Fiery Pattinson downs Hurricanes

James Pattinson's return has ignited the Renegades title ambitions after he tore through the Hobart Hurricanes top-order to help his team to their second successive victory.

Pattinson celebrated his recall to national ranks with a four-wicket haul as the Renegades comfortably defended 162.

He bowled with typical pace and aggression and found a terrific length and line on a slightly tacky surface at Blundstone Arena.

Pattinson's first over of the innings cost just one run as Hurricanes openers Ben Dunk and Shoaib Malik tried to adjust to his pace. Dunk fell to Matthew Gale in the second over trying to make up for the four dot balls he faced off Pattinson.

The Hurricanes slumped to 3 for 10 six balls later as Pattinson found himself on a hat-trick. He nipped one back off a length to scratch the inside edge of Malik's bat as the Pakistan international attempted to drive on the up. Pattinson then produced extra bounce and some away movement to account for Owais Shah who was well held at first slip by Aaron Finch.

Jonathan Wells was not intimidated, however, as he allowed the hat-trick ball to pass harmlessly through to the keeper before striking three successive boundaries to finish the over.

Wells and Travis Birt produced a brisk counter-attack to get the chase momentarily back on track but the early damage left them with too much to do.

Nathan Rimmington, Aaron O'Brien, and Muttiah Muralitharan again squeezed their opponents through the middle overs. All three conceded less the six runs-an-over with Rimmington and Murali collecting two wickets each as the Hurricanes batsmen were forced to play big strokes to keep up with the required rate.

The Renegades also caught well in the outfield. Tom Cooper took two catches late in the innings off the bowling of Pattinson who was named Man of the Match.

Earlier, Aaron Finch continued his superb form combining with Michael Hill for 93-run opening stand to set up the winning total.

The Renegades looked set for a big score as Finch and Hill found the boundaries at will to race to 90 after nine overs. But the innings turned south on the back of some very skilful bowling from Ben Laughlin. He removed Finch with some extra bounce, before Hill was run out four balls later over-eager to get on strike.

The Renegades lost 8 for 72 from their last 11 overs of the innings. Doug Bollinger picked up two wickets in the 19th over and Laughlin two more in the 20th.

But despite the bowlers' best efforts, 162 proved far too many for the Hurricanes to handle.

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'Unchangeables' chase Ashes sweep

Feted by the nation across the Boxing Day Test and by the Prime Minister Tony Abbott on New Year's Day in Sydney, Australia's cricketers want nothing more than to complete a 5-0 Ashes sweep of England with the same XI who walked out onto the Gabba for the first day of a series that has surpassed all their expectations.

Stability has been an important ingredient of Australia's success, after the earlier series in England was used by the new coach Darren Lehmann to assess the strengths and weaknesses of a few players. Two of the greatest moments of Australian Test history were characterised by a similar lack of selection conjecture - the 1989 Ashes victors changed their team only once in six Tests, while Mark Taylor's won a quasi-world title fight in the Caribbean in 1995 with the same XI over four matches.

None of Australia's pacemen bowled at the SCG on the first morning of 2014, resting up in preparation for a final tilt at England. James Faulkner and Nathan Coulter-Nile, who played for the Perth Scorchers in the Big Bash League on New Year's Eve, are in reserve. Brad Haddin, the vice-captain and a heavily influential contributor to the current margin, explained how much the players wanted to go through unchanged.

Johnson angered by Pietersen
Mitchell Johnson's confrontation with Kevin Pietersen in Melbourne will have a 2014 repeat in Sydney should another of England's batsmen choose to pull away with Australia's spearhead in delivery stride. Citing distractions near the sight screen, the tourists have often pulled up the hosts' pacemen in their run-ups, something Johnson considered a tactic designed to distract him, resulting in his angry response on day three at the MCG.
"That's how they play the game and have always played the game since I've been playing," Johnson said. "It's always happened so I don't think they'll change. It definitely is frustrating when it happens all the time but that's part of the game, it's part of their tactics."
"The only thing I regret is throwing the ball," he said. "I think that was probably a little bit inappropriate but the rest of it was fine I just let [Pietersen] know that he needed to stop doing it. The sight screens are big enough, he should be watching the game. I won't back down if it happens again."
Whatever England's motive, Johnson's 31 wickets have so far rendered their gambit extremely ineffective.
"It'd be great if we could keep the same group together, that's what we're working towards." Haddin said. "The fast bowlers didn't do much today. They're all in pretty good shape, we just have to see tomorrow after they have a bowl but it's all looking in the right direction that we can hold the same group together and from our point of view that would be a massive achievement heading into this Test with the same group we started with. Pretty special for everyone.

"With back to back Test matches, [the bowlers] had a big work load so they didn't need to do much today. It varies, just monitoring on how they're feeling to be perfectly honest. The staff take good care of that and they all looked in pretty good spirits. Bodies feel fine, obviously tired like everyone is at the back end of a five-Test series but they're no different to what we are. We would love to have the same group go out that we did at the start of the tour and if they are right to go they deserve that right to come out in this fifth Test."

As Michael Clarke's deputy and also wicketkeeper, Haddin is constantly measuring the wellbeing of his team. He looks less for individual efforts with bat or ball than those in the field that emphasise team spirit - returns in from the outfield, backing up, chasing and generally supporting the bowlers. When asked how he viewed England's current state, he observed these areas had looked tellingly deficient in Melbourne.

"I don't think they're in a great place to be perfectly honest," Haddin said. "I think you could probably tell a bit of that in their fielding the other day. I think that's the first thing to go when you're struggling a bit. All the team stuff, all those little one percenters, they're the first thing to go when you're struggling as a team.

"The batting and bowling it's an individual thing but I think the team stuff looked like it was breaking a bit the other day. They can ask themselves those questions [if they can turn it around] and they're the only ones who can come up with the answers."

Sydney's pitch has lost much of its support for spin bowlers in recent summers, tending towards a surface more likely to seam early before flattening out into an ideal batting pitch then turning a little more late in the match. The current strip appeared well-grassed on Wednesday, with Haddin saying the roles of the spinners included in the match would revolve as much around bounce as spin.

"It looks like it's got a bit more grass than normal at the SCG. But that also allows spin early in the game," Haddin said. "It holds and you get some spin early in the game. We'll have a close look at what it's like. I think the one thing with spinners and Nathan [Lyon] is that it's not so much whether it breaks up, it's the bounce. If there's enough bounce in there Nathan will get enough out of it."

As for Scott Borthwick, England's prospective legspin debutant, Haddin offered no deviation from the plan of unrelenting attack that has rendered Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar all but impotent throughout the series. Swann is now retired, while Panesar's omission for Borthwick would be a major blow to his own career.

"It'd be an exciting time for him. It's a first Test and it's an Ashes campaign so it's an exciting time," Haddin said. "But interesting to see how we approach him. No doubt [we'll get after him]."

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Anderson hits fastest ODI century in mismatch

A record that stood for more than 17 years was finally broken on New Year's Day in 2014. Corey Anderson bludgeoned the West Indies bowlers to score the fastest ODI century, off just 36 balls, eclipsing the record of 37 set by a 16-year-old Shahid Afridi in 1996. Anderson finished unbeaten on 131 and such was his savagery that he even managed to overshadow Jesse Ryder, who motored to the sixth quickest ODI century of all time. The pair powered New Zealand to a scarcely believable 283 in just 21 overs.

This, after there were fears of yet another washout. The chase turned out to be a mere formality as West Indies limped to 124 for 5, having lost the game in the head the moment they walked back to the dressing room for the short innings break.

Irrespective of the format, this was the fastest ever international century. While it's true that the grounds in New Zealand are not the biggest, many, if not all, of Anderson's hits would have cleared the rope at any venue across the world. He blasted 14 sixes, two behind Rohit Sharma's world record of 16 and New Zealand's sixes tally stood at 22, another world record. India hit 19 sixes in the same match in which Rohit smashed 209 against Australia, but that was off 50 overs. New Zealand managed all those in just 21. West Indies' bowling figures were similarly remarkable, for the least expensive economy rate was 11, by Nikita Miller.

Anderson and Ryder, both powerful left-handers, were proving hard to distinguish in the middle. Dwayne Bravo inserted New Zealand in what he thought was good bowling conditions but New Zealand batted like they were on a different planet. Length balls were punished, the fuller ones scooped and the shorter stuff biffed square of the wicket. The margin for error was so little that the exasperated attack failed to find the right lengths to contain the batsmen. Toe crushers seemed the only solution, but there were hardly any.

