Ajay S Shankar
May 29, 2008
James Sutherland, the chief executive of Cricket Australia, has confirmed interest in staging an IPL-style competition the following season © Getty Images
The Indian Premier League, which will wrap up its inaugural season on June 1, is just the first step of a "grand vision" that will eventually lead to the birth of a network of similar franchise-based models across the major cricket-playing nations culminating in the annual Champions League that will rival its football counterpart in terms of quality, money and glamour, a top IPL official has said.
England is working on developing their Twenty20 model; South Africa is convinced by the success of IPL and is already reviewing their current franchise format; Cricket Australia may launch their IPL version as soon as next year; and even Pakistan is thinking seriously about starting their edition of IPL.
"This is the grand vision," IS Bindra, an influential member of the IPL governing council, told Cricinfo. "The vision is to move cricket to the next level, and get each league in each country to resemble the English Premier League with an exciting mix of international and national players. And then you have the grand Champions League, like the UEFA model which has taken football to such heights."
The immediate task is to start the Champions League as planned from this year. Officials of the BCCI-backed IPL are understood to be meeting a team from Cricket Australia in Mumbai on May 30 to explore whether the event, involving the top two domestic Twenty20 teams from five countries, can be held in England between September 28, when the ICC Champions Trophy in Pakistan ends, and October 9, when India's home Test series against Australia starts.
"The problem is the four-day practice match on October 2-5. We will try to work out a solution with Cricket Australia because the IPL franchises who will be part of the Champions League will want to have their best players available," Bindra said.
Bindra, who recently returned from a trip to Melbourne where he briefed the directors of Cricket Australia on the mechanics of organising a franchise-based league there, said one of his focus areas after taking over as the principal advisor to ICC in July would be to "ensure that cricket moves to the next level in world sport" in this direction.
The concept, Bindra said, is backed by senior officials of the major cricket boards. Giles Clarke, chairman of the English and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), "has expressed interest in the model" after being briefed by Lalit Modi, the IPL chairman, last month; James Sutherland, the chief executive of Cricket Australia, has confirmed interest in staging an IPL-style competition the following season; and Nasim Ashraf, the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), is "very keen to launch a similar tournament there" after having deputed two representatives to participate in the planning stages of the IPL last year and "learn from the process".
In fact, Cricket Australia had invited Bindra last month to brief its board of directors on the concept at a resort near Melbourne on May 7-12. "There was a formal brainstorming session and an informal briefing, and the concept generated a lot of interest among the audience which included former cricketers like Allan Border and Mark Taylor. What I had suggested was a franchise model similar to IPL. But there might have to be some local adjustments.
"For instance, when we discussed the IPL within the BCCI, the question was whether the teams should be owned by the local state associations or private franchises. Some of us strongly suggested the franchise model because only then can you acquire top players for the teams and make the competition truly global. But the BCCI is a non-profit body and has to look after the state associations, too. So a compromise was arrived at, and we have IPL teams owned by franchises and run in collaboration with state associations. But Australia would have lesser problems since they have a corporate model of governance and have much fewer associations -- six, I believe, compared to 30 in India," Bindra said.
Link:
http://content-www.cricinfo.com/ci/content/story/352849.html?CMP=OTC-RSS
Friday, May 30, 2008
Friday, May 23, 2008
Pakistan May Turn Over U.S. 'Spies' to Iran
In news today there is another sign of growing tensions with the United States, Pakistan is threatening to turn over to Iran six members of a tribal militant group Iran claims are "spies" for the CIA.
Iran claims the militant group, Jundullah, led by Abdel Malik Regi, pictured bottom right, are "spies" for the CIA. The group, Jundullah, operates in Baluchistan on both sides of the border between Iran and Pakistan and has carried out a number of violent attacks on Iranian army facilities and officers inside the country.
