Today’s news is that South Africa has refused to play 5th One Day International of the series at National Stadium, Karachi. Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has now moved the match to Lahore. South Africa made this decision after some of their players showed their uneasiness at playing in Karachi due to recent events. This is bad news for Karachi. The city’s reputation as a peaceful cricket center was finally coming back to normal. Since 2004, all matches played here have been successful and peaceful.
South Africa’s current decision will put Karachi back in a situation where other teams in future may refuse to play here for reasons which have nothing to do with crowd behavior or cricketing facilities. I also believe the team security in Karachi is not worse than any other city of Pakistan.
I do not agree with those who are saying it is a shame for Karachiites. It is not a shame b/c citizens of the city are not at fault here. It is an unfortunate situation. The behavior of Karachi crowd has been exemplary in recent years.
PCB is too easy and too willing to change venues whenever some team ask them to. Somebody mentioned here rightly that may be the right way would’ve been for Govt officials to watch match in public. Providing more security is the answer not moving the venue. If SA didn’t want to play in Karachi PCB should’ve just cancelled the match rather than moving it easily and making it harder for the city to become a venue next time. This is my personal thought on this issue.
And those of you still think it was a suicide bomb, both Babar Awan and Abida Hussain are on record saying that it was not a suicide bombing.
SA don’t want to play in Karachi, thats their prerogative. But the don’t blame the Jihadis for it. Or have we forgotten the mayhem caused by the secular MQM on May 12.
There is no evidence that a Jihadi blew himself up in PPP rally. Its more or less evident that the attack was by PPP itself or the agencies. The jihadis have nothing to fear from Benazir or nothing to gain from killing her.
Why is Musharraf so afraid of taking foreign help in the investigation? Because he knows that the fingers will not point towards the jihadis in this case.
The Musharraf government has taken the intelligentsia of this country for a ride for a long time and it seems that the educated love to be taken for a ride.
Given the scale and magnitude of the attacks, I’m not surprised that the cricket match has been moved out of Karachi. I guess we should be thankful that the series hasn’t been canceled.
It is a crying shame for Karachites especially but for all of Pakistan. Karachi is and will always be our stellar city, the city of lights, we must not lose heart these dark days will pass INSHALLAH. We can thank Bibi and Altaf Bhai for much of Karachi’s troubles over the years (I am not blaming her for the blasts before anyone thinks I am!), do have a read of my recent post on Bibi’s return at http://www.otherpakistan.org/archive.html
Feimanallah
Wasim
cricket will return to its rightful home in th
I dont blame SA for not playing in Karachi. The city has law and order problem for a long time since it was marred by ethno-political violence.
May 12 and then October 18 bomb blast shouldn’t leave any doubt that security situation is at its low particularly in Karachi and in general, all around the nation.
It is sad news. I don’t blame the SA team, they have safety to consider. Who do you blame,? MQM creates mayhem in May, Jehadis blow themselves up in a ppp rally and then PPP sympathizers burn clifton and zamzama shops. I wonder we would realize that we only end up hurting ourselves?
On a positive note, we had the world social forum in 2006, Kara film festival continues. It truly is a city for the braves . . . or the foolhardy.
It is sad news. I don’t blame the SA team, they have safety to consider. Who do you blame,? MQM creates mayhem in May, Jehadis blow themselves up in a ppp rally and then PPP sympathizers burn clifton and zamzama shops. I wonder wwe would realize that we only end up hurting ourselves?
On a positive note, we had the world social forum in 2006, Kara film festival continues. It truly is a city for the braves . . . or the foolhardy.