Walking in at the fall of Ross Taylor's wicket in the eighth over, Anderson scored his first boundary by pulling Bravo one bounce to deep midwicket. He then sent Sunil Narine several rows over deep midwicket and it was the first of several hits in the region. There was a competition for spectators, wearing orange t-shirts, to bag $100,000 for taking one-handed catches. Anderson and Ryder gave the crowd plenty of chances, but none of the spectators could win the jackpot.

Even the umpire had to take cover when an Anderson biff off Jason Holder scorched to the straight boundary. Two bowlers who bore the brunt of Anderson were Sunil Narine and Ravi Rampaul, who conceded four sixes in an over each. Against Narine, Anderson employed the slog and cleared the area between deep midwicket and long-on. One of those landed several yards behind the last row of spectators and another brought up his fifty, off just 20 balls.

Rampaul was punished for bowling too full and he gave away four consecutive sixes, including one that looked like a mis-hit, but still had enough mileage to clear long-off. Narine and Rampaul conceded 24 and 26 respectively and the prospects of scoring the fastest ODI century was more than a reality, as Anderson ended the Rampaul over needing 16 off seven balls. Given his manic scoring rate, the world record was seriously under threat.

Consecutive boundaries took him to 93 of 33, the second of those, off Lendl Simmons, being an ungainly slash to backward point. He ended that over on 95 off 35 and nothing less than a six was needed off his next ball to seal the record. As it happened, the planets were aligned at the right moment and Anderson brought up the record with a massive slog over long leg off Miller.

Anderson broke the very record that announced Afridi to international cricket - his first innings for Pakistan, in his second match, at the Nairobi Gymkhana against a Sri Lanka attack that had only months earlier helped win them the World Cup. Afridi's knock ended at 101 but Anderson didn't stop there. An audacious slap over cover off a Bravo slower ball that looped ever so slowly outside off, was symptomatic of the control he had over the bowling.

In the midst of Anderson's carnage, it was easy to forget the significance of Ryder's century, more for himself. This was only his second match for New Zealand since the horrific incident outside a Christchurch pub last year where he was assaulted and hospitalised. Ryder was miraculously back on his feet before the domestic season and won his place back in the ODI squad.

The initial pyrotechnics from Brendon McCullum set it up for Ryder to swing his arms. True to his style, Ryder's shots were effortless. He was able to loft through the line with ease, pull the seamers nonchalantly when they bowled too straight. Half-volleys were pierced wide of the packed off-side field and a six over long-off brought up his fifty off 23 balls. Three boundaries in an over off Bravo helped him speed towards his century and he got there with a single to short fine leg in the 19th over. It was also the sixth-fastest ODI ton, off just 46 balls.

The match was a no-contest by the end of the fourth over, with West Indies tottering at 19 for 3. There was no choice but to play in fifth gear, and in the process fell to fielders in the deep. Ryder, who could do nothing wrong, too helped himself to a wicket. Bravo helped himself to 56, but it was inconsequential - his side was totally outclassed.

With the series tied at 1-1, the teams head to Nelson, another popular holiday destination. They will hope for better weather. Those who braved the cold in Queenstown and stayed on were truly rewarded.

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Strengths embellished, SA need changed mindset

If the South African Test team believed in omens, they may have been concerned about the one staring them in face before this India tour. Before the tour, they had been undefeated in 13 series. Fortunately, they don't need lucky numbers to keep winning.

Instead the figures worked in their favour. One is the most important number, because that's the margin by which they sealed the series victory, but there are many others for them to take heart from as they extended their lead at the top of the Test rankings. They took their count of Test wins in this calendar year to seven with only one defeat, and gained two points in the Test rankings to widen the gap between themselves and their nearest challenger, India, to 16.

That distance will come in handy because South Africa have a dearth of Test cricket in the next 12 months. February's series against Australia is their biggest challenge, followed by matches against Zimbabwe away and West Indies at home. At least they know they are almost fully equipped for those tussles.

From this India series, South Africa regained the form of the two batsmen in their batting line-up who were lacking it, reconfirmed the value and skill of their pace trio and reclaimed as their own the one ground in the country that was considered an away venue. Those gains will go some way in offsetting the questions that still exist over who their best spinner is and the loss of their greatest-ever player.

Faf du Plessis and Alviro Petersen ended as South Africa's highest and joint second-highest run-scorers of the series. Du Plessis' century in Johannesburg illustrated the arts of patience and determination and proved that what he did in Adelaide 13 months ago was not a once-off. Importantly, it came with him batting at No.4, which will be an indication to South Africa that he is the best candidate to step into the gap Jacques Kallis has left. Du Plessis has the technique and temperament to anchor an innings so others can bat around him.

Petersen went into this series with a string of sub-30 scores to his name. In nine innings before the Johannesburg Test, he had failed to cross 30 once. In his first knock at the Wanderers, he scored 21. Under pressure in the second innings, with South Africa in the red, he composed a careful 76 and shared a century stand with Graeme Smith.

He followed that up with another hundred-run partnership with the captain in Durban, in which Petersen also raised his bat to a half-century. Although India's attack did not pose the same challenges as Pakistan - the latter's variations make them tougher - that he came through the India series unscathed will have bought him time in the team. Du Plessis and Petersen were South Africa's main worries in their line-up before this series and for both to have proved themselves again sets them up well for 2014.

Kingsmead was the other concern. Located in the heartland of the largest Indian expat area in South Africa, it has gained a reputation for favouring opposition. South Africa's two most recent defeats there were against subcontinental opposition and, with India visiting this time, it seemed the conspiracy would continue.

The pitch was not a typical home surface - on appearance and in the way it played. It was slow, sans much pace and carry, offered little for the seamers and was difficult to score freely on. Despite that, South Africa found a way. Dale Steyn helped himself to what he has called one of his best five-fors in the game and notched up his 350th wicket - in the same year he also took his 300th - giving yet another demonstration of why he is the most highly-rated bowler in the world. Vernon Philander showed he has the ability to adapt to surfaces of this nature while Morne Morkel continued to be miserly, quick and extract bounce.

There are no problems in South Africa's pace department, with plenty in reserve, which will set up an intriguing battle of the bowlers against Australia, but there is a worry in their spin cupboard. Neither Imran Tahir nor Robin Peterson is the answer. The former's confidence took a knock on an unhelpful surface at the Wanderers and he returned to bad, old habits of offering full tosses. The latter ended the Durban match with four wickets but that can be considered flattering.

Peterson was largely unthreatening - two of his scalps were off terrible shots, another one went to a sterling catch and the fourth was not out. Sometimes that kind of luck is what it takes to spark a run of good form, so he may have that on his side, along with his contributions with that bat, but South Africa still need to keep looking. They have Simon Harmer and Eddie Leie knocking on the door, but may not want to introduce either against Australia, although they could be called on later next year.

More pressing, will be adjusting to life without Kallis. South Africa need only look at India, who played their first series without Sachin Tendulkar, to see that it can be done but they will have to think carefully about how they're going to go about it.

Kallis' worth was evident more in his last Test than it had been throughout the year. He scored a typically circumspect century to lay the platform for the win and bowled his share of overs in the first innings. The balance he adds to the team will take some re-strategising to maintain in his absence.

Allrounders, especially pace-bowling ones, are hard to come by and while Ryan McLaren is one option, South Africa will have to sift through a few other ideas. Du Plessis should move to No. 4. They could then bring an extra batsman, specialist wicket-keeper or bowler in at No.7.

Apart from the changes in personnel that will take place, South Africa will also need a change of mindset. As Smith said, the person who comes is not Kallis' replacement because there is no such thing. That cricketer will simply be another player trying to fulfill a certain role.

That's the right approach - a positive, forward-thinking mindset, which South Africa were accused of lacking after the Wanderers Test. They came within eight runs of the highest successful chase in Test cricket history and chose to play for the draw because they did not want to lose. Giving up on a chance to make history was seen as too conservative and defensive.

It was also seen as a fear of failure. After Durban, South Africa did not have reason to regret not going for broke in Johannesburg. Even though it will not stop people wondering whether a lingering fear of failure still exists in the South Africa change-room, surely after 14 unbeaten series, there is not much to be afraid of.