The CIA has denied any direct ties with the group, but U.S. officials tell that U.S. intelligence officers frequently meet and advise Jundullah leaders, and current and former intelligence officers are working to prevent the men from being sent to Iran.
The six Jundullah members were taken into custody by Pakistani authorities last week, and the Iranian Mehr News Agency reported Pakistan would soon extradite the men to Iran, where they would likely be put on trial as spies and face execution.
Officials said the group's leader, Abdel Malik Regi, was not among those arrested by Pakistan. U.S. intelligence officials say they are aware of the developments with the Jundullah members and are said to be trying to block the extradition. In addition to causing turmoil in Iran, the officials say the group has been helpful in tracking al Qaeda figures trying to move through the Baluchistan region to Iran.
"The new Pakistan leaders have said they are going to do it, but they are saying a lot of things and trying to make a lot of deals," said one U.S. official. "If they are seeking stability inside the country, why would they want to inflame people in this region?" the official asked.
Iranian officials claimed this week that the U.S. had "a hand" in an April 12 bomb attack at a mosque in Shiraz that killed 14 people, according to Mehr News Agency, quoting Iranian Intelligence Minister Gholam-Hossein Mohseni Ejei.
"The U.S. is behind many events in Iran and the region with the aim of bringing insecurity," the intelligence minister reportedly said. "We have proper documentations in this regard," the minister told the news agency's reporters.
A senior U.S. official said Iran's claims "are nonsense, ludicrous."
The capture of the Jundullah members is seen by intelligence sources in the region as another indication that Pakistan's new government is distancing itself from the U.S. and U.S. intelligence operations in the country.
Iran claims the militant group, Jundullah, led by Abdel Malik Regi, pictured bottom right, are "spies" for the CIA. The group, Jundullah, operates in Baluchistan on both sides of the border between Iran and Pakistan and has carried out a number of violent attacks on Iranian army facilities and officers inside the country.
The CIA has denied any direct ties with the group, but U.S. officials tell that U.S. intelligence officers frequently meet and advise Jundullah leaders, and current and former intelligence officers are working to prevent the men from being sent to Iran.
The six Jundullah members were taken into custody by Pakistani authorities last week, and the Iranian Mehr News Agency reported Pakistan would soon extradite the men to Iran, where they would likely be put on trial as spies and face execution.
Officials said the group's leader, Abdel Malik Regi, was not among those arrested by Pakistan. U.S. intelligence officials say they are aware of the developments with the Jundullah members and are said to be trying to block the extradition. In addition to causing turmoil in Iran, the officials say the group has been helpful in tracking al Qaeda figures trying to move through the Baluchistan region to Iran.
"The new Pakistan leaders have said they are going to do it, but they are saying a lot of things and trying to make a lot of deals," said one U.S. official. "If they are seeking stability inside the country, why would they want to inflame people in this region?" the official asked.
Iranian officials claimed this week that the U.S. had "a hand" in an April 12 bomb attack at a mosque in Shiraz that killed 14 people, according to Mehr News Agency, quoting Iranian Intelligence Minister Gholam-Hossein Mohseni Ejei.
"The U.S. is behind many events in Iran and the region with the aim of bringing insecurity," the intelligence minister reportedly said. "We have proper documentations in this regard," the minister told the news agency's reporters.
A senior U.S. official said Iran's claims "are nonsense, ludicrous."
The capture of the Jundullah members is seen by intelligence sources in the region as another indication that Pakistan's new government is distancing itself from the U.S. and U.S. intelligence operations in the country.
‘Ramchand Pakistani’, a unique India-Pakistan co-production
Mumbai, May 21 (IANS) “Ramchand Pakistani”, the latest India-Pakistan collaborative film venture, is unique because its protagonists belong to the minority Hindu community in Pakistan, says producer Javed Jabbar. The film, which is set to release in Pakistan next month, highlights the problems faced by border communities, especially Hindu minorities, during bilateral tensions.
