Islamabad, Mar.9 (ANI): Amidst the massive hue and cry over Pakistan’s winless tour of Australia, former captain Inzamam-ul-Haq believes that it is the time for Pakistan cricket to move on rather than dwelling on the negative aspect of the tour, and the players and management should work for a better future.
“I believe that the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and players should not dwell on the negatives of this tour and instead build for the future. The tour is over, it’s done and dusted, it’s finished with, don’t keep on thinking about the tour of Australia and looking at what went wrong,” Inzamam said.
Inzamam said the players should learn more from their mistakes during the tour and try to rectify their faults instead of just thinking over the defeat again and again, which would cause more problems for Pakistan cricket.
Commenting on Pakistan’s chances of defending its title in the forthcoming T20 World Championship, which is scheduled to be held in April-May in the Caribbean, Inzamam said Pakistan would be amongst the favourites for the tournament.
“Pakistan are a formidable Twenty over team and they will be amongst the favourites for this tournament. They have a fine array of stroke makers and wicket taking bowlers and yes, I think they can retain the trophy,” PakPassion.net quoted Inzamam, as saying. (ANI)
Lahore, Mar.9 (ANI): Pakistan fast bowler Mohammad Asif’s estranged girl friend Veena Malik, a noted film and TV actress, has claimed that she had supported Asif both ‘emotionally’ and ‘financially’ during his bad days, and now she at least wants her money back.
Malik has sued Asif for recovery of 3.4 million rupees.
“When he (Asif) was banned from cricket and when no one was willing to support or help him I stood by his side and I gave him money which he said he would pay me back when things improved,” Malik.
“Now that his situation is better he is trying to avoid meeting his commitment but I want my money back, it is my hard earned money,” she added.
Malik also claimed that Asif had proposed her on Valentine’s Day but she had refused as she wanted to concentrate on her career.
Meanwhile, Asif has rubbished Malik’s allegations.
“She supported me a lot but this money business is not correct,” The Daily Times quoted Asif, as saying.
Asif was romantically linked to Malik, and there were rumours last year that both got secretly married in London, which has been denied by both of them.
However, Asif got married to a girl from Lahore, Hina, recently.
According to sources, Asif had assured Malik of marriage once his cricket career was back on track and he was selected in the Pakistan team.
“Veena kept on giving Asif money during his turbulent period. She had to sell her house in Islamabad, a couple of residential plots and gold jewelry to help Asif come out of the mess in which he was,” sources said.
“She was madly in love with him, but he dumped her and married someone else. Veena has documentary proof of the money she was giving to Asif for the last two years,” the sources added. (ANI)
Islamabad, March 9 (DPA) A suspected US drone attack Monday in Pakistan’s tribal region near the Afghan border killed at least five people, an intelligence official said.
Three more people were injured in the aerial strike that targeted a house in Miran Shah, the main town in tribal district North Waziristan, a known sanctuary of Taliban and Al Qaeda militants.
An intelligence official who spoke on condition of anonymity said the identity of those killed and wounded was not yet known.
The US military has recently intensified drone strikes in North Waziristan from where Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters launch cross border raids on NATO-led international forces in Afghanistan.
Dozens of Al Qaeda operatives and some major Taliban leaders have died in the US aerial strikes, although a large number of civilians also perished.
Pakistan, a key US ally in fight against terrorism, has repeatedly protested the airstrikes, saying they violate the country’s sovereignty. But analysts believe Pakistani spy agencies covertly share intelligence with CIA about the possible targets.
Lahore, March 8 (IANS) Acting once again with impunity, terrorists rammed a car packed with over 600 kg of explosives into a building housing the Federal Investigative Agency (FIA) in the capital of Pakistan’s Punjab province, officials said. At least 12 people were killed
The FIA building, located in the upscale Model Town residential neighbourhood, was teeming with employees when the huge blast shattered it.
The deafening explosion left 68 people injured and bloodied.
“It was a car bomb. The terrorists detonated the explosive-laden vehicle at the main gate,” DPA quoted Tariq Saleem Dogar, the police chief for Punjab province, as saying.
The FIA probes terror-related incidents and the office where the bomber struck was used to question important terror suspects. An FIA building in Lahore bore the brunt of a bomb attack in October 2009.
