Politics can't define my cordial relation with Kohli: Afridi

Agencies
February 10, 2018

St Moritz (Switzerland), Feb 10: Prevailing cross-border tension may have restricted Indo-Pak bilateral cricketing ties but Shahid Afridi loves to put across a point firmly -- his "cordial relationship" with India captain Virat Kohli cannot and will not be defined by political situation.

"My relationship with Virat is not dictated by the political situation. Virat is a fantastic human being and an ambassador of cricket for his country, just like I am for my country," Afridi told PTI during an interaction on the sidelines of the St Moritz Ice Cricket Tournament.

"He (Kohli) has always shown a lot of respect and has even gone out of his way to present a signed jersey for my foundation (Shahid Afridi Foundation)," he added.

Afridi's foundation has been working on providing clean and safe drinking water for the economically weaker sections of society.

"There is a lot of warmth and fellow-feeling whenever I have spoken to Virat. It's not that we get a chance to speak a lot but from time to time, he would drop in a message and I would do the same. I congratulated him recently when I came to know he was getting married.

"I believe as cricketers we can set examples of how the relationship between individuals can be a template for the relationship between countries. I think after Pakistan, the two countries where I have received most love and respect are India and Australia," said the former Pakistan skipper.

For someone, who was a maverick during his international career, Afridi loves Kohli's aggression and believes that supporting juniors in crisis situations has also helped him in earning respect from youngsters.

"Virat is doing a brilliant job. I have no problem with aggression if it is a controlled one. And Virat's character is different from Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who was a composed individual.

"Now suddenly, you cannot change the inherent nature of a person. Virat's greatest asset is that he can take the team along," Afridi observed.

Asked to compare Kohli with Pakistan captain Sarfraz Khan, Afridi said: "Sarfraz is still new to the job and he will only get better along the way. The only thing I don't like is that media running down players during their rough times.

"As long as you are winning, everything is fine and you lose a game and all hell breaks loose. That is grossly unfair. We should not overlook someone's past achievements just because he is going through a bad patch," said the cricketer who has been loved and criticised in equal measure.

During a couple of days of Ice Cricket at St Moritz tournament, Afridi at times even beat Virender Sehwag in terms of popularity thanks to the presence of a larger number of expatriate Pakistani fans, who had thronged St Moritz.

The moment he entered the playing area wearing the orange jumper, St Moritz turned into a 'Lala Land' as everyone wanted a piece of their beloved 'Lala', as Pakistani fans affectionately call Afridi.

Afridi was a different man at different times.

He autographed the posters, even a Pakistan Tehreek-e- Insaf flag, obliged all the selfie seekers, seemed a tad irritated with multiple one-on-one interview requests, took his wife and youngest daughter out for a walk down the lake and did not even give a second glance at a young Pakistani woman, who in front of everyone shouted "Lala aapse kabhi alag se mil sakti hoon (Can I meet you somewhere else?)."

And yes, he played cricket too and tried to hit out as he would do often during his green jersey days. And the result was more often than not his downfall. It happened the same way but no one cared.

With Shahid Afridi, there are no half measures -- they all love the man more than the player.

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News Network
November 12,2024

lebanon.jpg

The UN humanitarian coordinator for Lebanon has warned that the “picture of life in Lebanon remains grim,” highlighting an "alarming" level of human suffering and significant humanitarian consequences due to the ongoing Israeli carnage.

Imran Riza, the UN Deputy Special Coordinator and Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Lebanon (UNSCOL), provided a stark overview of the Arab country's dire circumstances in a statement released on Monday.

“The current picture of life in Lebanon remains grim. Yesterday, airstrikes reportedly killed 23 people, including seven children, in the village of Aalmat in Mount Lebanon,” Riza said on X.

An airstrike in the city of Tyre on the same day resulted in the tragic deaths of five siblings from a single family, all of whom had special needs, according to his statement.

He added that in the last week, Israeli airstrikes have killed at least 241 individuals and left 642 others injured in Lebanon, as reported by the Ministry of Health.

“In the past month, more than 185,000 people have fled their homes in their search for safety within the country, bringing the total to over 870,000 people internally displaced,” Riza said

The UN official highlighted that numerous individuals, including the elderly and those with health issues, are staying behind while witnessing the ruins of their ancestral homes.

He urged for the swift safeguarding of civilian people and infrastructure, emphasizing the necessity to uphold international humanitarian law and end the ongoing violence.

Lebanon’s National News Agency reported that Israeli forces bombed a house in the town of Maydoun in Bekaa on Monday night, killing three people and destroying the house.

Earlier, Israel bombed the northern town of Ain Yaaqoub, killing at least 14 people.

The killings came as Israeli military continued to pound Lebanon, bombing shops selling electrical appliances in the southern city of Tyre and carrying out air raids on the towns of Shamshtar in eastern Baalbek and Roumine in southern Nabatieh.

Lebanon’s Ministry of Health said Israeli attacks killed at least 54 people across the country on Monday.

Israel’s merciless attacks continue despite calls from the UN Security Council for an immediate ceasefire and directives from the International Court of Justice urging measures to prevent genocide and alleviate the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza and Lebanon.

In Lebanon, at least 3,243 people have been killed and 14,134 others wounded in Israeli attacks since the war on Gaza began on October 7, 2023.

The Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah opened a support front for Palestinians in Gaza only a day after the Israeli regime unleashed its genocidal war on the besieged territory.

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News Network
November 18,2024

Advisors to US President-elect Donald Trump have instructed his allies and associates to refrain from using the inflammatory language they previously employed when discussing issues related to migrants and the deportation of asylum seekers, in a bid to avoid “looking like Nazis.”

US media reports said that Trump’s associates had been asked to stop using the word “camps” to describe potential facilities that would be used to accommodate migrants rounded up in deportation operations across the country.

The reports said the US president-elect’s allies had been ordered to stave off such charged terms as they would bring to mind “Nazis,” and be used against Trump.

“I have received some guidance to avoid terms, like ‘camps,’ that can be twisted and used against the president, yes,” one Trump ally told American monthly magazine Rolling Stone.

“Apparently, some people think it makes us look like Nazis.”

The presidential advisers also cautioned surrogates and allies to keep racist terms, which have dogged Trump’s campaign, out of their remarks.

They said with Trump’s heated rhetoric that used to compare undocumented immigrants to “animals” and his slight that they are “poisoning the blood of our country,” detractors did not need to reach too far to find parallels to Nazi Germany.

Stephen Miller, who Trump tapped to be his deputy chief of staff of policy, specifically used the word “camps” to describe holding facilities that he hoped the military could put together for immigrants.

Tom Homan, who served as the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and is chosen by Trump to be in charge of the US borders, was no stranger to such language.

“It’s not gonna be a mass sweep of neighborhoods,” he said in an interview earlier this week. “It’s not gonna be building concentration camps. I’ve read it all. It’s ridiculous.”

Becoming a little more forthright about the new government’s aggressive deportation plans, Homan likened the early days of the Trump administration to the initial invasion of Iraq in 2003.

“I got three words for them – shock and awe,” he said. “You’re going to see us take this country back.”

Trump made immigration a central element of his 2024 presidential campaign but unlike his first run, which was mainly focused on building a border wall, he has shifted his attention to interior enforcement and the removal of undocumented immigrants already in the United States.

People close to the US president and his aides are laying the groundwork for expanding detention facilities to fulfill his mass deportation campaign promise.

The businessman-turned-politician deported more than 1.5 million people during his first term.

The figure do not include the millions of people turned away at the border under a Covid-era policy enacted by Trump and used during most of Biden’s term.

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