Don’t lowball Afghan cricketers’ capabilities

It is good that the prolonged agony of the family members of late Salman Taseer finally ended a couple of days back with the surfacing of his son Shahbaz Taseer who had been kidnapped over four years ago from Lahore. Two different stories about the way he was released by his captors have led the interior minister to order a probe for finding out whether it was correct that his recovery was made possible due to a joint operation of the intelligence agencies. Chaudri Nisar Ali hit the nail on the head by saying that we should always be speaking the truth. He would not have ordered an inquiry into the episode had some TV channels not circulated a story that the kidnappee came to a hotel in a remote village of Balochistan, took his dinner there, paid Rs 350 as bill for the meals and then rang up his family members in Lahore from a PCO informing them that he was at last free. This story ran counter to the version given by the state agencies about the manner in which he was got released from his captors. It gives credence to the doubt that his release might have been made possible by some underhand monetary deal between the family members of the kidnappee and the kidnappers and a handsome ransom money might have exchanged hands.
Let us hope that the version given by the state agencies about the way he was got released by them turns out to be correct in the inquiry ordered by the interior ministry. In case it was found out that they had nothing to do with his recovery which had resulted after the payment of ransom money, a big dent will be created in the credibility of those law and order enforcing agencies which had claimed to use force for the recovery of the kidnappee.
POSTSCRIPT :It was heartening to see a lot of improvement in the quality of play of Afghanistan’s cricketers, lately. They have come of age. If they continued to play with the same zeal and determination the day is not far off when they will cause ripples in the cricket world.