'Dilshan's comments on Pak insensitive'

Former leg-spinner Abdul Qadir and ex-Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board, Lt General (retd) Tauqir Zia have lashed out at Sri Lankan captain Tillakaratne Dilshan for saying he does not want to tour the troubled country again. 

Dilshan has upset the Pakistani cricket community with his comments after the Sri Lanka Cricket board turned down an invitation to play a scheduled Test series later this year. 

Dilshan was a member of the Sri Lankan team that was attacked by terrorists in March, 2009. The attack on the Lankan team bus claimed seven lives including that of the bus driver and left five of the visiting players injured. 

Welcoming the decision of his board to not travel to the troubled country, Dilshan on Thursday told reporters in Cardiff that he would never go back to Pakistan. 

"I don't think so. It was a bad experience for me as a cricketer in Pakistan. As a player, I don't want to go through the same experience in the future. My personal view, I don't want to go back to play cricket there," Dilshan said. 

Zia, who led the PCB from 1999 to 2003, said Dilshan's comments were insensitive to the problems being faced by the Pakistani people on Friday. 

"I don't think he had any business airing his personal views on a public forum like this. Once the Sri Lankan board had turned down our invitation there was no need for such comments," Zia said. 

The former PCB chief felt the matter needed to be taken up with the Sri Lankan board as Dilshan's comments will only hurt any remote chances that Pakistan might have of hosting an international event again. 

"The invitation sent by Pakistan was based on an improvement in the security situation in the country until the Osama bin Laden incident took place. No country is immune to terrorism these days. Dilshan's comments were insensitive," he added. 

Qadir, who has also remained a chief selector, said the batsman's comments didn't reflect the history of good ties between Pakistan and Sri Lanka. 

"Pakistan has always been a big supporter of Sri Lankan cricket. We went and played there regularly even when Sri Lanka was in a state of war. 

"We went and played there even when other teams refused to play in Sri Lanka during the 1996 World Cup. I don't think this guy (Dilshan) has any inkling even of what Pakistan and Sri Lanka have done for each other in the past," Qadir said. 

He added Dilshan had no business expressing his personal views in public. 

"Even if he does not want to come and play in Pakistan, it's fair enough. We can understand that Sri Lankan players will be reluctant to come after the incident two years back. But to portray Pakistan as a country where international players would not like to play is unfair on us," he said. 

The PCB has not reacted officially to the refusal but officials here admit they were expecting it given the spate of terrorist attacks in the country since the death of Osama bin Laden. 

PAKISTAN CRICKET GOSSIP: VEENA MALIK, MOHAMMAD ASIF'S EX SAYS IT ALL IN INDIA'S BIG BOSS

Glamour and sports go hand in hand. We all were avidly interested in the now allegedly “disgraced” Pakistani fast bowler Mohammad Asif and Pakistani actress cum model cum reality star, Veena Malik’s blame game in the past few months. 

First, the reports of their marriage came into the media. Veena threatened Asif to make their marriage public in an official manner. The Press conferences and TV appearances on each Pakistani local channel followed. Then all hell broke loose on Mohammad Asif, as the spot-fixing allegations came into the tabloids which opened a Pandora box with reports suggesting that Asif has been involved in a number of match fixing situations.

Veena Malik’s PR- if she has one- took the best advantage of this situation with TV channels and news reports fighting for dates with the self-proclaimed star. She was more than ready to give all the nitty gritty details of Asif’s life claiming that she was “the one who first noticed Asif’s “mysterious behaviour”. She went on to claim that she even “warned” the PCB officials about his suspicious nature and that he was being very secretive about something. Disappointingly for her, all the attention that she was getting from the media fizzled away in two three days. Amidst all these controversies, Asif married a girl named Sana Bilal in Lahore, Pakistan and then Veena slapped him with a legal notice demanding Rs. 1.5 crore that he, allegedly again, “borrowed” from her.

However, all that attention was unsubstantial for the Pakistani actress, as she wanted more of it. In comes Bigg Boss season 4- the Indian version of Big Brother fell into Veena’s lap. The officials of the programme wanted a “house inmate” who had a bigger personality and an even bigger list of controversies. Veena Malik was the right choice as she was recently in the news- not for her profession but for the most talked about topics in the cricket crazy country.  On the other hand, this was an opportunity of a life-time for Veena as she needed to break into the Indian media with her story of Asif’s scandal, already giving interviews prior to the announcement that she is a part of Big Boss season 4.

Big boss is a popular reality show in which thirteen to fourteen contestants or housemates (as they are known) live under a custom built house for a period of almost three months. Microphones and cameras are present everywhere in the house and their each day is recorded for television. The contestants need to do everyday household chores, practically live with each other, have fights etcetera and then get eliminated one by one every week. The last one ‘living’ is the winner who has three-months of fame and gets cash!

As predicted, on the very first day Veena decided to ‘spill the beans’ to her housemates. She started crying and this time she went a little further with her story. Veena revealed her bitter relationship with the fast bowler and replayed the story to everyone and anyone who would listen. She even declared that Asif was an “alcoholic” and that he used to “beat” her when she didn’t give him money- the point at which she started crying uncontrollably. She also said that the cricketer was jealous of the fact that she was a more renowned figure than Mohammad Asif.

The programme is in its third week currently and Veena has been nominated for elimination round. The Indian media is predicting that Veena Malik would be out of danger of being eliminated. The TRPs of the show has suddenly increased. Her popularity is still not understood by the media in India and even in Pakistan, but then Paris Hilton and Lindsey Lohan are super stars.

It is hard to believe the story of Veena Malik, as it seemed a bit twisted than her original story but it’s even harder to believe Muhammad Asif, as already he is in deep trouble.