Osama Bin Laden Dead

 Osama dead body

on May 2nd, 2011

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Top terrorist Osama Bin Laden was exterminated yesterday by Navy Seals 100 kilometers north of Islamabad, Pakistan. The below are the photos released yesterday by the Pakistan’s Geo TV showing dead body of Bin Laden. Similar photos were also released by the Associated Press but were later retracted for further authentication.

Pak T20I Update

The Big Picture

 

Shahid Afridi

(With Shahid Afridi, a truly spectacular innings is always around the corner)

      Pakistan run into another team that is dealing with problems. Compared to the murkiness surrounding Pakistan's cricket - spot-fixing investigations, an inefficient and politically incorrect board, a disappearing wicketkeeper - New Zealand's winless woefulness may seem like a trifle.

     Yet, their recent travails in the subcontinent - where they failed to win any of their last 11 one-dayers and three Tests, spread across each of the three World Cup hosting countries - have left their tournament preparations in disarray, with very little time for new coach John Wright to turn things around.

This series - on spongy, seaming tracks and small grounds - against a Pakistan team in its current state, presents New Zealand with less than ideal preparation for the big event, but it gives them a good shot at ending the slump.

     Pakistan don't have the luxury of picking and choosing their venues anymore. Security concerns have prevented them from playing at home. This is Pakistan's second visit to New Zealand in a year, a frequency rarely seen from Asian teams.

     They begin this tour at the Eden Park in Auckland, the venue that hosted the first ever Twenty20 international, almost six years ago. A lot has changed since that hit-and-giggle encounter, in which Australia and New Zealand sported retro costumes and outmoded facial hair. Three World Twenty20s have come and gone since, with Pakistan making the semi-finals on each occasion and winning the tournament once. This is the format they have always threatened to make their own; so despite their current four-match losing streak and all the other distractions, they come into the series with a dangerous reputation.

Salman Butt

Butt's plea for delay in ICC hearing rejected

      Salman Butt

Salman Butt's request for a postponement in the ICC tribunal's hearing into the spot-fixing case has been rejected. Michael Beloff QC, the ICC's code of conduct commissioner and a member of the three-man tribunal to hear the charges against Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir, made the decision during a lengthy teleconference with Butt's lawyers on Wednesday.

     "Mr Beloff, the Chairman of the ICC Anti-Corruption Tribunal, following a lengthy telephone hearing and having received written submissions, has ruled that Mr Butt's application is denied and as such, the full hearing will take place as scheduled from 6-11 January 2011 in Doha, Qatar," an ICC release said.

     Butt's legal representatives was aiming for a postponement of the hearings to a date after the UK's Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) had dealt with the case. Independent of the ICC, the Scotland Yard is pursuing its own case against the trio in the UK and has handed over evidence to the CPS.

     The CPS is to determine whether the case is strong enough to warrant a criminal prosecution on charges of a conspiracy to defraud, but since receiving two files of evidence from Scotland Yard - in September and November - no decision has been reached.

     In the early days of the case, the PCB repeatedly expressed concern over the two separate investigations being pursued against the players and asked for one to be completed before the other was taken up. But the board has since withdrawn support for the trio.

     Yasin Patel, a London-based barrister, will handle both the ICC and Scotland Yard cases for Butt. Asif and Amir had not asked for a postponement, though Shahid Karim, who represents Amir, while confident of his client's prospects, said he would have preferred an independent tribunal instead of the three-man panel set up by the ICC for the hearings in Doha.

     Apart from Beloff, that panel includes Justice Albie Sachs of South Africa and Sharad Rao of Kenya.

No Facebook and Twitter

PCB bars players from using Facebook and Twitter

Zulkarnain Haider

(Zulqarnain Haider's actions have prompted the PCB to introduce more checks)

      The PCB has barred its contracted players from using social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter during series in the aftermath of the Zulqarnain Haider controversy. The Pakistan wicketkeeper fled the UAE, where his team was involved in a series against South Africa, to seek asylum in the UK last month and, though largely untraceable, kept the public informed of his news through updates on his Facebook page. 

