul-Haq went down and asked the physio came out with the message that they have to lose the game.’ He remarked.
Earlier, Home Affairs minister P Chidambaram had talked of Lashkar-e-Tayba using earnings from betting on allegedly fixed matches to fund what he called ‘Terror attacks’ on Indian soil.
Congratulations Pakistan for sticking another one down the throats of our arch-rivals. Don’t care if we go out in the next game, what matters is that the boys stood up to be counted when it mattered most.
His nails had been pulled off, his body bore torture marks and his eyes had sunk, and when he died after gruesome torture, the body of Khalid Mahmood was handed over to his relatives in Pakistan by the Indian authorities.
Khalid Mahmood went to India in 2005 to Mohali to watch cricket match, and he was arrested by RAW on charges of spying. Whereas Pakistani minister Ansar Burni handed over the convicted Indian spy Kashmir Singh in greath health and shape in one piece to Indian authorities with all the fanfare in the world.
The difference in the mindset and nature of the two nations couldn’t be more apparent. While we are releasing their spies, they are sending us the body parcels of our innocent people who just went to the land of Hindutva to watch a cricket match.
Much celebrated and timely victory by Pakistani cricket T20 team, our brothers and sisters under occupation did not hesitated to take risk of chanting slogans of Islam, “Allahu Akbar” and pro-Pakistani, they shared the joy and hapiness as if it is their victory against Indian forces.
No sooner than Afridi ran for a winning run in the penultimate over on Sunday night in T20 WC final that streets throughout Kashmir valley resonated with the sounds of boom boom Afridi, pro-freedom and pro-Pakistani slogans and the sound of firecrackers.
Our brothers and sisters are waiting for freedom since long, insha Allah it is not far now, probably few more years under occupation then it will be bright Kashmiri morning without dark clouds of occupation.
Pakistan’s victory in T20 worldcup proved our bond with Muslims of Occupied Kashmiri Territory that they were not even a step back in celebrating victory of Pakistani team in the mega event with Indian forces only to stay in bunkers to cry over humiliating Indian exit from World Cup.
Few years ago, a Kashimiri young man lost his life at the hands of Indian soldiers who was shot multiple times when Indian cricket team was given a humiliating defeat by Pakistan in final of Austral-Asia Cup played at Sharjah.
The residents of Fateh Kadal could not rejoice the team’s win as joy was drenched in blood when Sheikh Imtiyaz Ahmad, a 32-year-old passionate Kashmiri cricket fan, fell to bullets of troopers near his home. Imtiyaz was also the caretaker of the local Cricket Club.
The troopers were infuriated with the locals applauding Pakistan’s performance.
Fayaz says that just as Sachin Tendulkar’s wicket fell, the troopers converged at the house where the locals were watching the match forcing them to turn the television off and disperse to their respective homes.
Muhamamd Shafi, who learned cricket from Imtiyaz, said that once they were out in the lane, the troopers started firing, “There was chaos and everyone ran helter- skelter for safety. Imtiyaz had just reached near his home when a bullet hit him in the chest bringing him down instantly,” Shafi said.
Post update:
July 2, 2009: Thousands join anti-India protests after martyrdom of a Kashmiri by Indian police. BBC reports that the victim was the fourth one during series of murders during rally.
ISLAMABAD: The portraits of Founder of Pakistan Quaid-e-Azam Muhammed Ali Jinnah have been removed from the Prime Minister House and Presidential House.
Two days ago, President Asif Ali Zardari hosted a reception in the honour of national cricket team on winning the ICC Twenty20 World Cup title. On this occasion, the team players and officials had a group photo with President Zardari and Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani.
There are pictures of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, Benazir Bhutto, Bilawal Zardari Bhutto and President Zardari without any picture of founder of Pakistan are seen hung in the backdrop of photo.
We have compiled a list of messages for our readers from prominent personalities such as Zaid Hamid, Mushahid Hussain, and Imran Khan with more to be added later today. We’ll start off with our own message to all Pakistanis on this wonderful occasion:
The PKKH Team:
A warning to the doom merchants – Pakistan will not bow down.