It revolves around a family that belongs to the Kohli Dalit caste of the Hindu community of that country. And critically acclaimed Indian actress Nandita Das plays a lead role.
“The struggle of a poor and a lonely woman for physical and psychological survival is a major aspect of the movie,” Jabbar told IANS via e-mail from Karachi.
Though Pakistani actress Shameem Ara played a Hindu character, Shakuntala, in “Lakhon Mein Aik” in the 1960s, this time it’s an Indian - Nandita - who plays Champa, the key character around whom “Ramchand Pakistani” revolves.
Champa’s eight-year-old son, Ramchand, inadvertently crosses the border, and her husband Shankar, while looking for their son, is mistaken for a Pakistani spy by the Indian security forces.
The film, the directorial debut of Jabbar’s daughter Mehreen, depicts Champa’s struggle to get her family back and the psychological trauma she undergoes. Mehreen has directed several Pakistani television serials earlier.
Though the officers of the Pakistani Rangers empathise with Champa’s emotional crisis, they cannot secure any information about her husband and son from the other side of the border.
“Such examples of silence and non-confirmation are fairly common in bilateral relations, especially when the relations are tense between two neighbouring countries, as Champa’s predicaments pointedly reveal,” Jabbar said.
Through Champa’s tale of woes, “Ramchand Pakistani” seeks to subtly refer to the suspicion with which majority communities of both India and Pakistan tend to look upon the minorities.
“But as I have said, the movie set in 2002-03 is essentially a story about a poor and lonely woman’s struggle for physical and psychological survival under unfriendly circumstances,” the Pakistani producer stressed.
Though there have been instances of cross-border participation in Pakistani and Indian films earlier, this is the first time that a large mix of artistes have come together in a single venture.
Apart from Nandita, “Ramchand Pakistani” has Debajyoti Mishra as music director, Shubha Mudgal as a lead singer along with Shafaqat Armaan Ali Khan and Aseem Sinha is the editor.
Mishra has composed songs for Rituparno Ghosh’s “Raincoat” and Bhavna Talwar’s “Dharm”.
The cast also includes Rashid Farooqi, Syed Fazal Ahmed, who plays Ramchand, Nauman Ijaj and Maria Wasti.
“The movie has been made in Urdu-cum-Hindi because the story evolves on two parallel tracks on either side of the border. There is an overseas version with English sub-titles too,” Jabbar said.
“Ramchand Pakistani” evoked a good response when it was screened at the New York Tribeca Film Festival held between April 28 and May 4. The New York Times described it as a “poignant” movie.
Percept Picture Company, which released “Khuda Ke Liye” in India, may release “Ramchand Pakistani” too.
“We are in talks with the producer of the film. But nothing has been finalised,” Ashok Ahuja, the company’s marketing director, told IANS.
http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/south-asia/ramchand-pakistani-a-unique-india-pakistan-co-production_10050907.html
It revolves around a family that belongs to the Kohli Dalit caste of the Hindu community of that country. And critically acclaimed Indian actress Nandita Das plays a lead role.
“The struggle of a poor and a lonely woman for physical and psychological survival is a major aspect of the movie,” Jabbar told IANS via e-mail from Karachi.
Though Pakistani actress Shameem Ara played a Hindu character, Shakuntala, in “Lakhon Mein Aik” in the 1960s, this time it’s an Indian - Nandita - who plays Champa, the key character around whom “Ramchand Pakistani” revolves.
Champa’s eight-year-old son, Ramchand, inadvertently crosses the border, and her husband Shankar, while looking for their son, is mistaken for a Pakistani spy by the Indian security forces.
The film, the directorial debut of Jabbar’s daughter Mehreen, depicts Champa’s struggle to get her family back and the psychological trauma she undergoes. Mehreen has directed several Pakistani television serials earlier.
Though the officers of the Pakistani Rangers empathise with Champa’s emotional crisis, they cannot secure any information about her husband and son from the other side of the border.
