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Radio Pakistan unhappy over criticism of Jaswant Singh book on Jinnah

September 3, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Abohar, Sep.3 (ANI): The expelled Bharatiya Janata Party leader Jaswant Singh has got a new fan in Punjabi Durbar programme of Radio Pakistan.

In its latest edition, the Punjabi Durbar programme has described all political parties of India be it Bharatiya Janata Party, Congress or Shiv Sena being anti-Pakistan for voicing objection to Jaswant Singh’s book- “Jinnah-India, Partition, Independence”.

In its recent Punjabi Durbar Programme, Radio Pakistan said that Jaswant Singh has paid a huge price for his biography of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan.

Many Indian scholars have expressed sympathy with Jaswant Singh, but have taken exception to Pakistan Radio describing all Indian political parties as anti-Pakistan.

Anil Kumar, a historian and a commentator on current affairs has stated that political parties in India have tried their best to cultivate good relations with Pakistan ever since independence.

“India has been maintaining friendly relationship with Pakistan since 1947. India parted with funds held by united India, when Jinnah demanded it. Even after Pakistani aggression in 1965 and 1971, India returned to Pakistan the territory which was in India’s possession in the hope that there would be cordial relations between the two countries,” he said.

“Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh have been continuously trying to maintain good relations with Pakistan, but Pakistan continued terrorist attacks in India,” Anil Kumar added.

“India is a secular country. There are more Muslims in India than the total population of Pakistan. Moslems are happy to be in India. Many feel that they are safer than in Pakistan, which is being subjected to violence by the Taliban,” said Anil kumar, who is, an expert on Indo-Pak affairs.

India is continuing talks at different levels despite incidents like Mumbai terror attacks and Pakistan’s ongoing support to militancy in Kashmir.

It is surprising that broadcasters of Radio Pakistan expect political parties in India to sing praise of Jinnah, who was chiefly responsible for the division of the sub-continent on the basis of religious identities.

They accept Jinnah’s contribution during the freedom struggle against the British Raj, but are critical of his role in dividing the country. (ANI)

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Ponting should be last off sinking ship, not first to jump in the lifeboat: Thommo

August 25, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, Aug 25(ANI): Former Australian cricketer Jeff Thomson has said that Australian captain Ricky Ponting, who is flying home for a rest, should not abandon his “sinking ship” but rather stay back and clear up the mess in England.

Thomson said that unless Ponting has some urgent personal business, he should not desert his inexperienced team, which has lost the Ashes.

“The captain should always be last off his sinking ship, not the first to jump in the lifeboat. It doesn’t look good when he loses the Ashes and then doesn’t hang around to face the music with his team-mates,” Thomson wrote in the Mirror.

Thomson also said that there should be accountability for the defeat and felt that those who were guilty should accept their fault.

“How the hell did the Aussies manage to lose the series 2-1 when they scored eight hundreds to England’s two, and the three leading wicket-takers were all Australian? Heads must roll – and you can start with the selectors,” he wrote.

He further critised Australia’s selection panel and the think tank for going in with four seamers and not including specialist spinner Nathan Hauritz in the team.
“Even the blokes in the crowd could see, from 100 yards away, that the pitch was as dry as a camel’s tongue. Yet we picked four seamers and left a part-time spinner in Marcus North to take on the workload of a specialist,” Thomson added.

Though, Thomson did praise Ponting for his individual performance, he also blasted some of his dodgy captaincy tactics, specifically the last 11 overs in the first Test at Cardiff.

“Ultimately, those overs he gave to North’s gentle off-spin at Sophia Gardens, instead of getting Peter Siddle to shove a few bouncers under Monty Panesar’s nose, proved the difference between a 2-2 draw and Australia losing 2-1. Having said all that, I thought England played a good game at The Oval,” he wrote. (ANI)

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Ex-UK Special Forces commander to work on reconciliation with Taliban

August 21, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, Aug.21 (ANI): A former British special forces commander has been appointed to mastermind a program of reconciliation with members of the Taliban, General David Petraeus, the US military chief, said overnight.

Lieutenant-General Sir Graeme Lamb, who retired recently from the British Army, was personally requested by General Stanley McChrystal, the US and NATO commander in Afghanistan, to take on the role, which is considered crucial to reduce the impact of the insurgency.