      "The measure is for the players' safety. They are prone to danger if the wrong person gets access to their information, whereabouts and so on," team manager Intikhab Alam was quoted as saying by Pakistan's Express Tribune. "Therefore, the PCB has finalised the policy and banned the use of all social networking websites during ongoing series, while also advising them to keep their activity minimum when they are not playing."

     The PCB said the measure had been incorporated in its revised code of conduct for players. "There is a clause in their contracts which states clearly that they can't use these social network sites or discuss cricket issues while under contract. It is for their own good, so that they don't get entangled into controversies."

     The board also threatened legal action against those putting up fake accounts of players on social networking websites. "There are many accounts that are not operated by the players," the PCB's legal adviser Taffazul Rizvi said. "Fake ones operated by other people are a hazard. These people are liable to face charges of cyber crime and fraud. So my advice to them is to be careful, otherwise they can be prosecuted."

     Concern over the use of such websites by players has not been confined to the PCB. Kevin Pietersen's outburst on Twitter over his exclusion from the limited-overs side in August resulted in the ECB introducing specific regulations for micro-blogging. And Allrounder Dimitri Mascarenhas was banned by the ECB for two weeks following his foul-mouthed messages against national selector Geoff Miller.

 

Cricket

                                                           Abdul Qadir

Abdul Qadir: "I just feel in Pakistan cricket, where there are so many disputes and controversies, a players association can play a very productive and positive role." 

     The death of 38-year-old first-class cricketer Aamer Bashir, after a long-running battle against cancer, has led to a call from former Pakistan players Ramiz Raja, Rashid Latif and Abdul Qadir for the establishment of a players association in the country.

     "I think the way, and the conditions in which Aamer Bashir passed away are sad and there are many other players facing similar financial problems," Ramiz told PTI. "The formation of the players association will mean they can work for the welfare of players from one common platform."

Leading cricketers like Shahid Afridi, Younis Khan and Basit Ali worked hard to ensure Bashir received proper medical treatment, in addition to monetary assistance from the board. Ramiz asked for a more organised set-up to help such cricketers, and made it clear that forming a players association did not mean the players wanted to confront the board's authority. 

     "It should not be viewed that way [as a threat to the board]," he said. "If we have a proper association it can work for the welfare of players and also educate them on how to handle things and behave while playing for Pakistan." 

     "When you are fighting with a terminal illness having financial issues plays a big role in only worsening the disease," Latif, who had campaigned to raise funds for Bashir, said. Latif also noted that the board had opposed earlier efforts to set up a players body, a point that Qadir agreed with.

     "Even if the board does not give us permission we can easily go to court and get permission because I think it is the right of cricketers to have a representative body in the country it is long overdue," Qadir said. "I just feel in Pakistan cricket, where there are so many disputes and controversies, a players association can play a very productive and positive role."

Domestic Cricket

Pakistan domestic players ask for regional contracts

      Pakistan's domestic players who are currently representing city cricket associations in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy have asked the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to resume the regional central contracts system, in order to ensure their livelihood through the off season. 

      This year's QEA Trophy features 22 teams - 13 departmental and nine regional - divided into two leagues. During former PCB chairman Nasim Ahsraf's reign, players in the regional sides were given central contracts, a practice that has been done away with in recent years, along with a reduction in the match fees. 

     "The top players from the associations leave their regional sides in order to play for departments so how can you expect the regions to maintain their level of performances every year?" asked a president of one of the leading associations. "The standard of associations can only be gauged if there are different leagues for associations and departments. You cannot expect a region to defeat departmental sides in every match. There is a big difference of quality." 

     The earlier contracts system had three categories, with the top level getting Rs 20,000 ($ 233) per month, and the next grades earning Rs 15,000 and Rs 10,000 respectively. The monetary motivation, according to Karachi Blues player Tabish Nawab, encouraged players to pursue cricket in Pakistan instead of looking for more lucrative options abroad. 