A police official said the FIA’s special investigation unit was located in the residential area as there was a shortage of offices.
A student narrated the horror of the car bombing.
“We were in class when a huge blast took place. It shattered window glass. I was thrown several feet away,” the student at the Quran Academy seminary said.
Javed Akram, the head of Jinnah Hospital, said eight security officials were among the 12 dead. A woman who was taking her daughter
to school was also killed. The girl was in critical condition.
The explosion was so powerful that it created a huge crater and damaged buildings close by.
Television channels showed people trying to pull out bodies and the injured from the rubble. Locals dug with their bare hands to help the victims.
“It was around 8.15 a.m. when I heard a deafening blast which shook my house,” said Nasim-ur-Rehman who lives over a km from the scene of attack.
“When I rushed out I saw thick smoke billowing out,” Geo TV quoted him as saying.
No group claimed responsibility for the terror strike.
The bombing damaged several buildings and vehicles in Model Town, home to a number of politicians including former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.
Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik said militants had moved to cities after facing defeat in tribal regions and the Swat Valley.
“Those who are killing innocent people are not Muslims, they are hired assassins,” Malik told reporters in Islamabad.
He observed that the Lahore terror strike seemed to be the handiwork of Taliban and militant groups linked to Al Qaeda.
“In almost every blast there has been their involvement and they themselves have also claimed responsibility for attacks,” Malik said.
Washington, Mar 8(ANI): In an article for The Newsweek magazine, Selig Harrison, director of the Asia Program at the Center for International Policy and a senior scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, has said that the Obama administration needs to shore up its support for beleaguered Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari.
Suggesting the need for easing internal tensions between Zardari and the Pakistani Army on the one hand, and improving ties with India by working out their differences on key issues, Harrison has recommended four steps that need to be taken.
He believes the U.S. should encourage India and Pakistan to give greater autonomy to Kashmiris under their respective jurisdictions, and promote intra-Kashmir trade as part of the growing India-Pakistan economic cooperation that Zardari advocates.
Harrison further recommends that the U.S. should also reject the Pakistani Army’s attempt to use the absence of Kashmir negotiations as an excuse for supporting the Taliban.
“Parties must recognize that defusing Kashmir will take time, because it involves much more than a dispute over territory,” Harrison said.
He also stressed that New Delhi should lift non-tariff procedural barriers that block Pakistani exports of textile products and raw cotton, thus necessitating costly imports.
Harrison says Zardari is cornered on two-fronts extremists taking advantage of economic unrest in Pakistan and hardliners who argue that opening up trade would lead to economic domination by India.
He, however, believes that Zardari has demonstrated surprising courage and consistency in seeking to downgrade the Kashmir issue and to jump-start economic cooperation with India, starting with liberalized trade, as the key to stabilizing Pakistan. (ANI)
Lahore, Mar 8(ANI): Pakistani film and TV actress Veena Malik has served a legal notice to her former boyfriend and Pakistan fast bowler Mohammad Asif for recovery of Rs 3.4 million.
The notice, sent through her counsel, reportedly states that Asif was given different amounts on different occasions by Veena on the promise that he would return it, but he did not.
“If Asif fails to return the same within seven days after receiving the notice, an FIR will be lodged and legal action will be taken against him in a court of law,” The Daily Times quoted the notice, as saying.
Asif was romantically linked to Veena, and there were rumours last year that both got secretly married in London, which has been denied by both of them.
Veena claims that she had helped Asif financially during the period when he was under a ban for using drugs.
Asif served a 12-month ban for failing a dope test in the inaugural edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), and was also fined Rs. one million by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for possessing opium that landed him in 19 days of detention in Dubai airport.
According to sources, Asif had assured Veena to marry her once his cricket career was back on track and he was selected in the Pakistan team.
“Veena kept on giving Asif money during his turbulent period. She had to sell her house in Islamabad, a couple of residential plots and gold jewelry to help Asif come out of the mess in which he was,” sources said.
“She was madly in love with him, but he dumped her and married someone else. Veena has documentary proof of the money she was giving to Asif for the last two years,” the sources added. (ANI)
Islamabad, Mar 8(ANI): As the world marks International Women’s Day on Monday, a Human Rights Commission report in Pakistan has revealed some horrific statistics about women rights violations throughout the country.