General Lamb would work at “local level reconciliation and reintegration”, General Petraeus said at a briefing at the US Embassy in London.

General Petraeus, the commander of US Central Command, which embraces Iraq and Afghanistan, was full of praise for General Lamb, a former Director Special Forces, when he worked with him in Baghdad. He played a similar role there, persuading Sunni insurgent leaders to give up fighting.

General Petraeus said NATO forces had faced a tough time before the election overnight, especially in Helmand, where British troops had lost many soldiers in the last two months. “Our soldiers have shed blood side by side,” he said.

According to The Australian, he refused to predict how long he expected British and other NATO troops to be engaged in fighting the Taliban, but said that the alliance needed to maintain a “sustained and substantial commitment”.

There are about 62,000 US troops in Afghanistan, with another 6,000 to be deployed by the autumn. (ANI)

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Swaraj alludes to Raje’s possible expulsion from the BJP

August 21, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Shimla, Aug.21 (ANI): Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj, on Friday indirectly hinted that former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje could be removed from the party on grounds of indiscipline.

Without directly confirming plans to remove Raje, Swaraj alluded at a press conference held here that: “The BJP has removed the party’s state level leadership in those states where it performed poorly in the (state and general) elections.”

In this context, she also gave the examples of B.C Khanduri who was replaced as the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand by Ramesh Pokhriyal, Om Mathur who was replaced by Arun Chaturvedi as the BJP’s Rajasthan unit president and Krishnapal Gurjar coming in place of Atam Prakash Manchanda as president of the BJP’s Haryana unit.

Raje is expected in the national capital New Delhi today, and is likely to meet Leader of Opposition and senior BJP leader L.K.Advani at his residence on Saturday.

It maybe recalled that last week when she was asked by the party to step down as the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajasthan State Assembly, Raje had in a show of strength sent more than 60 MLAs and MPs to the national capital to convince the BJP”s central leadership that she enjoyed the full support of the state unit, and therefore, there were no grounds for her removal as Leader of Opposition.

Swaraj also justified the expulsion of Jaswant Singh from the party, saying it was necessary to restore and maintain the party’s ideological stance.

She told reporters here on the last day of the three-day ‘Chintan Baithak’ of the BJP that Jaswant Singh, as a political leader with over three decades of experience, had deliberately sought to denigrate India’s first Home Minister Sardar Vallabhai Patel and his achievements and had showered wholesome praise on Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the Founder of Pakistan in his latest book “Jinnah India Partition Independence”.

“It was very difficult, but necessary to expel Jaswant Singh. It was a very tough decision to remove a colleague of last thirty years,” she said.

Countering Jaswant Singh’s statement of Thursday evening that Patel was the country’s first Home Minister to ban the BJP’s parent organization – the Rashtriya Swayam Sewak Sangh (RSS) shortly after the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi in January 1948, Swaraj said: “It was (Jawaharlal) Nehru’s intention to ban the RSS, and not Patel’s.”

Recalling a letter that Patel had written to Nehru, Swaraj said that Patel wrote: “I have been following the investigations, and there is no iota of evidence against the RSS.”

She also emphasized that coalition politics in India was here to stay to fight the “hegemony” of the Congress party.

Historically, she said that Shyama Prasad Moorkerjee, was the first person to initiate coalition politics in the country with the formation of the Jana Sangh in the 1950s. The aim then was to counter the Congress, and that tradition continues, she said.

She confirmed that three-day Chintan Baithak had thoroughly discussed the pro’s and con’s of coalition politics. (ANI)

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ICC confirms Oz team management approach to ACSU

August 19, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Dubai, Aug.19 (ANI): The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Wednesday confirmed that its Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU) had received a report from the Australia team management concerning an approach to one of its players by a man suspected of links to illegal bookmaking.

“There is no evidence of any illegal activity as a result of this approach, which took place following the second Test at Lord’s in July, and the ICC would like to place on record its praise for the player approached and the Australia team management for reporting the issue,” an ICC press release said.

“Approaches to players do happen and it would be naove to assume otherwise; if they did not then there would be no need for the continuing existence of the ACSU. The ICC is confident that all approaches are being reported, it is proud of systems and education processes in place which have created a widespread culture of integrity among the world’s top players and it is pleased those players have confidence in the ACSU to report such matters,” the release added.