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Miller recognised in New Year honours

Geoff Miller, the outgoing England national selector, has been appointed an OBE in the New Year's Honours list.

Miller, 61, has been recognised for his services to sport having played 34 Test matches for England between 1976 and 1984 before becoming a member of the selection panel in 2000.

He was appointed national selector in 2008 and oversaw England's rise to becoming No. 1 across all three formats of the game. During his tenure England beat Australia Down Under for the first time in 24 years and won a global one-day trophy for the first time.

Miller decided to step down from his post at the end of the year and will be succeeded by former Kent and Middlesex wicketkeeper Paul Downton.

ECB chief executive David Collier praised Miller's outstanding service to cricket over five decades: ""It's marvellous to see Geoff recognised in this way. He can reflect with enormous pride on the magnificent contribution he has made to our game - in particular his role in helping deliver three successive Ashes wins and the World T20 in 2010.

"We congratulate Geoff on his achievement and I am sure that today's announcement will be welcomed by his many friends and colleagues within our first-class game as well as by current and former members of the England team."

John Pickup, the chairman of ECB's recreational assembly, has been appointed an MBE having worked for the ECB since its inception in 1997 and been secretary of Cheshire Minor Counties for 25 years.

"John has given a lifetime's service to cricket," Collier said. "This award is fitting recognition for the hugely important role he has played in the wider development of the sport both with ECB and its predecessor, the Test and County Cricket Board.

"He has been a great champion, in particular, of our recreational game and his knowledge and expertise in this area remain invaluable."

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Malaysia collapse again

Afghanistan Under-19 needed just 26.4 overs to thump Malaysia Under-19 by 10 wickets in Abu Dhabi. Malaysia, who were bundled out for 50 and 32 in their previous two games, did not fare any better on Tuesday and put in to bat, they lost wickets right from the off.

Medium-pacer Sayed Shirzad spearheaded an incisive bowling performance from Afghanistan, and removed Ahmad Tajudin Ismail and Harvindran Rajendran in the first over of the match. Malaysia's captain Muhammad Ramli and Virandeep Singh batted out the next 10 overs without losing a wicket, but the team added only 13 runs during that period. Ramli was the team's top-scorer with 12, while their other 10 batsmen collectively contributed just 22 runs between them. Shirzad finished with 4 for 10, and Abdullah Adil picked up three scalps to bowl Malaysia out for 40 in 23.2 overs.

Afghanistan's openers Shahidullah and Ihsanullah completed the paltry chase in just 20 balls, hitting five fours and a six between them.

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Saurashtra win, but progress unlikely

Saurashtra achieved a comprehensive, nine-wicket win over Services in a little over four sessions, but the victory may not be enough to give them a spot in the knock-out. Saurashtra may be in line for the next round if there is no result in the match between Tamil Nadu and Bengal.

For Services, the loss has pushed them once again to Group C. In 2012-13, Services had topped Group C and made it to the semi-finals, which boosted their promotion to Group B, but they have failed to win a single game this season, losing four of the eight games and drawing the rest.

Saurashtra came in to the game needing a bonus-point win to keep their hopes of qualification alive, but their chances of bagging seven points were dashed by the loss of the opener Chirag Pathak when the team was just six runs short of the 31-run target.

On the second morning, the Saurashtra innings lasted just three balls before Jaydev Unadkat became Rajat Paliwal's fourth victim. After being shot out for 72 on the first day, Services didn't fare much better in their second innings either, mustering just 135. Anshul Gupta was the only Services batsman to offer any resistance, scoring 85 off 122 balls with eight fours and a six. His team-mates, however, succumbed once again to the Saurashtra spinners. Nayan Doshi took 4 for 31, while Kamlesh Makvana and Dharmendrasinh Jadeja finished with three wickets each.

Saurashtra eased past the target in a little more than six overs, but they will be left ruing the fall of Pathak's wicket which denied them the seven points.

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De Villiers to have hand surgery

AB de Villiers, the South Africa Test wicketkeeper, will be out of action for up to a month as he recovers from hand surgery, but is expected to be fit in time for the series against Australia in February. He will likely play no part in the domestic 20-overs competition, which starts with a triple-header on January 5.

"AB fractured his left hand during the IPL in 2011 after which he had a plate inserted to assist with recovery. The plate has started to cause discomfort in his hand and will be surgically removed in the first week of January," Mohammad Moosajee, the South African team manager, said. "The recovery period is usually three-four weeks and he should be ready in time for the series against Australia in February."

South Africa do not have any international cricket scheduled for January because of the curtailed India series. As a result most of the national players will be available for the 20-overs tournament which runs until February 9. This season the tournament was due to have a much higher profile with several international signings including Chris Gayle and Saeed Ajmal.

After the competition, international fixtures resume. Australia tour the country for three Tests and three T20s, starting on February 12. That will be followed by the World Twenty20 before the winter break. Should de Villiers not be fit in time for the Australia series, South Africa will likely use reserve wicketkeeper Thami Tsolekile in his place.

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South Africa take five to storm towards victory

A 40% chance of rain was expected to be one of India's allies on a day that was the biggest challenge for their young batting line-up. Instead, they were greeted by a perfect summer day - clear blue skies and pleasant sunshine. And their chances worsened dramatically within 15 minutes of the start of play, as Dale Steyn removed their two best batsmen, Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara, in a fierce spell of fast bowling.

India managed to clear the deficit just before lunch, but South Africa had mopped up five wickets in the session to put themselves on the verge of a series victory. Though it was the fifth day, the track was still reasonably good for batting, but only Ajinkya Rahane stuck it out with a hugely impressive unbeaten half-century.

Steyn struck a huge blow on the first ball itself as he got a shortish delivery to rear up and had Kohli caught behind. Kohli couldn't believe the decision, as the ball had brushed his shoulder on the way through to the keeper but he was on his way.

If Kohli couldn't be faulted for his dismissal, very little blame could be attached to Pujara for his exit as well. Steyn produced the ball of the match - a quick delivery that angled in and then nipped away to beat Pujara's attempt at keeping it out and clip the top of offstump. India were left shellshocked by that early burst as Steyn gave another reminder of why he remains the most lethal fast bowler around.

Rohit Sharma had shouldered arms and lost his middle stump first ball in the first innings, but he fared better this time around. There was plenty of chat with a fired-up Steyn, who sledged him lines like "I've got more runs than you this series," and "You have done nothing in your career." Rohit survived both Steyn's spell and the verbals, but there was no redemption on a disappointing tour for him as he was caught lbw by an incutter from Vernon Philander for 25.

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Bates delivers for Auckland in eliminator

Auckland's bowlers hung on to tie a shortened 16-over game and then restricted Central Districts in the one-over eliminator to set up a victory in New Plymouth.

After choosing to bowl, Central Districts took early wickets to slow Auckland down, and the score was 45 for 4 in 7.2 overs after Colin de Grandhomme became the second of Marty Kain's four wickets. Gareth Hopkins provided the propulsion, scoring 39 off 14 balls with six sixes, along with Donovan Grobbelaar, who hit four sixes in his 37 off 13 balls. The small boundaries at Pukekura Park allowed Auckland to reach 159 for 7 in 16 overs.

Central Districts made a faster start to their chase but lost wickets frequently and slipped to 63 for 6 in 7.4 overs. Carl Cachopa steadied the innings with 41 but was dismissed in the 14th over, leaving Central Districts with 30 to get off 15 balls. Kain delivered a valuable cameo, striking 22 off 11 deliveries, but they lost two wickets in the final over to the game. The No. 11 Tarun Nethula was run out off the final ball attempting the winning run.

Auckland chose Michael Bates to bowl the one-over eliminator and he dismissed Peter Trego and Kieran Noema-Barnett, while conceding only six runs. Central Districts chose Jacob Oram as their bowler - he had gone for 0 for 31 in four overs during the game - and de Grandhomme hit a six to help Auckland take 11 runs off the first four balls and win the game.