For decades they’ve talked about how Pakistan is on the verge of collapse, a failed state, better off chopped into four smaller countries. Ever since the nation’s birth our enemies have steadfastly worked overtime to reverse the miracle of Pakistan.
Pakistanis are arguably among the most resilient people in the history of this earth. No other nation can soak up as much pressures that Pakistan has in recent years.
We’ve fought wars, brought superpowers down on our doorstep, faced internal strife and terrorist attacks, faced monumental refugee crisis, earthquakes, floods, and have been labelled terrorists. However, each time we’ve dusted ourselves off and moved on with a solid determination and the steely resolve that makes us ‘Pakistanis’.
It is therefore no surprise that despite being deprived of top level international cricket for more than 15 months, being isolated internationally and reeling under the most harrowing incident of the game, fighting a war inside our borders and looking after three million of our brothers and sisters made homeless due to conflict, we have managed come out on top of the world in yesterday’s T20 final.
This is who we are.
This is what we do.
The next time someone tells you Pakistan’s about to fall to the Taliban or end up carved into four pieces, you can tell them to zip it. There is no power on earth that can undo Pakistan. It has come to stay.
Don’t let them distract you, for we have a wonderful destiny to achieve, and a dream called ‘Pakistan’ to fulfill with 17 crore wickets in hand.
Messages from Zaid Hamid, Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed and Imran Khan are below:
Just saw this image published at a cricketing website with the caption:
‘Homeless children play cricket after being displaced by the Taliban, Swabi, Pakistan.’
I say, while in Pakistan, they are not homeless.They are displaced from warm holdings of a house to harsh surroundings. Internally Displaced Persons(IDPs). They are not homeless because Pakistan is their home. And ours.
The Daily Mail is the only Pakistani newspaper that publishes simultaneously from Islamabad and Beijing. Yesterday, Christina Palmer, the paper’s longtime correspondent based in Johannesburg, South Africa, filed this interesting story. I copy it here in red without change:
Johannesburg: Indian media is looking into a surprising incident during inaugural ceremony of Indian Premier League, shifted due to security reasons from India to South Africa, as to weather the dog which disrupted the ceremony for half an hour has really any links to ISI, Pakistan’s premier intelligence agency, which is blamed by Indian media for all wrongs happening within their country.
Considering their past pattern, Indian media may certainly blame ISI for this incident although most likely they would not find any
proof thereof but certainly the poor dog would not be able to speak that he was not sent by any intelligence agency for that the ISI.
Surely, the IPL Commissioner, Lalit Modi will talk to South African authorities for sure to keep that aspect of security in mind while chasing barging dogs in the IPL arena.
Rizwan Razi, our colleague from CNBC Pakistan, read this story and emailed me this question: “Just checking: Is it an ordinary dog or a ‘Slumdog Millionaire’?
With the Pakistani Team already in Dubai for the Australia Cricket Series, its time to get a squad of supporters up and running.
Schedule:
April 22: First ODI at Dubai at 3pm
April 24: Second ODI at Dubai at 3pm
April 27: Third ODI at Abu Dhabi at 3pm
May 1: Fourth ODI at Abu Dhabi at 3pm
May 3: Fifth ODI at Abu Dhabi at 3pm
May 7: Twenty20 at Dubai at 8pm
LIMITED EDITION T-SHIRTS AVAILABLE
For only AED 30. To get your hands on one, email pak.tees@gmail.com
These shirts are only available in the UAE at the moment.
Pakistan’s leading English Daily DAWN has confirmed PKKH’s Report from March 4th that the weapons recovered in the immediate aftermath of the Lahore Attacks on Sri Lankan Cricket Team are of Indian origin.
According to a forensic report, four rocket-launchers and nine explosives seized from the scene are factory-made and used by Indian forces. Full Report
COLOMBO: Sri Lankan papers have slammed the tendency in some quarters to use the 3/3 terrorist outrage against Sri Lankan cricketers in Lahore, to demonise Pakistan and make it an international outcaste.