“Incidents such as the one reported in the media illustrate the need for constant and ongoing vigilance on the part of players, officials and administrators and there is no scope for complacency. However, thanks to the ACSU, cricket is regarded by other as a world leader in the area of anti-corruption and the ICC wants it to stay that way,” it said further.

“There is no indication that any matches in the current Ashes series or the ICC World Twenty20 2009 have been affected by corruption in any way and the ICC is confident the issue is under control. The ICC does not intend to reveal specifics of any approaches to players because doing so would have the potential to be counter-productive to any investigations and also to relationships of trust the ACSU has developed,” the release said. (ANI)

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Aussies itching to rip apart England in Cardiff test

July 5, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, July 5 (ANI): Australian captain Ricky Ponting claims that his team is itching to rip apart England in the First test to be held at Cardiff on Wednesday.

Though, the Aussie skipper was disappointed with his squad’s performance against the English Lions in a four-day game at Worcester, but he was delighted to see key players like Brett Lee finding form ahead of the tournament.

“We’re pretty happy with our preparations and we got a lot out of this game. The wicket will have been similar to one we face in Cardiff and we couldn’t ask for much more,” The News of the World quoted Ponting, as saying.

“It would have been nice to force a win here, but we got four good days’ cricket and travel to Cardiff happy with that we’ve done. We just want the Test match to start because it seems like an eternity coming, but everything has been spot-on,” he added.

Ponting was all praise for experienced campaigner Brett Lee, who took seven wickets in the match.

“He (Lee) really started to swing it and when Brett does that, he is as good as anyone in the world,” said Ponting. (ANI)

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Positive self-statements do more harm than good

July 4, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, July 4 (ANI): While self-help books are considered to boost a person’s moral, a piece of research now suggests that positive self-statements in such books may actually leave people with low self-esteem and feeling worse about themselves.

Psychologists Joanne V. Wood and John W. Lee from the University of Waterloo, and W.Q. Elaine Perunovic from the University of New Brunswick, found that individuals with low self-esteem actually felt worse about themselves after repeating positive self-statements.

In the study, the researchers asked participants with low self-esteem and high self-esteem to repeat the self-help book phrase “I am a lovable person.”

Then the psychologists measured the participants’ moods, and their momentary feelings about themselves.

It was found that the individuals with low self-esteem felt worse after repeating the positive self-statement, compared to another low self-esteem group who did not repeat the self-statement.

The individuals with high self-esteem felt better after repeating the positive self-statement, but only slightly.

In a follow-up study, the psychologists allowed the participants to list negative self-thoughts along with positive self-thoughts.

Surprisingly, they found that moods of the participants with low self-esteem fared better when they were allowed to have negative thoughts than when they were asked to focus exclusively on affirmative thoughts.

The psychologists suggested that, like overly positive praise, unreasonably positive self-statements, such as “I accept myself completely,” could provoke contradictory thoughts in individuals with low self-esteem.

Such negative thoughts can overwhelm the positive thoughts, and if people are instructed to focus exclusively on positive thoughts, they may find negative thoughts to be especially discouraging.

The authors concluded: “Repeating positive self-statements may benefit certain people [such as individuals with high self-esteem] but backfire for the very people who need them the most.”

The study has been published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. (ANI)

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Jacko’s death leaves Pak stars shocked and depressed

June 27, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Islamabad, Jun 27 (ANI): Pakistani stars have expressed their shock and depression over the demise of King of Pop Michael Jackson.

The stars had nothing but praise for Jacko, and said that the late singer’s style, music and dance had inspired and influenced many in the music industry.

“The showbiz world is shocked and depressed on the sad demise of Michael Jackson, a legend to live in the music industry forever,” the Nation quoted Fakhar-e-Alam, a renowned Pakistani vocalist and anchor, as saying.

“The style of dance and music that Michael Jackson introduced to the world is unmatchable, and is not expected to be repeated by anyone else in the ages to come.

“MJ never compromised on his music, dance and style that is why the best of music and dance came out from his untiring struggle. His high-energy performances used to intoxicate his music lovers.

“He had the honour of having unbeatable world record for selling over 750 million legitimate copies in addition to the pirated ones, showing his all time unmatchable popularity,” he added.

