It was bound to happen sooner or later. The twin hats — of chief selector and headcoach of the national cricket team — that Misbah-ul Haq was wearing proved too much to carry. The former skipper has thus relinquished control as chief selector after a little more than a year and decided to focus on his responsibilities as headcoach. Misbah was candid when he said he could not handle the twin-job pressure, but was a bit evasive when insisting that resigning as chief selector was purely his own decision — as it is pretty understandable for him to have come under pressure to shed one of the jobs in view of the team’s dismal performance under him.
Frankly speaking, combining the two full-time roles in one person was not a wise decision — in fact it was ridiculously unusual. The chief selector — or a selector for that matter — is supposed to visit local venues across the country to watch domestic matches and stay abreast with the budding talent, besides keeping an eye on performances of the players associated with the national team. The headcoach, on the other hand, is required to travel with the national team and focus on enhancing the performance of the players assigned to him. So one man cannot do justice to the two jobs at the same. Besides, the twin-role model adopted by the PCB is understood to have disrupted a system of checks and balances. When the headcoach gives his opinion on a player being fit for selection or not, the selection committee is there as a counter layer to judge it independently — in what amounts to judging a player fairly in the best interest of the team.
Doing the two jobs simultaneously may have been a ‘good experience’ for Misbah — as he mentioned while announcing his decision to quit as chief selector during his press conference in Lahore yesterday — but certainly not for the national team which performed below par during his stint on the twin jobs.
Patronage for poachers
Often we see there is no reward for good deeds, but there is punishment for even the slightest misdemeanour. Given this state of our society, it should not come as a surprise that a kind and responsible senior official of the Sindh Wildlife Department (SWD) has, reportedly, been suspended for seizing migratory birds trapped by poachers in Badin district, reinforcing the commonly-held belief that law-breakers can get away with anything if they enjoy the backing of influential lawmakers who are ever ready to lavishly bestow favours on their favourites. In the present instance, a minister of the provincial government is said to be instrumental in the suspension of the official.
Poachers had trapped 150 migratory birds and they were on their way to Badin city when officials of the wildlife department rescued the birds from them. One of the three poachers intercepted by wildlife officials escaped. The escaped poacher was so bold-faced that he later intercepted a wildlife official and he, with the help of a friend, tried to snatch the confiscated birds. The officials promptly released the rescued birds into Haleji Lake in Thatta district. The ‘suspended’ official says he has been suspended on the charge of dereliction of official duty; but has not received communication in writing and only been informed about the suspension.
Residents of Badin district claim that people are hunting birds without any let and hindrance as officials ignore the illegal activity. Many people are making a considerable amount of money by hunting and trapping birds. Residents say trapped birds are being freely sold in the market. This unlawful activity has been going on for years obviously with alleged official and political patronage. Sometimes few poachers are arrested and trapped birds seized from them. This is, however, rare and uncommon. SWD officials have evaded comment on the issue of the ‘suspension’ of a senior officer of the department. How difficult it is to be honest!
Preconditions
Pakistan appeared to be making overtures for renewing talks with India after Moeed Yousaf, the prime minister’s adviser on national security and strategic policy planning, laid out Islamabad’s conditions to restart “meaningful dialogue”. The conditions, however, could be problematic, to say the least. Pakistan’s conditions include the release of all political prisoners in Kashmir, an end to the lockdown, rescinding the domicile law that allows non-Kashmiris to settle in the disputed territory, stopping human rights abuses, and ending support for state terrorism in Pakistan. While the goals may be noble, the practicality is questionable.
India has shown little interest in talking to Pakistan since the Narendra Modi regime came to power in 2014. Even before the current Indian government’s term, Kashmir being put on one side had become an unfortunate necessity for dozens of other issues to be amicably resolved. Meanwhile, the oppressive conditions imposed on Kashmir and its people are part of Modi’s electoral agenda. It is one thing to not keep an election promise, however reprehensible to Kashmiris or Pakistanis. It is quite another to follow through on a promise and then roll it back. The fact of the matter is that the situation in Kashmir can only improve when a non-BJP government comes to power.
As for the condition regarding state-backed terrorism, India has never officially admitted to having a direct role in terrorist activities in Pakistan and has not been indicted for its involvement with terrorists in Balochistan and elsewhere. It is hard to stop doing something you never said you were doing. The burden of proof is on the accuser.
Yousaf is a respected academic. There is no way he thinks these conditions are acceptable to the incumbent Indian government. This leads us to believe that the condition was essentially a bluff. The government knows that direct talks are not going to reopen, let alone be “meaningful”, for as long as the BJP is in power, so they just decided to talk a tough game. The alternative is that policy planners are living in a fantasy world. It is unfortunate, but the only practical approach is to wait and hope that Indian voters wise up to the actions of their leaders.
