Okay, of all the TV networks which one was the best debate on match fixing? Well, for me it was the one on Times Now where our dear old Bishen Singh Bedi appeared half drunk. At first it seemed like I was mistaken but when he started talking I was more than convinced that he was indeed three or four drinks down, at least. A couple of drinks more and I’m sure Bedi would’ve told Arnab Goswami,” Oye, Chadd Yaar. Tainu Kee? Aye koi nai gall thodi hai. Salon se ho raya hega. CHEERS!!” or words to that effect. But you can’t really blame Bedi for this. What do you expect people to be doing at nine in the evening? Good people work through the day and party in the evenings. Don’t they? For that matter, Farouq Engineer who was speaking from Manchester, UK where it was around four thirty in the evening, was seen having a huge cup of coffee (or at least that’s my guess) because you are supposed to have coffee at that time.

Posted on September 3rd, 2010 under India calling. Tags: Amir, Asif, Cricket, fixing, ICC, match, Pakistan, PCB, Terror, war. Comments: 4

There is nothing against the law in America which prohibits anyone from building a mosque or an Islamic center, if you please, anywhere in America. That’s a known fact. But that’s just the law. There is much more to it than just the law. There was a 9/11 attack in which nearly 3000 Americans died and it cannot be just wished away. To say that an Islamic Center close to the site of attack will help in bridging gaps between the two communities is just too far off from the practical realities on ground.

Posted on August 21st, 2010 under Track the world. Tags: 9/11, center, cordoba, faisal rauf, ground zero, initiative, Islam, mosque, obama, Sarah Palin, Terror. Comments: 6

All of a sudden in the last couple of weeks the entire policy or attitude, if you please, of every Tom, Dick and Harry including the govt of India on Kashmir and Kashmiris has undergone a drastic change. Now everyone is talking about the feelings of Kashmiris which has led them to resort to violence in the valley. Even media personalities like Barkha Dutt, Rajdeep Sardesai and Meghnad Desai (sitting in London) are constantly espousing their cause through regular tweets and columns in various newspapers. In fact Lord Desai even said that all stake holders must dilute their positions in order to reach an amicable solution.

Posted on August 13th, 2010 under India calling. Tags: Abdullah, autonomy, Congress, Hurriyat, Kashmir, Omar, Pakistan, Terror. Comments: 5

When David Cameron, the British premier, was in India he said what all Indians wanted to hear, “Pakistan must stop exporting terror.” When Zardari met him recently in London just days after this statement, the communique which came out after the meeting had no relation to his previous statement made in India. Not surprisingly, it said what Pakistanis wanted to hear, that terror must be fought decisively and blah blah blah. When Barrack Obama meets Manmohan Singh he refers to him as a ‘good man’ which is music to any Indian’s ears but when he meets Zardari or Geelani the words that come out are that America and Pakistan have pledged to fight terror to it’s end or words to that effect. There is hardly any reference to Indian concerns, though there is some lip service separately by their foreign office just to keep the Indians in good humour.

Posted on August 10th, 2010 under India calling. Tags: Cameron, communique, diplomacy, Pakistan, Qureshi, Terror, visit, Zardari. Comments: 3

Rajdeep Sardesai says, “I thought SM Krishna acted with great dignity. He may not be the ideal foreign minister, but atleast he’s a gentleman”. Sardesai is not alone. All our media personalities including Barkha Dutt and Arnab Goswami are kind of hailing SM Krishna as if he was a great statesman who was in complete control of things in Islamabad and that his not doing some tough talking was an achievement in itself. In my view they’re all mistaken, SM Krishna included. In my view by not retorting SM Krishna and in the bargain Dr Manmohan Singh has made us a laughing stock of the world, particularly in the Muslim world. I too was so very wrong when I wrote this post Indo-Pak talks: A goalless draw wherein I said that results were known to us before the talks started and that this would end in a draw. Sadly, it has not ended in a draw. Its 1-0 in favor of Pakistan. Yes, we lost, once again.

Posted on July 18th, 2010 under India calling. Tags: BJP, Congress, Indo, Left, Pak, Qureshi, talks, Terror. Comments: 2

There is no difference in the way things were before 26/11 and now. Nothing has changed for Pak. America is still giving them money and arms as they were earlier. India is still making those same ridiculous noises that we were making before 26/11. And Pakistan too is giving the same replies to all these disconcerting noises. In manner of speaking, Pakistan has more spunks than us. They can tell Americans to hop. We can’t. We can do only one thing- BEG. And beggars can’t be choosers. So it is Pakistan which chooses what it has to do and America which chooses what kind of attention, if any, they must pay to our begging.

Posted on June 28th, 2010 under India calling. Tags: CNN IBN, Congress, Hafiz, Indo Pak, Rajdeep, Saeed, Sardesai, talks, Terror, tweet. Comments: 13

Denial of visa to our members of the defense forces is not exactly racism on the part of Canadians, because apart from being generous to Pakis who are of the same color as us, the Canadians have been more than friendly to Khalistani terrorists from Punjab. Please remember that bombing of Air India Boeing Kanishka in 1985 which was carried out by Babbar Khalsa (a group banned in India, US and Europe but not in Canada at that time) was planned and executed in Canada, as their own inquiries have revealed. Fact is that Sikh separatists have been growing in clout in Canada since 1970s, though some terrorist organizations like Babbar Khalsa were indeed banned in 2003, it is now more than apparent that the Khalistani terrorists and their supporters have now reached the upper echelons of Canadian hierarchy so as to influence even their foreign policy, covertly or overtly. If you consider this aspect, you can then see why these people are against members of our defense forces and intelligence agencies who may have been involved in counter terrorist operations in Punjab. And that is the basic reason for denial of visas to our people who are or have been in uniform. There cannot possibly be any other justification unless you say that Canadians authorities have all gone nuts.

Posted on May 27th, 2010 under India calling, Track the world. Tags: Air India, bombing, defense, deny, judgment, Kanishka, Terror, visa. Comments: 3

Hafiz Saeed has been let off by the Paki Supreme Court and all our govt can do is express it’s ‘disappointment’. What a great reaction by our Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao!! But this is not all. She goes on to say, “We really hope that Pakistan takes meaningful action against him.” And that sums up the entire Pak policy of the UPA II govt. It’s called HOPE.

Posted on May 26th, 2010 under India calling. Tags: 26/11, Hafiz, Mumbai attacks, Saeed, secretary, Terror, terrorism, UPA. Comments: 11

There are clear indications that this man Faisal Shahzad has had links with not just Taliban but JeM as well, an organization which till now was only targeting India. If you still think that your enemies are only Taliban and Al Qaeda, I guess you are just being naive. All these terrorist outfits like JuD, LeT, JeM and others consider both India and America as their enemies and will target America if and when Taliban/Al Qaeda are unable to. And make no mistake Mr Obama, they have the resources, as we saw during Mumbai attacks. You may have been able to thwart this attack in New York but that was just plain luck. Please remember that as an administration you have to be lucky every time whereas terrorists only have to be lucky just once to create havoc.

Posted on May 6th, 2010 under India calling, Track the world. Tags: attack, bomb, Faisal, kill, Mumbai, New York, Terror, terrorist. Comments: 4