      "There has been a trend in Pakistan that most of our cricketers aim to play just five matches anyhow, in order to be eligible to play in Britain," Nawab told the News. "Subconsciously, they neglect the main priority of performing well to represent the country. The feeling of nationalism dies once money becomes the first priority. 

     "While the players are abroad they have to do job five days a week, and the remaining two days they have to play for their respective clubs. Thus their fitness level does not remain the same and players get injured. Cricket has become a profession and the board needs to understand that there is a dire need to invest in the game for domestic players as well. In today's world money has become a necessity. In such lowly pay structure, you cannot expect that a player can have top quality cricket gear, a healthy diet to maintain his fitness at the same time. We need to end the financial uncertainty surrounding our players so that they only think about cricket which will eventually help Pakistan."

Sohail Tanvir

 Sohail Tanvir

    Sohail Tanvir took six wickets to bowl Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited to an innings victory over Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited.

     Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited's Sohail Tanvir was the other bowler to take six wickets in their thrashing of Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited by an innings at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium. Once Tanvir and his new-ball partner Mohammad Khalil had reduced SNGPL to 32 for 5 in their follow-on effort, there was no hope for them. Yasir Arafat (53) and Adil Raza (47) delayed the inevitable with an 84-run seventh-wicket partnership, but Tanvir was around. He bowled Arafat, Iftikhar Anjum did the same to Raza, and SNGPL soon caved in for 147. Raza Ali Dar (81) had stuck around in the morning but the trio of Tanvir, Anjum and Khalil were too much for SNGPL, who fell 20 short of avoiding the follow-on. 

 Mohammad Amir

Amir's lawyer would have preferred independent tribunal

Shahid Karim, Mohammad Amir's lawyer, has said he would have preferred an independent tribunal to adjudicate on the charges against his client over the spot-fixing controversy, instead of the three-man panel set up by the ICC. Amir, along with Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif, has been provisionally suspended by the ICC for their alleged involvement in the controversy, and the final hearings are scheduled to be held over six days in Doha from January 6-11.

"Looking at the case from a legalistic point of view, from the point of view of the case being presented to an independent and unbiased tribunal, then I think he has a fair chance of coming out clean," Karim told PakPassion.net. "However the situation is an odd one. Ideally we would have liked the tribunal to be completely independent of the ICC, but at this point in time I have to have full faith in the tribunal."

The ICC's three-man tribunal includes Michael Beloff QC, Justice Albie Sachs of South Africa and Sharad Rao of Kenya. Beloff, the ICC code of conduct commissioner, had chaired the hearings into the appeals of Amir and Butt against their suspensions in Dubai, and had upheld the ICC's decision. Subsequently, the PCB revoked the central contracts of the players.

Beloff's prior participation in the hearings drew objection from Karim. "We raised a slight objection to Michael Beloff QC chairing the hearing in Doha, as he had heard the case in the provisional hearing, but he chose not to remove himself," Karim said. "However, my training as a lawyer requires me to have full faith in the forthcoming tribunal and I should expect a fair hearing.

"Although the members of the three-man tribunal are already part of the anti-corruption commission which is a permanent body in the code of the ICC and are nominated by the ICC, and the tribunal members have been picked out of those members, I still think that I have faith in their independence and impartiality."

Karim was confident of a verdict in favour of Amir, claiming there were certain mitigating circumstances in his case. "One of the mitigating factors is age and the other mitigating factor is Amir's previously unblemished record," he said. "Emotionally he is drained, he's been affected badly by it, but he's coping as best he can and above all he is very confident that he will come out of this clean."

And in the event of an unfavourable verdict for Amir, Karim said he would appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland. "If the hearing does not go our way we plan to take the matter further. The next stage of the process would be to go to the Court of Arbitration of Sport in Lausanne. It is an international arbitration body set up to settle disputes related to sport and would be completely independent and divorced of the ICC."

Meanwhile, Butt's lawyers have asked the ICC for a postponement of the hearings to prepare their reply.