Jawad Ahmed, another renowned Pakistani singer, expressed his grief over the sad demise of Michael Jackson, and said that he was a singer of high calibre.

“The popularity he gained is unmatchable. Since early 1980s, he ruled the music world. Even the non-English speaking people used to enjoy his music,” he said.

“His 11 songs remained number one for many weeks on music charts. He won Grammy award for 11 times. Like the music in other parts of the world, he also inspired and influenced the Pakistani music.

“Many of the singers in Pakistan followed his music beats to listeners’ delight,” he added.

Riffat Ara Baig, a teacher at Lahore Grammar School, said that the younger generation was still very crazy about Michael Jackson, and that students at her school arranged a function to pay tribute to him.

The students wore similar costumes like the ones Jackson used to wear, and performed to his music.

“Michael Jackson would be remembered forever,” Baig added. (ANI)

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Gilani announces 10 million rupees reward for ICC T20 champion Pak team

June 27, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Islamabad, June 25 (ANI): Showering praise on the Pakistan cricket team for winning the ICC Twenty20 World Championship, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani announced a reward of 10 million rupees for the players.

Gilani hosted a reception party in the honour of the champion team here on Wednesday, and commended the players for winning the coveted title.

“We should be proud of being Pakistani. It is the spirit of being Pakistani that has led the national cricket team to victory. The team has made the country proud by bringing home the Twenty20 World Cup,” said Gilani on the occasion.

Commenting on the existential threat that the Taliban and other extremists pose, Gilani said Pakistan would not allow the terrorists’ malicious agenda to succeed, The Daily Times reports. (ANI)

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Kate Moss is like Lily Allen’s ‘godmother’

June 20, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, June 20 (ANI): Lily Allen is all praise for Kate Moss ever since she has returned home from a holiday in France with the supermodel and Jamie Hince.

The trio was spotted at Nice airport as they jetted back to Britain after sharing sunbeds in the South of France.

And it has now been revealed that they were all making sure to get home on time, so that they could make it to the charity bash where Kate was singing.

While Allen is usually slagging off her fellow celebrities, she was surprisingly raving about how she had bonded with the catwalk queen.

“Kate is like my godmother, I love her, she gives me energy,” the Sun quoted Lily as she was overheard telling one reveller. (ANI)

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A Gorakhpur boy plays a dutiful son to his blind mother

May 27, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Gorakhpur, May 27 (ANI): In a unique case of son’s dedication towards his mother, Kailesh Giri Brahamchari, has been carrying his mother on his shoulders and taking her all over the country to visit places of Hindu worship.

He left his house at a young age of 23 years. He has been traveling continuously for over 13 years to accomplish his mother’s desire of undertaking a pilgrimage to the four most prominent abodes of Hindu Gods, spreading across length and breadth of India.
he four abodes are the Badrinath Temple located in Badrinath in Uttarkhand, the Dwarakadheesh Temple in Dwarka, located in Gujarat, the Jagannath Temple in Puri, located in Orissa and Ramanathaswamy Temple in Rameswaram, located in Tamil Nadu.

In the past 13 years, he has nearly covered the lengths and breadth of entire India traveling from one holy place to the other carrying his blind mother on his shoulders.

Kailesh says that every one should respect their parents and have a loving attitude towards them instead of ill-treating.

He says that it’s his duty to fulfill his mother’s desire of visiting the four abodes in India as his mother undertook the pledge after he had fallen off a tree.

“I am doing this because I had fallen down from the tree. So my mother had taken a pledge to go on a pilgrimage to all the four abodes of Hindu god. So I am helping her fulfill her pledge. Its been 13 years five months and 21 days since I have been traveling. I would be going to Badrinarayan, Dwarka and then to Ujjain from here and would be visiting all the holy places that I will cross on the way,” he said.

Kailesh has been getting a lot of praise from people who have seen him take his mother around. People are happy that even in modern times there exists a son who has devoted his life to his mother.

People do admit candidly that the son’s gesture is indeed rare. He is also being referred to as the modern day ‘Shravan Kumar’.

“We had read in the books about Shravan Kumar, but today I have seen him. We should take inspiration from the way he has been roaming around for the past 13 years carrying his mother on his shoulders. Nowadays, people hit their parents at home. By seeing this, we should get inspired to take care of our father and mother,” said Namrata Singh, a resident.

