Hoping it's Pakistan's turn!

Over the last decade and a half, almost every good team has won a world-level tournament. Australia has won all the World Cups and finally won the Champions Trophy. South Africa has a Champion's Trophy too, their only non-choker time. Perennial underdogs New Zealand and West Indies also took home the Champion's Trophy once each. India and Sri Lanka have one and half titles each, winning the 2007 World T20 and the 1996 World Cup respectively, and sharing a Champion's Trophy due to rained off finals.

That leaves Pakistan. Well actually, England too, but come on, seriously, England? England? Hah! They haven't even made it to any finals. Which leaves us with Pakistan. They choked in the 99 World Cup finals, and suffered a heartbreaking loss in the 2007 T20 finals against us. This time, their team looks balanced, strong and inspired, and the whole whiny fake ball-tampering rerun initiated by the bad loser Vettori is likely to have pumped them up. And I don't know, it just feels in my gut as if it is Pakistan's turn. I sure hope so. Here's wishing for a Pakistan triumph.

Cant Help But Smile

A few weeks back I wrote about the Lal Masjid situation being like Pakistan's version of the Waco siege. Things have finally come to a boil with a couple of dozen killed and hundreds surrendering. But the extremist leaders are apparently still holed up, intent on "martyrdom".

Whether this snowballs into a larger problem remains to be seen. We all know how long the after-effects of Operation Blue Star in Punjab were felt. But as an Indian, especially one who has lived in a city hit by ISI-masterminded terrorism, I can't help but smile at how the Pakistani army's exploitation of religious extremism is now coming back to haunt it.

The real question is, has the Islamic radical movement reached uncontrollable Frankensteinian proportions? Musharraf's administration already has no control over Waziristan and parts of NWFP. Now a situation developed right in the heart of their modern capital. Does the army have enough radicals to disobey Musharraf and lead an Islamic revolution of sorts?

As much as one hates Musharraf, the idea of a bunch of mullahs having access to Pakistan's sizeable nuclear as well as non-nuclear arsenal is deeply disturbing. Not just for India, but also for the United States. If that happens, Iran will seem like Switzerland by comparison.

Pakistan's very own Waco?

Pardon the cliche, but the chickens are finally coming home to roost in Pakistan. A little too much home. Right in the spic-n-span articifical reality capital Islamabad. The crisis over the Lal Masjid has all the makings of being Pakistan's very own Waco. I mean strictly as a news story of course, not in terms of what happens.

What Pakistan has done in Baluchistan would make Waco look like a school picnic. But then Pakistan was always more about Punjab and Sindh. No one anywhere gave a damn about the Baluchistan massacres. It was too far away to affect us, so India didn't give a damn. It had no oil, so the US government didn't give a damn. And Baluchistan isn't buddhist, so the US media didn't give a damn.

This stand-off, thrillingly enough, is happening right in Islamabad. Extremists are showing the Pakistani army the finger right in their very den. This should be good. Get the pop-corn.

Bismilla-ur-Rehman e Raheem...

Sabse pehle Allah taala ki galti.