The Londoner

By Sikander Hayat Player power has finally forced the hand of the Pakistan cricket board to remove Younus Khan from the captaincy of the team. The new captain is Muhammad Yusuf who has captained Pakistan previously albeit for a short period. To me it seemed a concerted effort by some of the senior team members to remove Younus Khan and it started during the Pakistan Sri Lanka test series earlier this year which Pakistan lost badly. It was very obvious then that the main players in Pakistan team were throwing away their wickets so that there is no chance that Younus can be considered as a captain in future. To the dismay of these players which include Misbah, Yusuf and headed by Shoaib Malik; Younus was named captain for the ICC Champion’s Trophy. So they did their best to keep Pakistan from winning that tournament and succeeded. Pakistan cricket board should have sacked these players for good instead of removing Younus Khan which will now give players the belief that no decision can be

By Sikander Hayat Charsadda has been attacked today when a car bomb was detonated in the heart of a busy public area. 15 people died and this figure is expected to get worse. Nearly a hundred people are injured. “Brave” Pakistani Taliban are butchering civilians everyday to teach Pakistani government a lesson and to retaliate against the army action in the tribal areas of the country. But killing of civilians will only bring their defeat closer.

By Sikander Hayat Elections in Gilgit Baltistan are keeping the spirits of the Pakistani democrats high as for the first time people of Gilgit Baltistan have been given the right to become a federating unit of Pakistan. These elections are a contest between two major political parties of Pakistan i.e. Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) & Pakistan Muslim League (PMLN). Also for the first time MQM is making a strong case for becoming the party of the federation by getting out of it’s stronghold of Karachi and contesting most of the seats in the provincial assembly of Gilgit Baltiustan. It is a very welcome development for the people of Pakistan who want choice and want to vote for parties other than PPP & PMLN. I am amazed to see the total absence of Imran Khan’s Tehrik-e-Insaaf from the scene as it would have been a good opportunity for them to break into a new terrain. It will be a lost opportunity for Imran Khan as he is letting other parties strengthen their bases in Gilgit Baltist

By Sikander Hayat Muslims in the west wake up every morning with the fear lurking somewhere in their minds of possible attacks in the west in the name of Islam. There lies the fear of many that any such attack will bring their faith into disrepute and put their lives in danger. What happened in Fort Hood, Texas, was the realisation of their worst fears. A Muslim army officer Major Malik Nadal Hasan killed 12 of his fellow soldiers at this base and injured many others. It is not uncommon in United States to have shootings at the public places and many people get killed each year due to lax gun laws and habit of many US citizens to carry guns but when a person with a Muslim name is involved in any such incident, implications become huge. 9/11 is not a very distant memory, also US is fighting two increasingly unpopular wars in the Muslim countries of Iraq & Afghanistan and this reality of an ongoing war between US & Islam fuels deep emotions on both sides of the divide. It canno

By Sikander Hayat Mr Asif Ali Zardari when will you understand the implications of your actions. Acquiring 300 acres in Islamabad and being a company director while being president of Pakistan is not good game. There are levels of corruption, a low level of corruption is tolerated by many societies because most people believe that minute discrepancies cannot be stopped but the level at which Mr Asif Zardari and his cronies are raking it in, it seems that there is no tomorrow. Benazir Bhutto lost her government twice because of the actions of this one man. Many of the close friends of Benazir Bhutto tried to warn her that her husband’s actions were undermining her credibility but she never listened. Now even that thin veneer of respectively is no longer there and there is nothing between Asif Ali Zardari and his unquenchable thirst for money. Corruption it seems is something that Asif Zardari cannot live without and is looting the country as if there is no tomorrow. Pakistan can ill af