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Turkey-Pakistan: An iconic relationship

Pakistan is striving to come out of the worst security crisis in its history that has adversely impacted its economy. Under these difficult times, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s visit to Pakistan was a breeze of fresh air. When some of the close allies of yesteryears have almost abandoned Pakistan, Turkey has persistently stood by it —always extending a helping hand ranging from disaster management to economic revival. Erdogan’s visit took place as the two countries also seek to strengthen and harmonise their geo-strategic objectives related to Afghanistan.
Democracy has taken firm roots in Turkey and it has been able to shed the legacy of protracted spells of military rules. Turkey has a robust economy with sustained growth rate second to China only. As two functioning democracies, perspectives of the Turkey and Pakistan are marked by a common outlook and shared objectives. Economic growth has enabled Turkey to follow a fast pace development model. Pakistan could learn a lot from the economic and development models implemented by Turkey. The federal government is trying to re-rail the economy, it has embarked on an ambitious socio-economic and infrastructure development agenda and various steps are being taken to attract both domestic and foreign investment in Pakistan. Initiatives by Turkey to help Pakistan are welcome.
Since 9/11 Turkey has played a unique constructive role in the context of Afghanistan. It is the only Muslim country whose military contingent is part of NATO forces stationed in Afghanistan. Turkey has been part of multiple efforts to find a durable solution to the Afghanistan issue. It has hosted series of conferences under the rubrics of Istanbul and Ankara processes that have set the directions for the coming events. Unfortunately the venue of negotiations between Afghan High Peace Council of Afghanistan and Taliban was shifted to Doha, where the process collapsed. Hopefully, the location would shift back to Istanbul in due course. Moreover, whenever tensions arise between Afghanistan and Pakistan, Turkey takes upon itself to narrow down the differences and restore working relationship between the two.
Beside Afghanistan, Turkey has an abiding interest in Central Asia, which is overwhelmingly Turkic in demographic composition. Pakistan and Turkey could work jointly for their outreach endeavours in Central Asia. As drawdown of occupation forces from Afghanistan is in progress, Pakistan must coordinate more closely with Turkey, and both of them with Iran and other immediate neighbours of Afghanistan, to achieve the common goal of a free, prosperous and stable Afghanistan. Pakistan is looking for international support for forging political consensus inside Afghanistan to prevent post 2014 spillover to Pakistan. Turkey’s influence over Afghanistan’s non-Taliban elements, like Abdul Rashid Dostum, can come handy for bolstering efforts towards an intra-Afghan reconciliation to stabilise Afghanistan.
Another focus of Erdogan’s visit was on bilateral economic cooperation. Pakistan and Turkey have inked agreements to make the Islamabad-Tehran-Istanbul Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO) Container Train operational. Regular operations of this train service would not only strengthen connectivity, but would also harness greater economic integration between the region and beyond. However, its full advantages could only be exploited if its operation is extended to Central Asia. And for this, peace in Afghanistan is a starting point.
Mutual understanding developed on different issues and the documents signed to boost cooperation in various spheres of life are indicators of the kind of relationship that has developed between Pakistan and Turkey over a period of time. Consistent with shared vision to strengthen economic ties, two sides have decided to conclude a Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) during the first quarter of 2014. The PTA would indeed go a long way in further expansion and consolidation of economic ties.
The two prime ministers emphasised on the prompt implementation of the common economic agenda within the framework of the High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council (HLSCC). Turkey is hopeful of European (EU) Union membership, something which Pakistan would find supportive, now that it has obtained GSP+ status. In the long term, both countries could also harmonise and synergize their economic objectives in the context of the EU. Interest shown by the Turkish side in the construction of Diamer-Bhasha and Bunji dams and Lahore-Karachi Motorway project is of particular significance, such high profile infrastructure development projects have the potential of long term economic benefits to Pakistan. Prime Minister Erdogan also announced the opening of a Turkish Cultural Centre in Lahore.
At a time when the economy of Pakistan is facing some serious challenges, the visit of Turkish premier, along with a high-powered business delegation, has provided some respite. Prime Minister Erdogan’s visit has signalled his nation’s willingness to move forward with broad range economic cooperation. This could stimulate similar initiatives amongst other countries. These agreements are positive for the economy of Pakistan. Turkey, like China, has a track record of realizing its commitments and targets at fast pace. Pakistan will have to put in extra effort to simplify bureaucratic procedures to keep pace with the Turkish style of speedy implementation of projects. Therefore, continuous monitoring of projects at the high level would be the key to success and a meaningful contribution to the society. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has promised to facilitate Turkish investments in Pakistan; he said that Turkish entrepreneurs could expect a one window facility for all queries, issues regarding implementation of their projects. He also assured them assistance from the revamped Board of Investments in this regard.
Turkey has already been working with the Punjab government. Prominent examples of Turkish investments include the Lahore Metro Bus Service and the Lahore Waste Management Company. Besides these, Turkey is also cooperating in different energy projects. Turkey’s collaboration in low-cost housing schemes, at a time when demand for this category of houses is on rise would be of great significance. Another area selected for collaboration is the banking sector. Collaboration in banking sector would be catalytic in providing a facilitating environment for trade and connectivity services. Exchange of delegations to gain experience is another agreement which is drawing appreciation from the academia.
Both sides have also inked three memorandums of understanding between the Punjab Industrial Department and Turkey Cooperation Agency; Pakistan Railways and Turkish Logistics Organisation; Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority (PSQCA) and Turkish Standards Institution. The Turkish prime minister has asked his country’s businessmen to invest in the Metro Bus services for two more cities.
Friendship with the Turkish people is part of the legacy inherited from our forefathers. As two pillars of strength, Pakistan and Turkey stand united in joint endeavour to promote peace and stability in the region. This visit by the Turkish premier and the message sent out during it is one that deserves great appreciation. Mr Erdogan and Mrs Emine Erdogan are known for their deep love and affection for people of Pakistan as demonstrated during earthquakes and floods. There is no doubt that sky is the limit as far as cooperation between Pakistan and Turkey is concerned. Already bound by deep cultural, historical and linguistic ties, the visit marked transformation of bilateral relationship to a comprehensive and enduring strategic partnership.

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The executive-judiciary story

The Supreme Court has ordered the provision of gas to villages situated within 5 km of gas fields as promised in an unimplemented directive issued in 2003 by the then Prime Minister. This is just one of the boons that could flow out of the recent judgment for the large number of under-privileged voiceless communities that had been left out in the cold by successive governments, thrown to the mercy of unethical oil and gas exploration and production companies.
The oil and gas exploration and production takes place in some of the poorest districts of Pakistan and the multi-million dollar projects are run by super-rich companies that are legally bound to contribute towards the welfare of the people, protection of environment and development of the area they are licensed to operate in. The Supreme Court found that the federal, provincial and local governments had failed to ensure performance of the obligations of these companies.
In fact, going by the way different tiers of successive governments have gone about managing this task, it is obvious that the well-being of some of the least-privileged citizens of Pakistan doesn’t figure anywhere in their scheme of things; citizens who are heirs to rich resources and wouldn’t be so poor if they received even the paltry benefits granted to them in contracts signed by the Government of Pakistan with these oil and gas companies. They would actually be prosperous if our governments didn’t throw away their rich resources to these companies for peanuts.
While it might take some time before a leadership emerges on the political horizon that puts the interest of Pakistani citizens before the profits of these environmentally and socially irresponsible companies, the least that the governments could do was to ensure that the oil and gas companies fulfilled their contractually mandated obligations for the benefit of the people and natural environment. But the governments have been least interested in doing that and, through a suo moto notice, the Supreme Court had to step in to fill the vacuum. Should the court have looked the other way and waited for the government to someday wake up to its responsibility?
Much has been said about the suo moto jurisdiction of the Supreme Court and confrontation between the executive and the judiciary, with the bulk of our ‘legal experts’ and opinion makers consistently trying to paint the Supreme Court as the culprit in this tussle, blaming its pro-active approach for creating obstruction in the way of smooth functioning of the government in place. The discussion on the topic has generally hovered around irrelevant details and technical nit-picking while not much attention has been paid to what the fight has been all about.
Though a comprehensive reading of the related judgments is ideally required to decipher the fault-lines around which the Supreme Court considered it necessary to intervene in what has been traditionally considered the exclusive domain of the executive, for those who might find it difficult to undertake the extensive exercise, this judgment of a three-member bench of the Supreme Court issued last Friday might prove useful in bringing clarity to the issue.
Authored by Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja, the judgment puts in perspective not only the executive-corporate nexus but also demonstrates the pro-people nature of the suo-moto jurisdiction exercised by the independent judiciary with a gusto that ruffled the feathers of not only ministers, bureaucrats and rich corporations but also our ‘legal experts’ and opinion makers. It is no longer a secret that our government officials speak more for personal and corporate interests rather than for the people they represent. So what are the critics objecting to the Supreme Court’s intervention on behalf of these poor and forgotten citizens essentially saying? That no one should watch out for them and the judiciary should turn a blind eye to the flouting of their fundamental rights granted by the Constitution?
The origin of the case could be traced back to a speech by the President of the Tando Adam Bar Association, Abdul Hakeem Khoso Advocate made before Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry who was there to administer oath to the office-bearers of the Bar. Mr Khoso said, “Our district (Sanghar) has a number of oil and gas fields and the oil and gas exploring companies are acting in violation of law and the terms and conditions of the agreements which they executed with the Government of Pakistan whereby they are bound to control environmental pollution, provide jobs and gas facility to the local people…and spend specified amounts on infrastructure…and the betterment of the people.” The speech was marked to the Human Rights Cell for a report, and subsequently the matter was put up in Court as a petition under article 184 (3) of the Constitution. Justice Khawaja deals with the matter with some detail in his judgment:
“The significance of Article 184 (3) of the Constitution in enforcing the fundamental rights of the people all over Pakistan without the necessity of having a petitioner from each district is evident from the present case. In the ordinary course it would have been extremely difficult logistically and financially for a public-spirited resident of District Sanghar to file and pursue legal recourse in the Civil Courts or in constitutional Courts. Even if such recourse had been taken it would have remained confined to issues relating to District Sanghar. It is only on account of Article 184 (3) of the Constitution and the willingness and ability of the Court to take notice suo moto that the entire country spread over more than 105 Districts has been brought within the compass of one initiative taken by a Taluka Bar Association and then positively dealt by the Human Rights Cell of the Court and then in Court hearings. It should be obvious from the facts of this case that conventional methods of seeking legal redress can be grossly inadequate for people without sufficient means, particularly when they may be pitted against more resourceful individuals and corporate entities.”
Obviously, there is more to the executive-judiciary story than what our ‘legal experts’ and opinion makers would have us believe.