Shravan Kumar is a character in the great Hindu epic Ramayana who took his disabled parents on his shoulders for a pilgrimage.

The mother-son duo are being sought after everywhere, the people seek the blessings of the mother and give her offerings as well. By Pawan Shah (ANI)

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Rob Pattinson to act in Bel Ami

May 20, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, May 20 (ANI): Hollywood actor Rob Pattinson is all set to star in an adapation of Guy de Maupassant’s short story ‘Bel Ami’.

Scripted by Jenny Lumet, the flick will be directed by Allen Couter.

Though the female lead of the flick has not been finalized as yet, Rob has revealed that the female character would be well read.

“The girl needs to be literally inspirational,” Variety magazine quoted Rob as saying.

Rob was also full of praise for scriptwriter Lumet, as he did not hesitate in calling her a “genius”. (ANI)

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IAF pilots brave bullets from Naxals to facilitate ballot

May 14, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

New Delhi, May 14 (ANI): Facilitating the unenviable task of conducting the electoral process, the Indian Air Force (IAF) pressed into service two IL-76, four AN-32 transport aircraft, 25 medium-lift helicopters and four Chetak helicopters during the just concluded elections.

The helicopters drawn from 13 different IAF airbases across the country were provided to Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland, Tripura, Orissa, West Bengal, Jammu and Kashmir and the Union Territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

While flying over most areas for poll-related duties may seem routine, sorties over the naxal affected regions for some pilots proved anything else but routine.

For the Mi-17 crew of Squadron Leader R Dhobhal and Flying Officer K Prakash, facilitating the battle of ballot in their call of duty also turned out to be an experience of facing bullets fired by naxals.

The incident occurred on April 16, at Binagonda in Gadchiroli District, bordering Chhattisgarh in Maharashtra.

Tasked with airlifting a polling party of five members and EVMs, the Mi-17 crew was airborne from nearby Aheri to pick up the election officials from Binagonda and drop them at Laheri, a mere five-minutes flying-time away.

“The additional superintendent of police, Laheri, Jayakumar and I were overseeing the loading of the men and EVMs when I heard the burst of fire through the din of the rotating rotors,” said Squadron Leader Dhobhal, a veteran of two UN missions, where he had honed his skills in dealing with such scenarios.

“Getting away quickly for safety of the crew, passengers and the aircraft was all that was on my mind. In less than 15 seconds, we were clear of the helipad,” he added.

A closer inspection on landing revealed a bullet hole made by a 7.62 mm calibre bullet in the tail boom of the helicopter.

The aircraft was repaired and safely ferried back to Nagpur. No major damage was done and the quick response of the vigilant crew averted what could have resulted in a major mishap.

It may be recalled that last year on November 14, the IAF lost an aircrew when Maoist rebels fired at their Mi-8 helicopter during a similar poll-related flying task in Pedia in Bastar region of Chhattisgarh.

By the end of the last phase of elections on May 13, the IAF altogether undertook a total of 930 sorties and 780 hours were flown towards election task that included airlifting 6792 passengers, 137 tons of election material and 436 electronic voting machines.

In an unprecedented airlift effort undertaken by the IAF’s transport fleet, two IL-76 and four AN-32 aircraft airlifted 3234 central para military forces from Imphal to Kalaikunda in three days, from April 26-28.

As in the past, the significant role of IAF helicopters pilots has come in for fulsome praise and their contribution acknowledged by the Ministry of Defence, Home and the State governments.

N Gopalaswami, former Chief Election Commissioner just ahead of his retirement on April 20, also appreciated the important contribution of the IAF in the conduct of the elections, this year. (ANI)

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McChrystal’s appointment as new US commander in Afghanistan, a double-edged sword

May 12, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, May 12 (ANI): Lt. General Stanley A. McChrystal’s appointment as the new American commander in Afghanistan represents a jarring shift for U.S. Forces in Afghanistan, which are currently transitioning commands between the 101st and 82nd Airborne Divisions.

According to reports, it is still unclear what having a Special Operations commander in charge will do the overall country strategy, just as it is unclear what two major changes of commands in a short period of time will do to the current units who are deployed there.

