Another Example of Government Idiocy

In recent days we have had the Sindh Assembly observe a minute's silence to mourn Michael Jackson's death and the Punjab Assembly come to blows. It's easy to laugh these off, but this statement by Sports Minister Aftab Jilani really made me angry:

Pakistan's Sports Minister Pir Aftab Shah Jilani blamed the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for losing the 2011 World Cup hosting rights.

After a meeting with Pakistan Sports Board in Islamabad, Jilani told reporters that 'those steering Pakistan cricket were responsible for failure to bring the World Cup 2011 matches back to the country.'

The minister is probably fearful that he will be blamed for the loss of the World Cup and is trying to deflect responsibility in the direction of the PCB. How big an idiot is he, and more importantly, how stupid does he think we are? Gilani may have forgotten that the Sri Lankan team was attacked less than five months back, but we haven't forgotten and the cricketing world certainly remembers it too. There is nothing the PCB could have done to keep the World Cup in Pakistan. And I haven't heard a single convinving argument that Pakistan should host international cricket in the near future. Winning the T20 World Cup was great for our morale, but it hasn't made Pakistan any safer.

Stop blaming the PCB. The terrorists are responsible for our cricketing isolation. Trying to cloud the issue to save your own skin (which no one is after in any case) is cowardly and unbecoming of a federal minister.