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The hangman’s noose called aid

When, and if, one pays full attention to the news and to the daily going’s on of life around, it comes as an insulting ‘slap in the face’ to witness the begging bowl attitude in action.
This, though, is hardly surprising given the example of successive governments, plus, a sad observation, how disbursers of aid, be it foreign aid or otherwise, go so badly about their business that people, pride long since gone, have developed the greedy attitude of expecting more and more, giving nothing in return: Not even a well intentioned ‘Thank you’.
The writer is not talking about out and out street beggars here but of entire communities who, following in the footsteps of their leaders, have actually come to demand ‘assistance’ for things they could – and should – be doing for themselves.
‘If aid workers can fly here and there, drive around in expensive vehicles and eat in expensive places’ the ‘people’ reason, ‘then they have plenty of money to hand out to us and we do not have to lift a finger in return’ which, considered in the clear light of day, is absolutely terrible!
Where has the nation’s collective, let alone individual, pride gone?
Something, anything that needs doing – planting trees, repairing a water pipe, filling up potholes in a road right along the line to ensuring that people in relatively remote locations can adequately sustain themselves on a year round basis, is, these days, a reason for not just demanding but expecting, aid money to pour in. This is despite the fact that quite often, the solution to the problem, or perceived problem, is staring people right in the face but they are simply too lazy to do anything about it for themselves.
Millions – make that billions - of dollars in foreign aid has poured into Pakistan, on one pretext or another, since the country came into existence but there is, in real terms, very little to show for it. True to say that, especially in the case of American aid, somewhere between 70% - 90% goes straight back to American contractors/suppliers to help their employment and economy not ours. Yet – the great big ‘But’ – why on earth has and is, Pakistan so merrily selling itself out, bit by bit, piece by piece, to American interests for American – not Pakistani – gain?
Does our indigenous agricultural sector for example, an important sector which has always been viewed as the economic backbone of our economy, really need incredibly massive inputs from overseas when we have our own Agricultural Research Departments and Agricultural Universities. And why, oh why, is that often lethal ‘Micro-credit’ system, the initial money often being in the form of so-called ‘Aid’, being pushed and promised left, right and centre when there is absolutely no need, no need at all to encourage people to bury themselves in debt?
Yes. Start up money for a business, no matter how small a business, can be hard to find and even harder to pay back, with interest, if the business fails but there is another side to the Micro/Macro credit being proffered as aid. This, to put it plainly, being that if someone is prepared to work hard and to work the long hours necessary to get any new venture off the ground, they can – slowly and surely – provide that they are determined enough to do it themselves and, more importantly, without getting into debt. Offering, enticing even, people to take out loans in any shape or form and having the sheer audacity to call it ‘aid’ is tantamount to handing someone a noose and telling them ‘go hang yourself’ for, in some other countries, our Eastern neighbour being a prime example, this is exactly the result!
The ‘Aid’ worker driving around in a huge 4 x 4 has been hired, and is obviously paid, to do a job – in the case of convincing people to sign on for credit, they are salespeople not ‘helpers’.
It used to be and still is in many localities, both urban and rural, the tradition, especially amongst women, to form committees into which each committee member deposited a certain amount each month. If, for instance, there were 12 people in the committee, then one of them would get that months total sum, each month in turn. It could be used for anything including, it goes without saying, using it as ‘seed money’ with which to first start and then expand some kind of home-based business be this cooking, baking, tailoring or whatever and the beauty was, of course, no interest involved.
These days though, instead of traditional, community based ‘help’ methods, along comes an aid worker/NGO, offering foreign based credit – don’t forget the interest – thus dismantling joint community systems which have worked perfectly well down through generation after generation to the betterment of all involved. People who could, once they got their chosen business up and running, proudly and honestly say that they have done it for themselves.
This pride of ‘doing’, appears to have, to a very large degree, gone and, thanks to the incorrect usage and promotion of ‘aid’, left in its place a ‘Gimme Gimme’ attitude which is, putting it lightly, shameful in the extreme.
Come on people – where is your commonsense, your determination and, above all, your pride?

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Pakistan pick Mohammad Talha for Tests

Pakistan have picked fast bowler Mohammad Talha for the Tests against Sri Lanka more than four years after he played his only match, in March 2009. They have also recalled fast bowler Umar Gul, who is fit again, and allrounder Mohammad Hafeez, who who scored three hundreds in the first four ODIs against Sri Lanka in the UAE.

Irfan to work with new physio
Fast bowler Mohammad Irfan will travel to the UAE to undergo rehabilitation with Pakistan's new physio Dale Naylor. Irfan is presently recovering from a hairline fracture to his hip bone. "It is part of the PCB's plan to bolster the team ranks and to have proper back-up for all the players of the national team," the PCB said. "Irfan will leave for Dubai on December 28 and will be with Dr Faisal (former team physio) and Naylor till his full recovery."
The players missing from the squad that played the Tests against South Africa in the UAE were: the injured fast bowler Mohammad Irfan, batsman Umar Amin and spinner Zulfiqar Babar.

Talha's debut was in the Lahore Test in 2009, which had to be abandoned after the bus transporting the Sri Lankan team was attacked by terrorists. He was part of the squad for the tour of Bangladesh in 2011-12 but did not play, and an injury ruled him out of that season's series against England in the UAE. He recently took 11 wickets for Port Qasim Authority in the President's Trophy.

Talha was 20 when he made his debut and since then Pakistan have introduced as many as nine fast bowlers, making it hard to find a place in the squad. He has taken 143 first-class wickets since 2010, and 33 in the ongoing season. "It has been a tough time since I played my only Test," Talha had told ESPNcricinfo before the start of the 2013-14 season. "Injuries have been a concern for while but I always tried to keep myself in the best shape amid tough competition and waited for the opportunity."

"Competition has always been there and I did manage to win a place in 2009 and was selected after that too. But lack of opportunity and some random injuries hindered my growth. No international cricket in Pakistan was also a blow to my career. I always felt empty since that incomplete Test match [in Lahore] …"

Gul's last Test for Pakistan was in South Africa in February this year, after which he was sidelined by injury until his recall to the ODI squad ahead of the third match of the ongoing series against Sri Lanka.

Hafeez had been dropped for the Tests against South Africa in the UAE because he had scored 102 runs in 10 innings this year, struggling primarily against Dale Steyn. His return to this squad was largely due to his match-winning performances with the bat in the ODIs against Sri Lanka.