Lt. Gen. McChrystal has received much praise for his command of the Joint Special Operations Command, which was credited with the capture of Saddam Hussein in December of 2003, and the killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in 2006, but he also carries with him a dark side as well.

One unit under his command, the now-notorious Task Force 6-26, which was assigned to find HVTs, or High Value Targets in Iraq, is credited with the ultimate death of Zarqawi. The problem is, along the way they faced accusations of running a secret camp that tortured prisoners, and they were implicated in at least two detainee deaths during torture sessions.

Their camp, called Camp Nama, became something of a lightning rod after a “computer malfunction” destroyed upwards of 70 percent of their records and an investigation into their conduct stalled out.

More relevant to Afghanistan is Lt. Gen. McChrystal’s involvement in the shameful cover-up of Pat Tillman’s friendly-fire death.

While he was named among the list of high-ranking military personnel believed to have covered up the circumstances of Tillman’s death, Lt. Gen. McChrystal was “spared because he had apparently drafted a memo urging other officials to stop spreading the lie that Tillman died fighting the Taliban.

He drafted that memo, however, after signing the award for Tillman’s posthumously awarded Silver Star, the commendation for which claims, in part, that he was leading the charge against a Taliban assault.

Lt. Gen. McChrystal has never clarified why he signed an award for Tillman dying under enemy fire right before begging his colleagues and superiors to stop lying about Tillman dying under enemy fire. (ANI)

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Controversial Muslim programme-maker to head BBC’s religion unit

May 12, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, May 12 (ANI): A controversial Muslim programme-maker has been appointed as the BBC’s new head of religious broadcasting.

According to the BBC, Aaqil Ahmed will move to the corporation from Channel Four. His appointment is likely to raise fears at the top levels of the Church of England, which has expressed its concerns over the BBC’s treatment of religion and warned that it must not ignore its Christian audience.
Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, has met with Mark Thompson, the BBC’s director-general in March to challenge him over the corporation’s religious broadcasting.

Senior bishops have also written to Thompson to question its commitment to Britain’s Christian audience.

Leading church figures suspect that the BBC is giving preferential treatment to minority faiths, with a Muslim now in charge of its programming on television and a Sikh producing Songs of Praise, its flagship Christian show.

Christina Rees, a member of the Archbishops’ Council, has warned: ” The vast majority of the population identifies itself as Christian and as the established Church in England we would be negligent not to take an active concern in the changes happening with the BBC’s religion and ethics department.”

The Right Reverend Nigel Mcculloch, Bishop of Manchester, said yesterday that Ahmed’s appointment came “at a time when the BBC’s coverage of religion has caused some disquiet”.

Ahmed is understood to have impressed BBC executives by commissioning a series on Christianity that featured high-profile names, including Cherie Blair and Michael Portillo.

However, the series, Christianity, A History, was criticised by Church figures for trivialising the religion. (ANI)

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Qadir warns non-performers, showers praise on Shoaib Akhtar

May 11, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Lahore, May 10 (ANI): Disappointed by 3-2 series loss against Australia in the Dubai one-day international tournament, Pakistan cricket chief selector Abdul Qadir has said that non-performers would not be tolerated in the team.

“I just want to say that those players who don’t perform up to the expectations of the nation will not be tolerated for long in the team,” Qadir said.

Qadir criticised the whole team, specially the batsmen, for their dismal show against the Kangaroos during the Dubai series.

“Our players batted very irresponsibly and threw away their wickets. Their performances were unacceptable and disappointing,” The Nation quoted Qadir, as saying.

However, Qadir showered praise on Shoaib Akhtar, saying he was very impressed with the way he bowled in difficult circumstances.

“I think he was very impressive in very hot and humid conditions in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. He didn’t miss any match nor did he go off the field. He tried hard and bowled well,” he said.

Qadir might have been ‘impressed’ by Akhtar’s performance, but the fiery fast bowler had a pretty ordinary series as his bowling analysis suggests.

Akhtar didn’t even completed his quota of ten overs and bowled only six over giving away 35 runs without a wicket in the first game of the Dubai series which Pakistan won by four wickets.

In the second match too, he went wicket less in seven overs giving away 32 runs.(ANI)

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Congress removes Moily from Media Chairman post

May 9, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

New Delhi, May 9 (ANI): Congress party removed its Media Chairman Veerappa Moily from the post, a day after he made strong remarks against Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar – emerging as Indian politics’ most-wanted.

