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.
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.
Perceptions are more powerful than the reality.
Unfortunately, Karachi has done everything to perpetuate those perceptions and precious little to change them.
To return to its golden days, it will require hard work by each and everyone of its citizens. Anything less than that will not work.
It is achievable if done right and does not require a monumental effort or even the full force of a government.
All that it takes is, for the residents of each and every street getting organised and take care of themselves. The whole place would change.
BUT that is an ALL and EVERYONE involvement. Otherwise forget about it.
PS. I have seen it work in several parts of the world. Are the Karachiites any inferior? Getting organised is the name of the game!
To Atelier –
“The best CBM (confidence building measure) we can give to South Africans is that our Governor, Chief Minister, Ministers, Mayor, MNAs and MPAs from Karachi will attend the match to guarantee the team security and will only leave ground after the last team member leaves.”
hahahahaha …. how can this be confidence building measure ever? Our politicians, bureaucrats and even president are the prime targets of extremists…. and surprisingly, nobody is ever caught and punished for these incidents. What will the police do? There are blasts almost everyday here…. As Jayjay said, it is good on part of SA – not to cancel the whole tour … at least we get to see some good cricket ..and hey .. we are winning too … :)
The hockey Champions Trophy which was to be played in Pakistan next year (or this year) will now be held in Chennai or Malaysia.
The first ever Pakistan Fashion Week, scheduled in the first week of November, has been indefinitely postponed. Hasan Shehryar Yasin is skeptical if PFW will ever be held.
Pakistan is not comparable with NYC, neither is October 18 comparable to 9/11. Situation in Pakistan is comparable to that of Iraq.