Adil Najam

The news is too fresh, murky on the details, and still developing, but as Adnan Ahmed has just pointed out on the comments section of another post, Pakistan walked out of — and therefore possibly forfeited — the 4th Cricket Test against England at the Oval, in a dramatic turn of events. Then, it was announced that Pakistan will take the field… but just as the crowd begins to cheer, the umpires decide they will not come out if the Pakistan team does. Meanwhile the light keeps deteriorating. No matter how this ends, this will be a drama to remember.

More and developing details are available here. Best place to stay informed on this is CrickInfo.Com, from where the photograph above is are linked. (Updated after original posting).

Adil Najam

In this, the third ATP Opinion Poll (see previous polls here and here) we want to see what you think about what previous Pakistani achieved.

The key word there is ‘achieved.’ We always have plenty of discussions about what leaders have and are doing wrong, but nearly never talk about what they did right. Interestingly, even when we are trying to make a case for someone, we tend to make it by explaining what is wrong with everyone else. After all, if everyone else is bad (and worse) then our guy must be good, at least in ccomparison and by default. The logic makes a perverse sort of sense but tends to take our political conversations towards confrontations (since they are based on ‘attacking’ the other rather than on ‘supporting’ our own). So, here is an experiment to see if we are capable of talking differently about such things.

The Question: Focussing primarily on whatever ‘positives’ might have been achieved during their stint(s) in power, who, amongst the following, did the most ‘good’ for Pakistan?

Ayub Khan
Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto
Zia-ul-Haq
Benazir Bhutto
Nawaz Sharif

[For Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif consider the combined impact of two stints they each had in power]

Adil Najam

This headline is sensationalist. 3 inches of rain does not make a ‘Katrina.’ Why, then, does Pakistan’s largest city look like it does?

Rain has brought near mayhem to Karachi. Just to look at the telegraphic headline details leaves the head spinning:

Rain-related death toll in Karachi reached to 26.
Most of the victim died by electrocution.
Military police called to control the relief work in the city.
Govt. announced holiday in Karachi and Hyderabad on Friday.
Power supply, telecommunications, and mobile systems disrupted.
Severe traffic jams as many vehicles stuck.