“Such examples of silence and non-confirmation are fairly common in bilateral relations, especially when the relations are tense between two neighbouring countries, as Champa’s predicaments pointedly reveal,” Jabbar said.
Through Champa’s tale of woes, “Ramchand Pakistani” seeks to subtly refer to the suspicion with which majority communities of both India and Pakistan tend to look upon the minorities.
“But as I have said, the movie set in 2002-03 is essentially a story about a poor and lonely woman’s struggle for physical and psychological survival under unfriendly circumstances,” the Pakistani producer stressed.
Though there have been instances of cross-border participation in Pakistani and Indian films earlier, this is the first time that a large mix of artistes have come together in a single venture.
Apart from Nandita, “Ramchand Pakistani” has Debajyoti Mishra as music director, Shubha Mudgal as a lead singer along with Shafaqat Armaan Ali Khan and Aseem Sinha is the editor.
Mishra has composed songs for Rituparno Ghosh’s “Raincoat” and Bhavna Talwar’s “Dharm”.
The cast also includes Rashid Farooqi, Syed Fazal Ahmed, who plays Ramchand, Nauman Ijaj and Maria Wasti.
“The movie has been made in Urdu-cum-Hindi because the story evolves on two parallel tracks on either side of the border. There is an overseas version with English sub-titles too,” Jabbar said.
“Ramchand Pakistani” evoked a good response when it was screened at the New York Tribeca Film Festival held between April 28 and May 4. The New York Times described it as a “poignant” movie.
Percept Picture Company, which released “Khuda Ke Liye” in India, may release “Ramchand Pakistani” too.
“We are in talks with the producer of the film. But nothing has been finalised,” Ashok Ahuja, the company’s marketing director, told IANS.
http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/south-asia/ramchand-pakistani-a-unique-india-pakistan-co-production_10050907.html
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Pakistani Rock Band Junoon in Kashmir to heal wounds
Pakistan’s hottest rock band Junoon plays in Srinagar, Kashmir on Sunday, in what must rate as the biggest music show in decades in one of the world’s most militarised regions.
Junoon, or madness in Arabic, will play in a heavily fortified auditorium on the banks of the Dal lake, but its Sufi music and soaring guitar riffs should resonate far beyond, given that this is where Sufism, a form of Islamic mysticism, struck roots in the subcontinent.
The idea of a Pakistani band playing in the centre of Kashmir, which has been at the heart of 60 years of unremitting hostility between the neighbours, is itself remarkable, a testament to the change that is quietly taking place.
It would have been unimaginable a few years ago, Ïndia’s NDTV quotes a local college professor as saying.
Both nations have faced challenges in recent days; India, the blasts in Jaipur which at another time would have almost reflexively been blamed on the neighbour, and Pakistan renewed bombings and a civilian coalition government that is dangerously drifting apart barely weeks after it was formed.
The neighbours have been tested in Kashmir itself recently with reports of cross-border incursions and gunbattles but they have kept their counsel, and resumed peace talks this week.
So what’s the subtext to Junoon in Kashmir, if at all ? Yusuf Jameel, who has reported extensively on the region, says the political connotations of their presence in the disputed territory are not lost on anyone, and authorities are trying to ensure there is no trouble.
The concert has been organised by the South Asia Foundation, a non-government organisation, and is part of celebrations marking the inauguration of the Kashmir Study Institute at Kashmir University. Indian President Pratibha Patil is expected to attend the show as also other government leaders which obviously complicates the issue.
“After all, Islamabad has not officially given up its claim on Kashmir, though to many both in the neighbouring country (Pakistan) and here in Jammu and Kashmir, it is only dragging its feet from what it would until a few years ago insist is its jugular vein,” writes Jameel. The hardline elements in Kashmiri separatist groups are not going to be very pleased with the Junoon act, he says.
