Megalomaniac

Inzamamul Haq has resigned as captain of Pakistan’s cricket team. Chairman Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Dr Nasim Ashraf has followed suit and so has the national cricket selection committee. Inzamam’s resignation had been long overdue. It came a bit late in the wake of Pakistan’s shameful defeat at the hands of Ireland and Bob Woolmer’s death. On the other hand, as protests against the PCB chairman grew stronger after the World Cup debacle, he did not show any signs of accepting responsibility and handing in his resignation. It is good he has done what he should have done much earlier as a mark of acknowledgement of his role in the debacle. As for the selection committee, Wasim Bari, the chairman of selectors, submitted their resignation on behalf of the entire selection committee. It is indeed good to know that the national team’s captain, the PCB chairman and the selection committee have acknowledged their responsibility in Pakistan cricket team’s failure in the World Cup. With their...

“Yesterday is history, Tomorrow is a mystery, Today is the present – a gift to make the most of”, is the quote that greets you when you log on to Bob Woolmer’s personal website ( http://bobwoolmer.com/ ). Pakistan’s cricket team failed to make the most of the present when they recently played Ireland in the World Cup, which unfolded some tumultuous events. Now that the World Cup debacle has become history and as such, nothing can be done to reverse it, Pakistani cricket’s tomorrow can be saved. This is the only way to pay a befitting tribute to Bob Woolmer, who apparently could not overcome the shock of the defeat of a team in the preparation of which he invested much labour and affection against a cricket minnow. Cricket is regarded as a game of glorious uncertainties. Indeed, what happened in the match against Ireland provides evidence of this characteristic of this game. Yet it would be wrong not to pinpoint the deficiencies and the lack of professionalism on the part of the Pakista...

I protest against the abominable treatment of Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry by the general-president!

What is the purpose of marking International Women’s Day in Pakistan when even the highest state functionaries like ministers are not safe if they are women? Ours is a patriarchal society where customs like vinni and swara (exchange of women, mostly young girls, to settle feuds), and karo - kari (honour killings) are considered a norm, where the perpetrators of gang rape of women and children are allowed to roam free, where the police refuse to lodge an FIR against domestic violence, where barbaric laws are presented in the garb of Islamic shariah , where the self-appointed guardians of religion disallow women to go to schools. Despite the prevalence of such misogynist practices and customs, it appears times are changing. The Pakistan Military Academy Kakul opening its doors to women, the inclusion of women pilots in the Pakistan Air Force (PAF), a woman pilot and her all-women crew flying a PIA plane, the first deployment of women military guards at the tomb of Quaid-e-Azam Muhamma...

“And by that destiny to perform an act Whereof what’s past is prologue, what to come In yours and my discharge” — William Shakespeare ( The Tempest ). Knowledge of the present alone is similar to looking at one’s reflection in muddy water on a particularly gloomy day. There we see vague arbitrary shapes, ill-defined in construction, chaotic in appearance and too dull for any insight and understanding. A murky aura with a mist of prevalent social and cultural prejudices also hovers around it. The madness and confusion of such an addition may even result in the hallucination of glory and grandeur, shapeless clouds of mist joining for a moment to enhance the viewer’s delusion. Any sane person, desiring a realistic appreciation of life, cannot be constrained with this depressing state of affairs alone. Thus, by adding lights of myriad historical representations into the mix representing the full spectrum of sources, from the red tinge of the closest history to the distant violet hue of the...