Babar, 35, had injured his hand during the second Test against South Africa in the UAE. He needed stitches, but completed his three-week rehabilitation and returned to domestic cricket. Babar was picked for the only T20 against Afghanistan in Sharjah but was overlooked for the Tests against Sri Lanka because the selectors preferred Abdur Rehman and Saeed Ajmal, and Hafeez's return provided an additional spin option. Babar had played only one first-class game this season, taking three wickets for Water and Power Development Authority against Habib Bank Limited.

Test squad: Misbah-ul-Haq, Mohammad Hafeez, Ahmed Shehzad, Khurram Manzoor, Shan Masood, Azhar Ali, Asad Shafiq, Younis Khan, Adnan Akmal, Junaid Khan, Saeed Ajmal, Abdur Rehman, Umar Gul, Rahat ali, Mohammad Talha.

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Steyn six brings South Africa roaring back

The second day began with grey skies and a persistent rain that wiped out the morning session but when play began, more than three hours behind the scheduled start, it was in blazing sunshine with the fans reaching for the sunblock. Dale Steyn's mood similarly brightened as he ended an unprecedented 69.2-over wait for a wicket with a triple-strike that brought South Africa right back after the first day was dominated by India's batsmen.

Steyn returned after tea to roll over the lower order in a pumped-up spell and finish with 6 for 100, his 22nd five-for, as India ended on 334. It was a high-class display on a surface that offered little for quicks, and showed his adaptability. With his usual outswinger not working, he relied on express pace and hostile short balls.

In between, India had a couple of sprightly partnerships involving Ajinkya Rahane, another young batsman whose reputation has been bolstered on this tour. First, he put on 66 with the in-form Virat Kohli and then 55 with MS Dhoni to ensure India didn't keel over without resistance.


Dale Steyn picked up six wickets, South Africa v India, 2nd Test, Durban, 2nd day, December 27, 2013
Out of form? Dale Steyn took 6 for 100 © Associated Press
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M Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara, utterly in control all day yesterday to take India to 181 for 1, had a couple of nervy moments early on against Steyn as both batsmen edged past the staggered slip cordon. On the sixth over of the day, Steyn broke through. After a bunch of short balls, Pujara only went half-forward to a pitched-up delivery and nicked through to the keeper.

For Vijay, the early stumps yesterday came at the worst time, as he had a night to ruminate over a possible first century overseas. He spent 47 deliveries in the 90s - including that edge past slip for four - before a Steyn short ball had him gloving to the keeper, three short of a milestone to cherish.

The next delivery was one that will likely haunt Rohit Sharma for a while. With Steyn reversing the ball in, Rohit had a brainfade and decided to not offer a stroke and lost his middle stump. Cue a flood of Nohit jokes, a derisory nickname he'd thought he had left behind with the golden run back home leading up to this series.

A fired-up Steyn kept up the short-ball onslaught, hitting Rahane twice with the second new ball, signalling to the batsman that he was keeping count. Virat Kohli was less troubled by that strategy, authoritatively pulling Steyn to midwicket for four. Kohli was in the form that brought him a century and 96 in the Johannesburg Test, and he showed that off with a series of defensive pushes down the ground, several of which reached the rope.

With Vernon Philander getting nothing from the new ball, Rahane was settling in, the partnership grew and India were slowly asserting themselves again. Morne Morkel, though, changed that with a short ball ten minutes before tea that Kohli guided to AB de Villiers, who reacted rapidly to collect that chance.

The runs came quickly after the break with Dhoni in the middle and Rahane latching onto anything short. For the third innings in a row, India had batted out more than 100 overs, not something that was predicted before the tour began. The pair added 32 in five overs and just as India seemed to be taking a firm grip, Steyn returned.

He had Dhoni chasing one outside off to nick to slip to break the stand, and expose India's lower order. Ravindra Jadeja became the first victim of spin in the game, as he gave Jacques Kallis his 200th Test catch to exit for a duck.

A leaping, acrobatic take from de Villiers to send back Zaheer Khan left Rahane wondering whether he would reach his maiden Test half-century. He got there but soon after the innings ended, with the final five wickets going down for 14 runs.

South Africa's batsmen had to negotiate 20 overs before stumps and they began at a T20 pace. India's new-ball bowlers couldn't get the ball to deviate, and offered some easy putaways which Graeme Smith and Alviro Petersen pounced on. Like Philander, Zaheer Khan was taken off after just three overs. The introduction of Ishant Sharma made it tougher for the batsmen, as both Smith and Petersen were left groping outside off.

There was more excitement when Jadeja came on, as he first got appreciable turn off the footmarks when bowling to Smith and then off an unblemished surface to Petersen. There was no breakthrough, though, as Petersen kept dispatching the bad ball on offer and South Africa maintained a punishing pace.

By stumps, South Africa's openers had reduced the deficit to 252, and ensured their team dictated the second day as much as India had the first.

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Chandimal, Mendis edge home in thriller

It had been widely noted that Dinesh Chandimal hadn't made an ODI fifty in nearly a year. He chose a thriller to end the drought, guiding Sri Lanka home in the last over, with the No. 10 Ajantha Mendis for company. Sri Lanka went into the Tests with a scoreline of 2-3, but it could easily have been 1-4.

Pakistan made the target of 233 look like 333, despite Kusal Perera's quick 47 at the start. They absorbed those early blows, and came back with venom, their spinners tying Sri Lanka down and their fast bowlers taking crucial wickets. Chandimal and Mendis battled through all that pressure to engineer a win from 195 for 8, their unbroken stand of 40 coming in only 4.1 overs.

It had looked all but over for Sri Lanka when Pakistan nipped out three wickets in three overs, and 38 were needed off 27 balls. Saeed Ajmal, who took two of those three wickets, then seemed to have effectively ended the game when Mendis was given out leg-before first ball in the 46th over. But even as Mendis started to walk away, Chandimal persuaded him to review. Over half of the ball was shown to have landed outside leg stump, and Mendis survived.

Sri Lanka then took nine off Junaid in the 47th over, Chandimal continuing to hustle between the wickets and pulling a four. Next up was Ajmal's last over. Sri Lanka could have opted to play safe and targetted the last 12 deliveries, but Mendis went after Ajmal. And then came the moment where Pakistan let it slip. Mendis hit an airy drive to cover's left, but Sohaib Maqsood could not hold on to the sharp chance. Not only did Mendis escape a second time, he ran two. He then opened up and cracked a reverse-sweep for four off the last ball of the over.

Sri Lanka still needed 18 off 12, but the issue was sealed in the penultimate over. Chandimal got underneath Umar Gul's first delivery and swung it for six over deep midwicket. Not to be outdone, Mendis stepped out and lofted Gul for six over extra cover three balls later. Game over. With two needed off the final three balls, Mendis hit the winning runs with a slap over extra cover and let out a scream.

The match seemed heading for an early finish when Perera pulled four sixes in Sanath Jayasuriya style on his way to 47 off 41. His opening stand with Tillakaratne Dilshan was worth 75 in 12.2 overs but Pakistan got the opening when Perera tried a reverse-sweep Mohammad Hafeez and was lbw.

The spinners found turn and the runs dried up. Dilshan and Kumar Sangakkara tried finding release against the pace of Junaid but succumbed. When Junaid pulled up to leave the field, Gul arrived to complete the 31st over, and induced Ashan Priyanjan to edge to the wicketkeeper first ball. Angelo Mathews was given caught behind as well, on review off Anwar Ali, with replays not indicating an inside edge onto pad but the two sounds settling it for third umpire Richard Illingworth.

Sri Lanka teetered on the brink of defeat losing a clutch of late wickets, but Chandimal kept knocking the ball around and held his nerve along with Mendis.

It was a gutting end for Pakistan, especially for Anwar. Drafted in for the final match, he clubbed an unbeaten 41 off 38 to lift Pakistan to a fighting 232 after they had slipped to 194 for 8.

Sri Lanka's attack finally turned up in the series, Lasith Malinga picking up four wickets. Barring the end, Pakistan rarely got going and when they did, they lost wickets to lose whatever momentum they had managed to build.