But the band that sometimes has been likened to U2 has been down this kind of road before. Founder Salman Ahmed, who trained to be a medical doctor, says inspired by the music of Led Zeppelin he traded his stethoscope for an electric guitar because he thought that was a better instrument to heal his deeply wounded society.
Blending traditional Sufi music with western instruments and melodies, the band has created a new genre of pop music, Sufi rock. And their songs call for harmony and peace instead of nuclear proliferation and corruption, making them a constant thorn on the side of Pakistan’s ruling authorities.
In the early 1990s a law was passed - aimed directly at the band - banning “jeans and jackets” from appearing on television. The group did a video for a song called Accountability which proved too much for then Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif.
And they have done their bit on the other side of the border too. They were in India playing the week New Delhi stunned the world conducting nuclear tests in the summer of 1998.
“We want cultural fusion, not nuclear fusion”, young Indians waved a banner in a packed concert. Junoon denounced the arms race, saying India and Pakistan couldn’t afford it and were better-off giving their citizens clean drinking water, jobs and health facilities.
The Indian tests were followed by a similar series by Pakistan that month.
Junoon, or madness in Arabic, will play in a heavily fortified auditorium on the banks of the Dal lake, but its Sufi music and soaring guitar riffs should resonate far beyond, given that this is where Sufism, a form of Islamic mysticism, struck roots in the subcontinent.
The idea of a Pakistani band playing in the centre of Kashmir, which has been at the heart of 60 years of unremitting hostility between the neighbours, is itself remarkable, a testament to the change that is quietly taking place.
It would have been unimaginable a few years ago, Ïndia’s NDTV quotes a local college professor as saying.
Both nations have faced challenges in recent days; India, the blasts in Jaipur which at another time would have almost reflexively been blamed on the neighbour, and Pakistan renewed bombings and a civilian coalition government that is dangerously drifting apart barely weeks after it was formed.
The neighbours have been tested in Kashmir itself recently with reports of cross-border incursions and gunbattles but they have kept their counsel, and resumed peace talks this week.
So what’s the subtext to Junoon in Kashmir, if at all ? Yusuf Jameel, who has reported extensively on the region, says the political connotations of their presence in the disputed territory are not lost on anyone, and authorities are trying to ensure there is no trouble.
The concert has been organised by the South Asia Foundation, a non-government organisation, and is part of celebrations marking the inauguration of the Kashmir Study Institute at Kashmir University. Indian President Pratibha Patil is expected to attend the show as also other government leaders which obviously complicates the issue.
“After all, Islamabad has not officially given up its claim on Kashmir, though to many both in the neighbouring country (Pakistan) and here in Jammu and Kashmir, it is only dragging its feet from what it would until a few years ago insist is its jugular vein,” writes Jameel. The hardline elements in Kashmiri separatist groups are not going to be very pleased with the Junoon act, he says.
But the band that sometimes has been likened to U2 has been down this kind of road before. Founder Salman Ahmed, who trained to be a medical doctor, says inspired by the music of Led Zeppelin he traded his stethoscope for an electric guitar because he thought that was a better instrument to heal his deeply wounded society.
Blending traditional Sufi music with western instruments and melodies, the band has created a new genre of pop music, Sufi rock. And their songs call for harmony and peace instead of nuclear proliferation and corruption, making them a constant thorn on the side of Pakistan’s ruling authorities.
In the early 1990s a law was passed - aimed directly at the band - banning “jeans and jackets” from appearing on television. The group did a video for a song called Accountability which proved too much for then Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif.
And they have done their bit on the other side of the border too. They were in India playing the week New Delhi stunned the world conducting nuclear tests in the summer of 1998.
“We want cultural fusion, not nuclear fusion”, young Indians waved a banner in a packed concert. Junoon denounced the arms race, saying India and Pakistan couldn’t afford it and were better-off giving their citizens clean drinking water, jobs and health facilities.
The Indian tests were followed by a similar series by Pakistan that month.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