Recalling Pakistan’s role in helping Colombo maintain the territorial integrity of Sri Lanka in the face of Tamil Tiger separatism, ‘The Island’ said that but for Pakistan’s support for Sri Lanka’s war on terror, perhaps there would have been no country for Mahela Jayawardene and others to represent in international cricket. It was because Pakistan had rushed Multi-Barrel Rocket Launchers that the Sri Lankan army was able to break the siege of Jaffna by the LTTE in 2002, the paper said.
LAHORE – Sources have informed PKKH that weapons recovered in the aftermath of the Lahore attacks on Sri Lankan cricketers include a Russian made RPG-22 (a one-shot disposable anti-tank rocket launcher) and an 84 mm Carl-Gustaf Recoilless Rifle Launcher.
Both these weapons are standard Indian Army issuance.
The RPGs used by Pakistani / Afghan militants is the soviet era RPG-7 – the most widely distributed and used RPG in the world.
“The truth is we owe our lives to the courageous Mohammad Khalil, the driver. I will forever be grateful to him. The tyres of the bus had been shot out and he was in grave personal danger, exposed to gunfire at the front of the bus. But he was hell-bent on getting us to safety and, somehow, he got us moving again. Had Khalil not acted with such courage and presence of mind most of us would have been killed.
Standing still next to the roundabout we were sitting ducks for the 12 gunmen. We only found out afterwards that a rocket launcher just missed us as we began moving and turned for the stadium gates, the rocket blowing up an electricity pylon. Khalil saw a hand grenade tossed at us that failed to explode. Someone must have been looking over us because right now it seems a miracle we survived. ”
Terror struck at the heart of cricket when masked gunmen attacked the bus carrying the Sri Lankan cricket team to the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore.
Sources within the security establishment had been aware of an imminent attack being planned by Research & Analysis Wing – India’s premier intelligence agency.
“We had been picking up chatter and had received important information from the R&AW terrorists arrested in recent weeks. An attack was imminent. We had prepared for any eventuality and Alhamdolillah we were able to avert a major catastrophe. The security team fought bravely”, said a source on condition of anonymity.
Five cricketers, including Mahela Jayawardene, the Sri Lankan captain, and his deputy Kumar Sangakkara, received minor injuries. The attack left five security men dead.
Sports producer Gavin Scovell said security teams responded quickly.
“The guards were brilliant. They weren’t panicking. They were very calm,” Scovell said. “It must have been a terrifying experience, but they handled it well.”
Indian politicians and diplomats have been campaigning hard to have Pakistan declared a terrorist state, in recent weeks. The Indian Cricket Board also made its displeasure known at Sri Lanka’s decision to tour Pakistan, after India pulled out of the tour in the wake of Mumbai attacks.
The attack in Lahore is designed to damage the strong relations Pakistan shares with Sri Lanka. Pakistan has excellent relations with Sri Lanka and has given training and supplied arms to the Sri Lankan military fighting the Indian-backed Tamil Tiger rebels.
The attack on the Sri Lankan cricketers comes just a day after Sri Lankan state media published photographs and videos of Indian ministers including MDMK chief Vaiko, with LTTE supremo V Prabhakaran.
Kamran Khan: India Behind Lahore Attack
Pakistan’s Munich: The Enemy’s Fingerprints
The Indian fingerprints in the attack on the Sri Lankan Cricket Team cannot be ignored. New Delhi has been at war with both Islamabad and Colombo for decades. Hitting both in one place is a masterstroke. Indian military and its agents should brace for retaliation. Read Full Article | Ahmed Quraishi
Zaid Hamid on the Lahore Attack on Sri Lankan Cricketers
Who could be involved in Lahore attach on Sri Lankan Cricket team? Who is attacking our long standing friends? What could be the intentions behind it? Is it regional game? Are there any links with Mumbai Attack? and much more… LISTEN
Minister of State Nabil Ahmed Gabol said India is behind the attack on Sri Lanka’s cricket team in Lahore on Tuesday, saying the attackers had crossed into Pakistan from India.
“The evidence which we have got shows that these terrorists entered from across the border from India,” Gabol told Geo News.
“This was a conspiracy to defame Pakistan internationally. This incident took place in reaction to 26/11,” he said. It is a declaration of open war on Pakistan by India,” said the minister.
