Pak looking to rope in Lahore-born Aussie player for Davis cup tie against Kiwis

Karachi, Apr.20 (ANI): Pakistan’s star tennis player Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi is trying to rope in an Australian tennis player of Pakistani origin to boost his country’s chances in the Davis Cup Asia-Oceania Group-II semifinal against New Zealand.

Pakistan’s Davis Cup coach Rashid Malik said Aisam is trying to convince Lahore-born Rameez Junaid to play for Pakistan against the Kiwis during the July 9-11 tie.

Junaid, who is settled in Melbourne, plays with German Philipp Marx in doubles tournaments. He has partnered Aisam during a tournament in Dubai in 2007.

“We have been totally relying on Aisam and Aqeel Khan in recent years and it will be great if we can have another good player with international experience in our team,” Malik said, adding that there is a big possibility that Junaid would represent Pakistan in the important Davis Cup tie.

“Aisam told me that he would talk to Rameez (Junaid) about playing for Pakistan. The Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF) is also aware of it and I’m sure that it would welcome the player if he decides to play for us,” The News quoted Malik, as saying.

Malik said Pakistan’s hope in the forthcoming clash against New Zealand would largely depend upon Aisam’s form.

“Aisam is playing the best tennis of his career and is perfectly capable of winning against any of the New Zealand players. But, what we need is two more players, who can produce good results. We have Aqeel Khan, who is very experienced and if we can have Junaid, our team’s chances of winning the title will become quite bright,” Malik said.

Meanwhile, Tennis New Zealand has announced that the Taranaki town of Hawera will host the Davis Cup tie against Pakistan. The best-of-five match tie would be played at the TSB Hub, a new multi-purpose stadium hosting an international fixture for the first time. (ANI)

PML-N moves privilege motion against Zardari

Islamabad, Sep 16 (ANI): The Pakistan Muslim League-N has moved a privilege motion in the National Assembly (NA) against the statement of President Asif Ali Zardari on giving the safe passage to the former president Pervez Musharraf.

The motion signed by 91 MNAs has been brought by Hanif Abbasi, Dr. Tariq Fazal and Anjum Aqeel, the NA Members of the PML-N.

It may be recalled that opposition leader in NA, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan had announced to move a motion against Zardari the previous day, and demanded Zardari to present all the aspects of the deal – regarding Pervez Musharraf – in front of the nation and Parliament.

Earlier in the day, contradicting media reports over indemnity being granted to Musharraf, Zardari’s spokesman has said that there have been no negotiations with the so-called international guarantors to give indemnity to the former president.

In a statement, Farhatullah Babar said the President Zardari in an informal talk on Monday with reporters had remarked that national political leaders and parties had held negotiations among themselves to chase Musharraf out of office and restore Presidency to the democratic forces.

In the talk with journalists there was no mention of negotiations with the so-called national or international guarantors to give immunity to Musharraf subsequent to his exit, he said.

Zardari’s remarks of negotiations among national political parties to strategise the sacking of Musharraf have unfortunately been distorted and misrepresented as talks with so called guarantors for indemnity to Musharraf, Dawn quoted Babar, as saying.

He said no one denied the holding of negotiations among national political parties to drive Musharraf out of office.

Babar said it was the result of these negotiations that the national parliament and all provincial assemblies adopted resolutions calling upon Musharraf to quit.

It was also the result of these negotiations that the parties joined hands in preparing a comprehensive and historic charge sheet to impeach Musharraf in case he refused to quit, he said.

There was nothing new in Zardari’s remarks about negotiations among political parties to force Musharraf out of office, except for the distortion and spin now given to it, Babar added.

Babar said the noise and din raised over the alleged remarks wrongly attributed to the President is part of the campaign to discredit Zardari for anything and everything that goes wrong. (ANI)