Misbah-ul-Haq's departure came the next ball after he had swung Malinga for six over deep midwicket to reach his 15th half-century in 32 innings in 2013. The leading ODI run-getter of the year had just showed signs of kicking on from a watchful start but his dismissal and Umar Akmal's in the next over, meant Pakistan's long tail had to bat out the last ten overs.

Coming in at No. 7 in the absence of Shahid Afridi, Anwar managed to do that. He was on 7 when he was put down at slip by Mathews off Mendis in the 42nd over. He was then given out lbw in the 47th over off Malinga, but reviewed successfully, the ball shown to be missing leg stump on replays. He responded by lofting Malinga for successive boundaries in the 49th over, which went for 16.

The late push meant Pakistan had a reasonable score to defend on a track that Mathews, at the toss, had expected to play slow. He had read the pitch superbly, for he opened the bowling with his medium-pace and went on to concede just 26 off ten overs, also dislodging the seemingly irremovable Hafeez for 41 with an incutter.

Hafeez, the Man of the Series, hit back with the ball by removing Perera, but Chandimal, after quite some time, showed again why he is considered such a bright prospect.

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Turkish fatigue

Turkey, one of our closest friends, holding a special place in what there is of the Pakistani heart; Turkey with whom our ties are not just those of history but also of the imagination; our friend in good days and bad; one of the few places on earth where the word Pakistan does not beget a cynical smile.

But, heretical thought, can there not be too much of a good thing? No, this deserves to be qualified. We can never have too much of the Turkish nation. But a government is a passing phenomenon. It is not the nation. I can love the US, or things about the US, and yet wince at the mention of George Bush. I can think warmly of India as an historic entity, yet be appalled by the notion of Narendra Modi as its leader.

The Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is a great leader of his country, elected to office three times in a row. Under his stewardship Turkey has witnessed remarkable economic progress. He visited Pakistan when Yusuf Raza Gilani was prime minister and there was a lunch for him at the Serena Hotel, the arrangements (on the part of the government) so slipshod that I felt embarrassed. Once upon a time we used to be very good at this kind of protocol. This too has gone down like so much else.

Anyway, Erdogan addressed a joint session of parliament as well and when he finished the then leader of the opposition, our friend Nisar, instead of uttering the short words of welcome customary on such occasions, usually with something written on a piece of paper, inevitably spoke longer than was necessary. It was a goodwill visit and something or the other must have been signed…but that was it.

This week Erdogan was again on a visit to Pakistan and some MOUs about this and that were signed. Again that was it. Nawaz Sharif soon after becoming prime minister visited Turkey; Shahbaz Sharif keeps hopping over to Turkey on the smallest pretext; the lemon that is the Lahore Metro has been built with Turkish help. In the rental power scam of the last PPP government, a Turkish ship supposed to generate power lay anchored off Karachi. It also figured in that scam and was the subject of a NAB inquiry.

Not to forget something else, authorities in Lahore have sent a detailed sewage map of the city to the mayor of Istanbul’s office to seek help in the disposal and management of solid waste.

The Sharifs have ruled or partly-ruled Punjab for the last 30 years – repeat, 30 years. This is the younger Sharif’s third stint as chief minister, having just completed a full five-year term. Now he is asking Turkish help for waste disposal. Recently in Delhi, donning a hard hat and his trademark jacket, he was seen going around checking out waste disposal facilities there. When will his research conclude? When will he be able to apply its findings to Lahore?

Or has this more to do with culture than anything else? Until not long ago village and even town houses here used to be built without proper toilet facilities. In villages nature’s open spaces took care of waste disposal. The same laissez-faire attitude accompanied the building of Islamabad which, incredible as it may sound, fifty years after its founding still has no proper facility for waste disposal, with refuse and waste dumped in open spaces. At least we are a nuclear power. That should be of some consolation.

Where has this digression taken me? To return to our subject, let us have stronger ties with Turkey. Let us emulate Turkey in its achievements. But Turkish visits, to Turkey or from Turkey, while they play well in Pakistan can also begin to grate if overdone. The Sharifs are overdoing Turkey even while presiding over a sense of drift at home.

There is also another pattern which emerges. Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP), in power since 2002, has very strong ties with construction and business interests. The summer riots in Istanbul, the most serious challenge to Erdogan’s authority since he came to power, were sparked by a controversial construction plan in the city’s central Gezi Park. Now Erdogan’s government is embroiled in a corruption scandal which came into the open after the arrests of individuals very close to the ruling party. On Christmas Day three cabinet ministers resigned, one of them calling upon the prime minister to do the same.

Do appearances count for anything? When Nawaz Sharif visited Turkey last September some younger members of his clan, with no position in government, accompanied him. They were again seen at the Badshahi Mosque in Lahore during Erdogan’s visit. Some of them are looking after the family business in London.

The other government, again embattled, which Pakistan’s present rulers have been courting, is the Shinawatra government in Thailand. The AKP in Turkey has ties to the construction industry and big business. But the Shinawatras are big money themselves as is the ruling gentry in Pakistan. Is there a pattern here or is this all mere coincidence?

One thing is for sure. The neoliberal economic model which has played havoc in so much of the third world is the unspoken economic doctrine in force in Pakistan today, the IMF deal a part of this package. It’s all very well to say, as the IMF does and as the government agrees, that subsidies should be cut and no one should have a free lunch. If the resulting pain were equally shared there would be no problem, and little to complain about.

But the beauty of the neoliberal model is that all the burden is placed on the poorer sections of society – which is called economic adjustment – while the rich not only continue to have their free lunch, their portions are larger than before. And privatisation when it occurs, and the way it occurs, contributes to their wellbeing even more.

Yellow taxis and laptops for students and loans for youth are just sweeteners, meant to distract minds from the harsh reality of some of the sharpest inflation Pakistan has known. And when Turkish and Thai visits are thrown in, with family members themselves involved in big business heavily in attendance, we have no real idea as to what is happening behind closed doors, but the MOUs signed and the accompanying publicity give the impression that rulers are not slumbering, that they have the national interest at heart and are working day and night for the country’s progress.

Meanwhile, spare a thought for the mobilisation of national talent. Reminding an older generation of what Zulfikar Ali Bhutto said of his “talented cousin”, talented daughter is chosen to head the youth loan scheme. Because the Punjab chief minister is half-running foreign policy and performing the role of number two national statesman (after the prime minister) there must be someone to look fulltime after Punjab. Who more suitable than the chief minister’s son, duly appointed to head a Punjab committee? To deal with MNA complaints, and they are feeling ignored, another committee is constituted – headed, naturally, by the same son of the Punjab chief minister… and the prime minister’s son-in-law as one of the other members. Call this democracy, Pakistani style.

Ranjit Singh’s was the first kingdom in Punjabi history. What we have in Pakistan today is a slight improvement on that: something close to the first elected monarchy.

An important side-effect of this development is that to all intents and purposes the Kashmir problem stands resolved. The leading flavour of Pakistan’s elected monarchy is Kashmiri, this the common defining factor of the inner core of power today. We may not get our water policy right – the Kishanganga verdict in the International Court of Arbitration instructive in this regard…we did no homework when we went there – but at least we have our higher politics all straightened out.

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Erdogan going beyond ties in Pakistan

When Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyib Erdogan on Tuesday wrapped up his two-day high-profile journey to Pakistan, the country’s foreign ministry used words like “unique” and “unparalleled” to describe the visit, borrowing phrases which are rarely used surrounding other foreign visitors.
It was left to the country’s robust news media to highlight the visit for its significance for Pakistan’s leaders too, going beyond ties just between two countries. One newspaper prominently reported Erdogan’s use of the phrase “brother” while addressing Shehbaz Sharif, the Chief Minister of the populous Punjab province, and the powerful younger brother of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. The younger Sharif has been a prominent champion of Turkey’s expanded investments in Pakistan as a way to revive a badly ailing economy.
For Pakistan’s government, which is battling the worst security crisis in the country’s history that has clearly been compounded by mounting economic challenges, high profile overseas visitors are rare. But in Erdogan’s case, a mix of remote and recent history coupled with expectations for the future, made the visit a special event.
Generations of Pakistanis have gone through their school text books learning about the “Khilafat” movement of almost a century ago, when scores of Muslims from British ruled India felt compelled to travel to Turkey to save the collapsing Ottoman empire.
Though that gesture could not bloc Turkey’s Kemalist onslaught led by Mustafa Kemal Pasha, the founding father of the modern Turkish republic, it continues to be remembered as evidence of the passion shared by Muslims of south Asia, notably Pakistan.
But in its present context, Erdogan’s visit to Islamabad took place as the two countries seek to build up their geo-strategic ties especially surrounding Afghanistan. By this time next year, if indeed the US-led draw-down of western troops is nearly completed, Pakistan will be looking for support on two equally vital fronts.
On the one hand, Islamabad continues to search for ways of building a new political consensus inside Afghanistan to prevent an all-out internal conflict that will spill over to Pakistan. Turkey’s possible influence over players like Abdul Rashid Dostum — the influential commander of Afghanistan’s “Uzbek” community is often cited in official circles as a useful tool for future efforts to stabilise Afghanistan.
On the other hand, Turkey’s prominence as a key member on the eastern flank of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato), continues to arm it with the strategic significance that Pakistan considers valuable for influencing elements of western security policies.
At the same time, recent controversy surrounding Turkey, notably its opposing interests to other important regional players in conflict stricken Syria, cannot be continuously ignored by Pakistan.
For the moment, Islamabad remains determined to keep up with its friends in the Islamic Arab world while also building up with its relations with Turkey. While events surrounding Syria may eventually force Pakistan to take a side in that conflict, Islamabad for now is hoping to avoid making that choice, which will risk its friendship in the Islamic world.

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Why ZAB was executed

“Rather than boasting of calamitous missions, the politicians responsible for them must be held to account.”
–Seumas Milne, Guardian News

Pakistan is about the only country on this planet where Politics, the ancient art and science of managing the affairs of the state and its citizens, is and has been absolutely and exclusively a personalized response to national events by its successive ruling class. This has been a predetermined modus operandi of the political managers of this country in the normal day-to-day functioning of the state as well as in major national crises faced by this nation. This mindset has written irony and national tragedy into our history and shaped the extremely problematic existence of our last 6 decades.
ZAB, with his charismatic persona, extraordinary ability for perception management and support of the emotionally-charged West Pakistani masses, refused to transfer political power to the legitimately and democratically elected East Pakistani leader Mujibur Rahman and thus caused the creation of Bangladesh in 1971. It was ZAB’s pure and exclusively “personalized” response and exploitation of a most serious national crisis that split the nation into two separate countries and put the legitimacy of a two-nation theory to open questioning that haunts the ideology of Pakistan even today.
Eight years later, despite international protests and mercy appeals by powerful actors in global politics, Gen. Zia had ZAB executed.
Three commonly accepted mainstream narratives have attempted to explain ZAB’s “political assassination.”
1) It is believed that irrespective of whether the murder charges brought against ZAB were true or fabricated, Gen. Zia saw an opportunity to eliminate a potentially powerful adversary to consolidate his hold over power and extend his rule. This explanation appears to be quite reasonable. After all, Gen. Zia had the presidential power to commute ZAB’s death sentence or hand him over to another country that had already offered ZAB political asylum. But Gen. Zia decided not to do so.
2) Some political analysts, historians and observers contend that Gen. Zia, behind closed doors, was under intense pressure by ZAB’s powerful foreign opponents to politically and physically eliminate him. These foreign actors loathed ZAB’s relentless personal independence and strong pro-Islamic Bloc initiative, and had knowledge of ZAB’s secret plans for making Pakistan a nuclear power. These foreign elements saw ZAB’s Pakistan as a threat to the existing status quo of the international system, which was under their complete control. Some political historians point to Henry Kissinger’s notorious conversation with ZAB in which the US Secretary of State threatened, “We will make an example of you.”
Indeed Gen. Zia was a close ally of the US and the West – but subsequent political developments point to the fact the Pakistan’s nuclear power project was completed during Zia’s era. The question is, could Gen. Zia, as a military commander and at the urgings of ZAB’s foreign enemies, politically and physically eliminate a popular leader who advocated a nuclear Pakistan projecting its power and influence on the global stage? This does not seem to be a plausible explanation.
3) Some other analysts believe that Gen. Zia abhorred ZAB’s personal lifestyle, his political arrogance and aristocratic mindset, his disrespect for his opponents and their mass arrests and imprisonments, and his subsequent political manipulations and aggressive attitude toward his adversaries to the extent of humiliation, insults and personal vendettas.
I wish to offer a 4th explanation by looking at Gen. Zia’s merciless act of executing ZAB from a different angle: Gen. Zia was a thorough military-man throughout his life. Before the Indo-Pakistan partition he served with the British troops in Burma, Malaysia and Indonesia during the latter part of WWII. In the 1965 war between India and Pakistan, Zia was on active duty in Kashmir. In 1969, he was promoted to the rank of a one-star general (Brigadier) and later served as an advisor to the Royal Jordanian army. Zia was also stationed in then East Pakistan and reportedly had developed a distinct liking for the East Pakistani Bengali culture and land.
Hence, it is imperative to analyze Zia’s act of April 1979 by understanding his military-political behavior. Hypothetically speaking, is it not possible that Gen. Zia, throughout the East Pakistan crisis, held ZAB responsible for breaking up Pakistan by manipulating and coercing Gen. Yahya into a military solution rather than opting for a legitimate political settlement?
Indeed, as we know, all major political decisions are normally made behind closed doors and we have no verifiable records of what exchange of personal ideas, opinions and expressions of support for military action in East Pakistan or against it took place between the military officers at Zia’s level. However, with Zia’s background and military career history, it is a clear probability that he might have held the opinion that ZAB was primarily responsible for the breakup of the country. As the President, Gen. Zia might have decided to punish ZAB in his absolute conviction that ZAB had committed an unpardonable crime against the nation.
Whatever the case, in the end analysis, Gen. Zia acted by an exclusively personalized response to a politically-loaded event in this nation’s history; he could have done better had he understood the art and science of politics.
Gen. Musharraf’s response to Gen. Powell’s telephone call was also a personalized response that involved this nation in a destructive war for over a decade.
For the purpose of inquiry and learning lessons from history, now let us move to our contemporary national predicaments caused by our leadership’s personalized approach to national events and political crises. Consider last week’s military operation in the country’s troubled northwest where 26 civilians are reported to have been killed by army raids initiated and supported by Islamabad. Homes and hotels were bombed and destroyed and a large-scale destruction of property and life took place. Consequently, the question that begs unmitigated attention is: Did no one in the Islamabad-Rawalpindi political-military establishment think that the said attack on our soldiers might have been a trap set up by our enemies/adversaries to instigate a military response in an area where the US has been demanding a military operation?
The recent tragic killing of our soldiers has come on the heels of proposed US legislation, the US Defense Authorization Bill of 2014, dictating such terms of engagement with Pakistan as “support counter terrorism operations…in Pakistan” and other conditions that include open passage for US military hardware and equipment, etc. Ironically, Islamabad-Rawalpindi political-military leadership completely ignored the warning given by US Defense Secretary Chuck Hegel during his recent visit: to punish Pakistan if Washington’s dictates were not followed. Did no one in our political-military establishment consider a possible tactical connection between the killing of our soldiers and US strategic objectives in the Pak-Afghan corridor of conflict? Are we not aware that the CIA, RAW and some other foreign secret agencies are actively engaged in destabilizing Pakistan? Are we ignorant of the fact that another military operation in the northwest of the country will increase terrorism all over Pakistan?
It is said that Islamabad-Rawalpindi political-military establishment acted in a manner that benefits our adversaries rather than supports our legitimate right to run our own affairs without an indulgence in political reactions under organized and orchestrated circumstances. It is my considered opinion, you might disagree, that the recent attack on our soldiers was a set-up and a tactical move to instigate a quick military response from our political–military leadership that, in fact, came abruptly.
My educated guess is that our adversaries are aware that this country’s leadership is prone to personalized responses and interventions when a crisis hits this nation. Perhaps our adversaries understand our political psychology and political behavior imprints thoroughly. Perhaps they are astute readers of our political history.
Have not the entire nation, all the political parties, mainstream political actors, media-intellectuals, and the majority of political activists all agreed on a political solution with the Taliban to end the war on terror? Let us stay on the political course that we have decided for ourselves.
Personalized responses to national crises and events is an outdated modus operandi of political management that must be replaced by the more appropriate skills of in-depth analysis, rational consideration of policy alternatives and patient, logical and objective decision-making.
Pakistan cannot continue to flaw on its national political discourse anymore!

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