Moily has been replaced by AICC General Secretary Janardan Dwivedi, who had been holding the charge earlier.

According to party sources, Moily has been dropped from the post because “the party High Command is unhappy with his stand on some critical issues”, it’s clear the trigger was his speaking out of party’s line on Nitish Kumar.

On Friday, Moily said the Congress would not make a hero of Nitish Kumar who had rebuffed the party’s overtures to reach out to him.

He also accused the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) of “insulting” the Congress over seat-sharing in Bihar.

“We should be more angry. We never wronged them. It’s only Paswan and Laluji for reasons best known to them, they left us only two seats,” Moily had said.

Lalu and Paswan, key members of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance, seem annoyed over AICC General Secretary Rahul Gandhi’s praise of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

“What is the reality? Nitish Kumar is with the BJP. And if anybody wants to talk with Nitish, then first he has to leave the BJP. I don’t think that he will leave BJP,” Moily said. (ANI)

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Paswan also to miss Cabinet meet, but says he and Lalu are with the UPA

May 8, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Kolkata, May 8 (ANI): Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) supremo Ram Vilas Paswan has said that he too will miss out on Friday’s Union Cabinet meeting. Earlier, it was reported that Railway Minister and Rashtriya Janata Party (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav would also miss the meeting.

It was then reported that both had opted to skip the meeting as they were miffed with Congress general secretary Rahul gandhi’s overtures towards key rival in Bihar — Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

Paswan, however, said that his party had no differences with the Congress and added that both the LJP and the RJD will remain with the UPA.

Paswan said he was staying away from the cabinet meeting in New Delhi because of a previous commitment in Kolkata.

“I have not skipped the cabinet meeting. I am not able to attend as a previous meeting was fixed in Kolkata,” Paswan said, responding to speculation that he was skipping the cabinet meeting called by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh because he was miffed with Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi’s praise of Janata Dal-United (JD-U) leader and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

He said, “We are already a part of the UPA and there is no question of drifting. The Left has reacted that there is no question of joining hands with the Congress. For us we have been a part of them and we will remain to be a part of the UPA.”

When asked whether there was any sort of misunderstanding with the Congress, the LJP supremo said, “There is no misunderstanding with the Congress because they have already clarified their stands.”

Also clarifying the reason for his and RJD chief Lalu Prasad’s absence from the Cabinet meet, he said, “We had already informed earlier that we will not be able to attend the meeting because of a programme we had fixed earlier in North Kolkata. There was no agenda from our ministries.” (ANI)

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Lil’ Kim, Derek Hough booted off ABC’s ‘Dancing with the Stars’

May 6, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

New York, May 6 (ANI): American rapper Kimberly Denise Jones a.k.a. Lil’ Kim has been ousted from ABC’s ‘Dancing with the Stars’, along with her professional partner Derek Hough.

Lil’ Kim, 33, who consistently scored high through most of the season, seemed to be winning when she was eliminated on May 5, after viewers voted her out on May 4.

“There was a real shock in the room,” the New York Daily News quoted host Tom Bergeron as saying regarding her departure.

Hough, 23, who won last season with Brooke Burke, has nothing but praise for his professional partner.

“She’s an amazing person, an amazing soul, and amazing spirit and an amazing dancer,” he said.

Despite having been ousted from the show, Lil’ Kim remained upbeat about her time on “Dancing with the Stars”.

“This is one of the greatest experiences I’ve ever experienced in my life,” she stated. (ANI)

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Catherine Zeta-Jones being treated for sinus problems

May 4, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, May 4 (ANI): Welsh actress Catherine Zeta-Jones has revealed that she has been visiting the hospital on the tropical island where she stays for treatment of her sinus problem.

Zeta-Jones, 39, has also been nursing her husband Michael Douglas after he recently underwent knee replacement surgery.

The actress, who has to make daily trips to the hospital for her own ailments, has nothing but praise for the staff there.

“I have been at the hospital for so many days with my sinus problems and I must say they have done a good job. I’m telling you, I have been there every day for the last four weeks, but now I feel fine,” Contactmusic quoted her as saying. (ANI)

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