The Londoner

By Sikander Hayat Lakki Marwat has been targeted in a suicide bomb blast in which 40 people have died and at least 100 have been injured. This is part of the growing campaign of terror perpetrated by the Pakistani Taliban with the help of foreign elements including some quite nasty neighbours. Pakistan is still talking and not taking any action against infiltration from Afghanistan especially in the knowledge that American have removed many of their security check points along the border with Pakistan. This American act is allowing many fighters from Afghanistan to enter Pakistan and do their evil deeds. Pakistan must talk to US and tell them that the one way traffic of do more demands will not do any more and Americans will have to do more as well. Americans will have to fulfil their part of the deal and seal the Afghanistan Pakistan border from their side as well. Everyday many Pakistanis are dying because of the scourge of terrorism and due to active Indian support for their acts. A

By Sikander Hayat Pakistan cricket team captain Muhammad Yousuf has said that T20 cricket is affecting Pakistan’s performance in test cricket. He made these comments after losing the Boxing Day test match to Australia. I believe that it is not the T20 cricket which is hampering Pakistan’s test cricket but wrong selection for each format is to be blamed. Pakistan have lost last three series in Australia 3-0 , 3-0 and 2-1 respectively under different captains and at a time when there was no T20 cricket around. So blaming T20 is not the answer to our problems. Instead embracing it as part of future of cricket will make the job easier. Pakistan has bundles of talent in its domestic cricket but we keep insisting on using the same players for every format and even when cricket board shows some courage to leave these powerful players out, the powerful lobby in Pakistani media comes into action and put so much pressure on the cricket board that they have to bring these players back into the t

By Sikander Hayat It has been reported that in the Khost province of Afghanistan a suicide bomber has killed 8 CIA officers. The bomber was an Afghan Army officer and was well known to his victims. In a separate incident in Kandahar, four soldiers and a journalist were killed Wednesday by a powerful improvised explosive device in the worst loss of Canadian life in Afghanistan in two-and-a-half years. The five deaths occurred as the soldiers in armoured vehicles patrolled in what was considered to be a safe part of southern Kandahar city. The military did not immediately release any names because of problems notifying family. However, journalists on the base identified the reporter killed as Michelle Lang, 34, a reporter with the Calgary Herald. She was in the back of an armoured vehicle at the time. In one day coalition forces have lost 13 personnel signalling an increase in Taliban increasing their activity in the southern and eastern provinces of Afghanistan. This is also significant

By Sikander Hayat 7th National Finance Commission Award has been signed into agreement today in the port city of Gwadar, Baluchistan. Punjab and Federal Government have given up some of their share to meet the needs of Baluchistan and NWFP. This is a historic occasion for Pakistan because it is first time that all federating units have reached consensus without any major disagreements. A new formula has been devised to distribute resources among the centre and the federating units. Under the award population will be given 82 per cent weightage, poverty 10.3 per cent, revenue collection five per cent (2.5 per cent revenue generation, 2.5 per cent revenue collection) and area 2.7 per cent. Under the new NFC Award, the federation met the demand of the provincial governments for a greater share in national resources. The provincial share of the divisible pool would increase from 47.5 per cent to 56 per cent in the first year of NFC and 57.5 per cent in the remaining years of the Award. Un

By Sikander Hayat Pakistan lost the Boxing Day test match without a fight on the last day. The whole team was practically out before the lunch session and Australia cleaned up the remaining two wickets after lunch. As I said in my earlier posts, this Pakistan line up is capable of around 250 runs in an innings and anything beyond 250 is out of their reach and there was ample evidence of this fact in the match. Australia won the match convincingly and it seems that they will win the series 3-0 as well. After all Pakistan lost the last two series in Australia 3-0 so it wont be much of a surprise but this Australian team does not have McGrath or Warne. Pakistan must somehow muster courage so that individuals can score hundreds as it seems that after scoring about 30 to 50 runs they think that they have done their jobs and there place in the team is secure. The other most important thing is the fielding. Pakistan lost the match because of their abysmal fielding on the first day when they g

By Sikander Hayat Why is everyone so hell bent on removing a democratically elected president by any means possible. Is it not the job of the people of Pakistan to decide after another three years to give their verdict on the performance of this president. Zardari has made mistakes but has spent eleven years in jail and nothing has been proved against him yet. Please give democracy a chance so that people from Sindh, NWFP and Balochistan can keep their trust in the federation. PML (N) & PML (Q), both Punjabi dominated parties, are asking for Zardari's resignation on moral grounds but what about houses in Park Lane London and businesses in Spain. Now Nawaz Sharif is trying to pretend that he is the cleanest person in Pakistan. They are all corrupt but it is only the job of the people to tell who should be running the country. I am not a fan of Zardari, I know that he is president because all notable Bhutto’s are dead but I cannot second guess the choice of Pakistani people. Army

By Sikander Hayat Apart from the dogged batting and great bowling from Muhammad Amer there was very little to cheer about Pakistan’s innings. Muhammad Amer played an innings which must have showed the other “proper” batsmen how to at least resist constant onslaught by the Australians. Umer Akmal showed some class but played too many shots in quick succession and paid the price for it. He looks the future of Pakistan batting by the way he played but need to choose the right ball to hit. Misbah played well but ran out of partners in the end which shows that unless top three in the Pakistan line up score runs, Pakistan has no chance in hell to win against the major oppositions. Australia now has over 300 runs lead with seven wickets remaining and two full days to go. They would look to score about 450 and give Pakistan a day and three quarters to save the test match. It will be highly unlikely that Pakistan can save this test match from here onwards unless there is something out of the or