Adil Najam

I am not making this up. If I were, I might have chosen different actors!

One of my all-time favorite books on Pakistan — Charlie Wilson’s War by George Crile (see ATP review of book)– is being turned into a Hollywood movie and has a star-studded crew at its helm.

Multiple Academy Award winner Tom Hanks has signed on to play the lead role of the colorful Texas Congressman Charlie Wilson, who was pivotal in creating and sustaining US support for Pakistan during the Afghanistan war.




Julia Roberts, also an Academy Award winner — is slated to play the role of Joanne Herring, a right-wing Houston socialite who was a close friend and confidant Gen. Zia-ul-Haq and the then Honorary Consul General of Pakistan in Houston.

Aaron Sorkin, the Emmy-winning writer for the hit NBC series “The West Wing” has put together the script, and Hanks himself and Gary Goetzman are the producers.

The book is an absolutely brilliant and riveting account, described on its cover as “the extraordinary story of the largest covert operation in history” and Dan Rather was exactly right in saying that “Tom Clancy’s fiction pales in comparison with the amazing, mesmerizing story told by George Crile.”

According to an earlier story in Variety:

Tom Hanks will star for Universal in “Charlie Wilson’s War,” an Aaron Sorkin-scripted drama about a rogue Texas congressman…. Hanks will play a congressman whose penchant for booze and women earned him the nickname Good Time Charlie. He watched his political career almost go down the drain in the early 1980s when he was caught in a hot tub tryst with two cocaine-sniffing showgirls in Las Vegas. He survived the scandal and ended up overseeing the largest and most successful covert CIA operation in history; his efforts to fund resistance fighters in Afghanistan hastened the fall of the Iron Curtain. Wilson is now a D.C. lobbyist… Hanks and Goetzman optioned the book by “60 Minutes” producer George Crile in 2003 and set Sorkin to write right after he completed his run on NBC drama “The West Wing.”

Universal Studios has tentatively set September 15, 2006, as the production start date, and expects to release it in 2007.

I, for one, will wait anxiously for the release of the movie and hope that it does justice to the book. But what I am really dying to find out is who will play the roles of Gen. Zia-ul-Haq and Gen. Akhtar Abdul Rahman; both of whom are, of course, key characters in the story.

Adil Najam

According to a Reuters newsreport by Abdul Waheed (June 14, 2006) prisoners in Landhi jail in Karachi (one of Pakistan’s biggest prison) are getting ‘extra time’ to stay up late to watch the 2006 Football World Cup.

Pakistani prisoners are granted ‘extra time’ to indulge in their favorite pastime of football, including accessing channels for ????????.

KARACHI, June 14 (Reuters) – Authorities in one of Pakistan’s biggest jails are letting football-mad inmates, including hundreds of foreigners, stay up late to watch World Cup soccer matches.Prisoners in Landhi jail in Karachi, Pakistan’s biggest city, are usually only allowed to watch television until 11 p.m. (1900 GMT) but the rule has been dropped for the World Cup.

“Prisoners are provided with cable television in a designated area. Some are very keen to watch the matches as their countries are playing in it. We’ve allowed some relaxation,” said the superintendent of the prison, Anwar Mustafa told reporters.

The jail has 643 foreign inmates, most of them serving time for drug offences.Inmates at Karachi’s main women’s prison have also caught World Cup fever, and they too are being allowed to stay up late, said warder, Bashiran Bibi. “They watch intensely and cheer every goal. They seem to forget their problems,” Bashiran said of her charges who include three women from Ghana, one from Germany and six from Ivory Coast.

Pakistan has never played in a World Cup finals and comes 153rd in world football rankings but the World Cup is followed with huge interest.

Adil Najam

Did you know that Pakistan has an ‘A1 Team Pakistan‘ for Grand Prix racing?

I did not, but now I do. Don’t know what to make of it yet, but there is a hoard of information and kool pictures and videos on the team’s promotional site. According to a news promo on the site, the A1 Team finished last season with “Qualified: 14th, Sprint Race: 12th, Feature Race: 5th.” Don’t know how good or bad that is, but the website made it sound like a big deal; and I am happy to take their word for it.

The driver for the team is 20 years old Adam Khan, about whom the website tells us:

Adam Khan is making the most of his second home here in China. At Shanghai International Circuit to see Adam race for the first time is his ‘second’ mother and long time family friend Madam Zhang, daughter of the former Mayor of Beijing, who has given Adam the Chinese name ‘Li Sihan’. Fluent in Mandarin, Adam is obviously at home here and has spent time signing autographs and chatting to the local spectators.