Aisam, Rohan in French Open pre-quarters

PARIS: Pakistani tennis player Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi and his Indian teammate Rohan Bopanna cruised into the pre-quarter finals of French Open. They made their way into pre-quarter finals after defeating Italian Fabio Fognini and American Michael Russell in Paris. The Indo-Pak combination were dominant throughout the match and eventually they won both sets of the game by 6-2 and 6-3.

Threat to destroy Indian N-plant stopped attack on Kahuta

Pakistan had warned India in the early 80s that an attack on nuclear assets in Kahuta would evoke a retaliatory strike on its Bhabha Atomic Research Centre in Trombay.This has been revealed by the then Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal M. Anwar Shamim, in his book “Cutting Edge PAF” launched here on Thursday. According to Air Chief Marshal (retd) Shamim, he was called by the then president Gen Zia Ul haq in 1979 to discuss air defence of the nuclear assets in Kahuta. Gen Zia had reliable information that India was planning to attack and destroy Kahuta.

He says he told the president that Kahuta was an indefensible site because it was at three minutes flying time from the border. The reaction time was about eight minutes and by the time the PAF aircraft would reach the area the enemy would have completed the job and would be safe in their territory.

Gen Zia asked how could the most vital deterrent in the country’s armoury be defended and the answer was to acquire most modern aircraft and advanced weapons and the PAF would destroy India’s advanced nuclear facility at Trombay, if they embarked upon this rash course of action. We will inflict more damage to them than they can do to us”.

He says he told the president that the multi-role F-16 aircraft with the latest weapons were the best and most suited to meet PAF’s needs.He says that in 1981 the US administration offered F-5Es to be later augmented by F-5Gs, but Pakistan refused to accept any aircraft other than F-16s. This was finally accepted by the United States. Pakistan received the first batch of F-16 aircraft in January 1983, and he wrote a letter to the president about the task given to him.

“I am now in a position to confirm that Indians will not attack Kahuta because it is amply clear to them that we will retaliate and launch an attack on their atomic station in Trombay, and knowing that they will suffer much more devastation than us, will desist from taking any unwise action”.

Pakistan disappointed at Champions League exclusion

The Pakistan board has expressed its disappointment at not having a domestic team invited to participate in the 2010 Champions League Twenty20 in South Africa. This appears to be a u-turn on an earlier stance it had taken, when in the aftermath of the IPL snub to Pakistan players, Ijaz Butt, the PCB chairman, had ruled out the participation of any Pakistan team in the Champions League. That, says the chairman however, was not what he had said at the time.

"Those comments of mine were about the IPL and our participation in that event and not at all about the Champions League," Butt told Cricinfo. "I had said our players would not be in the IPL because of what had happened at the auction. I did not say that our domestic teams would not go to the Champions League. Why would I deprive them of that opportunity? My comments were misinterpreted."

Nevertheless, the confusion means that Sialkot Stallions, Pakistan's domestic Twenty20 champions five years running now, will again miss out on the most lucrative global club tournament in cricket. Sialkot, which won the RBS Twenty20 in March this year, could potentially include Pakistan players such as Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Asif, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, Abdur Rehman and Abdul Razzaq. They were invited to take part in what would have been the inaugural Champions League at the end of 2008 but the terror attacks on Mumbai in November that year forced a postponement to 2009. By that time, relations between India and Pakistan having deteriorated, no team was invited from Pakistan.

"Nobody has invited us this year and that is disappointing," Butt said. "We asked them about it and we received no reply at all. We will take up this issue with the ICC. After all, why are we being discriminated against like this? Clubs from so many other countries are invited and our Sialkot side has done so well over the last few years."

What a bunch of clowns........

Millat facebook....

Pakistanis outraged with Facebook over “blasphemous” caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed have created a spin-off networking site that they dream can connect the world's 1.6 billion Muslims. A group of six young IT professionals from Lahore, the cultural and entertainment capital of Pakistan, Launched www.millatfacebook.com on Tuesday for Muslims to interact online and protest against blasphemy.

The private venture came after a Pakistani court ordered a block on Facebook until May 31, following deep offence over an “Everyone Draw Mohammed Day” page considered “blasphemous” and “sacrilegious”.

“Millatfacebook is Pakistan's very own, first social networking site. A site for Muslims by Muslims where sweet people of other religions are also welcome,” the website tells people interested in signing up.

Peraonlly, i think the name could have been kept other than facebook....

70 percent of Pakistanis want permanent ban on Facebook: Poll

KARACHI: A new poll has revealed that 70 percent people in Pakistan want a permanent ban on the social networking website Facebook, while another 15 percent support the Lahore High Court's order to ban the website till May 31.

According to the poll, the participants expressed their sheer anger on Facebook for displaying blasphemous drawings of Prophet Muhammad. In the first three days of the poll, which is still running, eight percent participants were of the opinion that a single URL ban was enough, while the remaining seven percent said they did not want ban on Facebook at all.

Shahid Afridi to lead in Asia Cup and England tour

Shahid Afridi has been named Pakistan's Test and ODI captain ahead of a busy summer which takes in the Asia Cup in Sri Lanka and then six Tests, five ODIs, as well as four T20Is, in England against Australia and the hosts. Pakistan's board and selectors also opened the door on a possible return for Younis Khan and Shoaib Malik, two men only recently banned by the board for indiscipline. Another old hand at the indiscipline game, Shoaib Akhtar, has been called up in a 35-man list of probables, which will be culled down before the two events.
Probables: Salman Butt, Imran Farhat, Yasir Hameed, Khurram Manzoor, Shahzaib Hassan, Azhar Ali, Azeem Ghumman, Younis Khan, Shoaib Malik, Umar Akmal, Faisal Iqbal, Fawad Alam, Hasan Raza, Asad Shafiq, Umar Amin, Aamer Sajjad, Mohammad Hafeez, Shahid Afridi (capt), Abdul Razzaq, Yasir Arafat, Umar Gul, Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Aamer, Mohammad Sami, Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Irfan, Tanvir Ahmed, Aizaz Cheema, Danish Kaneria, Abdur Rehman, Saeed Ajmal, Zulfiqar Babar, Kamran Akmal (wk), Zulqarnain Haider (wk)

Pakistan wins asian baseball!!

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan won the 9th Asia Cup Baseball Championship by defeating Hong Kong 18-0 in the final here on Monday. Hong Kong, who are ranked 18th in the world, proved to be a wall of sand against Pakistan, ranked 31st in the world. Farooq, Asif, Iftikhar, Sumair, Zaheer and Imtiaz were the key scorers for Pakistan. After the final, Pakistan Federation Baseball (PFB) president Shaukat Javed announced that Pakistan would feature in the forthcoming Asian Games to be held in China in November this year.

Fix it