The report reveals that at least 9,670 women have been killed only in Punjab for honour killings and property disputes for the last five years.
Out of 9,670 women, immediate relatives including husbands, brothers, fathers and others killed 1,638 ladies.
The report also claims that about 8,041 women were killed due to property and other such issue, and about 3,379 women were killed for not bringing dowry with them and asking for their rights.
“They were either killed by setting them on fire or by acid throwing, while hundreds of women who are facing Karokari, other such honour killings and infamous Hudood Ordinance charges in the jails of the country are still to be heard,” The Nation quoted the Human Rights Commission Report, as saying.
Meanwhile, the Press United to Serve Humanity (PUSH), a Pakistan-based non-profit consortium of journalists working for freedom of Press and protection of human rights, said though the Pakistan Government has taken some steps to ameliorate the status of women and protect their rights, violence against them is abundant in Pakistan.
The NGO has also demanded for the implementation of laws for protection of women rights in letter and spirit. (ANI)
Islamabad, Mar 8(ANI): The declaration of assets made by Pakistani MPs have proved to be a futile exercise, as faulty provisions fails to empower the Election Commission (EC) to examine the written statements.
The data on the assets and liabilities of senators, compiled and printed by the EC, is full of inconsistent figures and discrepancies, but under the existing law, the EC cannot even write to a senator to inquire about any discrepancy.
EC Secretary Ishtiak Ahmad Khan said there was no legal procedure for the EC to evaluate the assets and liabilities of parliamentarians, due to which the members to go unpunished for providing statements with discrepancies and incorrect information.
“We simply collect and publish the information, as the law does not authorise the EC to examine the data on the assets and liabilities provided by parliamentarians,” The Daily Times quoted Ishtiak, as saying.
“We are in the process of drafting a five-year strategic plan, which would be proposing constitutional, legal and administrative reforms to effectively address such concerns,” he added.
Another EC official said no action could be taken against any discrepancies in the statements, unless “someone from the outside blew the whistle.”
“Usually, political opponents take the opportunity to challenge or not to challenge such statements to settle scores,” the source said.
A detailed calculation of the official record of assets and liabilities of 100 senators reveals that at least 42 senators have not provided information in the prescribed form pertaining to the actual cost and present value of immoveable property and details of their liabilities.
Of the 42 senators, 24 did not give the current value of assets; 10 were unable to provide the actual cost of their assets, whereas four senators gave similar figures for the actual cost and present value of their assets. (ANI)
Islamabad, Mar. 8 (ANI): The United Nations has requested the Pakistan Government to deploy additional police and paramilitary personnel to guard their Islamabad offices in the wake of two recent terror threats.
A letter sent by the UN’s resident coordinator in Pakistan to the ministry of foreign affairs identifies 15 offices in different parts of the city that require extra protection, The Dawn reports.
According to sources, the agency has suggested that the deployments could be on a temporary basis.
In recent months, the Pakistani Foreign Ministry has repeatedly warned diplomatic missions to exercise extra vigilance in view of the security situation obtaining in the country.
On their part, the authorities have already enhanced security around the missions. (ANI)
Islamabad, Mar 8(ANI): Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ijaz Butt has defended Waqar Younis’ appointment as Pakistan coach despite allegations of match fixing against him.
Butt said that all those fined on the basis of Justice Malik Qayyum’s inquiry report ten years ago had been cleared for national duties now, and stressed the services of players like Waqar, Wasim Akram or Ijaz Ahmed were being utilised after clearance and recovery of fines.
“Ten years have passed since the Malik Qayyum report came out and they have paid their fines and the International Cricket Council (ICC) also has no objection to them being given responsibilities by the board,” The Daily Times quoted Butt, as saying.
Some former players have criticised the board for appointing those players on key positions despite being named in the Qayyum match-fixing inquiry report.
Waqar, Wasim, Aaqib Javed, Saeed Anwar were among those who the Qayyum committee fined for not cooperating with the inquiry that lasted for some 18 months.
Butt further said that Waqar would be paid around Rs. 650,000 monthly salary besides other perks.
“We think that is a reasonable amount we are paying for his services since the former Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer was paid around Rs 1.7 million a month by the board,” Butt added. (ANI)