EIGHT days have passed since the Karachi killings. The blood must have congealed on the roads but the horror of the day is still fresh in our minds. And that is how it must remain. Karachiites have an astounding reserve of resilience which enables all who live and work here to pick up the pieces and bounce back to life. But while each time we bravely get up after a fall, brush off the dirt and move on, this time it has to go beyond. And the citizens who have remained as spectators from afar, must rise. The inmates of Korangi, Orangi, Landhi, Lyari, etc, have suffered alone for too long. It is time for the elite to grow a conscience beyond drawing room discussions. Thoughts need to progress beyond golf games, partying and ‘happy hours’. This is your city too and it is being taken away once again by hoodlums.

The gruesome May 12 events are being argued upon incessantly by all the perpetrators and the participants. Blame shifting is at its height and culpability at an all time low. All those who lost their lives -- whether they were from the ANP, PPP, MMA, PML-Q or MQM – were citizens of this city and each victim’s blood stains the survivors. We all will remain suspects of first degree murder till the executioners remain at large.

But before the murderers are hanged, the first point should be to address all those in whose watch the killings took place. Not considering the smaller fries who are idiotically contradicting every fact on record in hurriedly called press conferences since the massacre, let’s start from the top.

It was the president who is under oath to serve and protect his people. He failed. But has he stepped down in shame or even offered an apology for the bloodbath in supposedly the most cherished (read: lucrative) city of his? No.

The chief minister of the province who rules over the largest city of the country too is under oath to serve and protect his people. Has he stepped down or offered an unconditional apology? No.

The governor who rules over the province and sits in his palatial offices in Karachi is also under oath to serve and protect his people. Has he stepped down or assumed responsibility? No.

The nazim of Karachi who could give a ‘guarantee’ after the killings that Karachi will go back to its normal life and who is also under oath to serve and protect his people, did he take responsibility of the city at the time when the blood bath was raging? No.

And then there are the ineffective officers of the police force headed by the Inspector-General of Sindh and subordinately by the CCPO who blatantly exhibited their impotency in averting the disorder. Did they throw away their uniforms at the shameless inefficiency shown by their entire posse under their ‘lawful’ watch? No.

As was said last time, while the highest officers simply mused over the destruction in Karachi the stranglehold maintained by the local government throughout the day over law-enforcing agencies on Saturday put us to shame. And we must vow to never let that happen again.

Like Mr Ayaz Amir says of the Mafiosi, ‘there is nothing surprising in the mafia carrying out a murder; they are, after all, in the business of murder.’ And the best a common man does is shake his head and move on, which is what we did when body bags thrown on the streets were the norm for almost two years -- 1996 -1998. We did the same when bombs exploded in bazaars, mosques and congregations and again tried to rebuild and go on. By we, I mean citizens who just live in this city to work, feed the family and raise children; who do not have any land named ‘whatever-abad’ as a fortress of power to guard and play politics from; who are not gunning after every available land to build high rises on; and who don’t even have ambitions to fight the local elections. Are we still going to stand by and let more blood stain the streets?

Shame on us if we do. The rest of the country supported us by showing an unprecedented protesting response and we must take strength from that. Civilians of Karachi too must unite to keep the May 12 tragedy alive for all times to come even more vividly than 9/11 -- and the media organisations can do that job most competently -- till the murderers are hanged. And when the elections do come up, it must be remembered under whose watch Karachi was massacred.

city@dawn.com

AS the nation mourns bloody May 12 that saw dozens of killings in Karachi, hockey aficionados are shocked at another sort of massacre: the demise of Pakistan hockey at the hands of underdogs at Azlan Shah Cup in Malaysia where the national side gave their worst-ever performance in the history of the invitational tournament.

Winning or losing is indeed part of game but what was surprising was the way how Pakistan, who once enjoyed hockey superiority the world over, were butchered by lowly-ranked sides such as Argentina and South Korea.

And it was not only the Argentines who humiliated green shirts after they hardly managed a 2-2 draw with hosts Malaysia in the opening match. The draw didn’t come easy way and Pakistan had to bounce back twice from 1-0 and 2-1 down to level the scores.

The second game against South Korea had to be stopped after a power outage at the venue when both sides were deadlocked at 2-2 after 27 minutes. The organizers decided to complete the match on another day.

In between Pakistan scored an unconvincing 2-0 win against rookies Canada where majority of population hardly knows that a game called field hockey exists. Pakistan again met South Koreans to complete the interrupted match only to lose 4-2.

How fragile and easy preys Pakistan have become was evident when they drew 2-2 with China in regulation time before scoring a 3-1 penalty shootout victory. To cap it all, they were beaten 4-2 by Argentina against whom they had won 5-3 in a warm-up game before the eight-nation event.

Australia retained the title as expected, while Malaysia settled for the runners-up spot with India third. But the most surprising fact was that all three outfits inducted several new faces in their respective squads. India had some half a dozen new players, while Malaysia and Australia too had several fresh pairs of legs.

Coming to Pakistan, apparently they had three or at the most four young players in Ishtiaq Ahmad, Rana Asif, Mohammad Amin, and Mohammad Shabbir. They might have been new to the senior side but not to hockey. Apart from Asif and Amin who never played in Malaysia after an injury, Ishtiaq and Shabbir had been a part of juniors for quite some time before graduating to the senior side.

They were brought in by replacing inexperienced youngsters Mohammad Waqas, Mohammad Mudassir and Rashid Imran while Shakeel Abbasi was the only senior player to be dropped on basis of poor form. The remaining lot chosen for the Ipoh event was perhaps the most experienced among the eight outfits.

The scenario paints a gloomy picture — a fact which has been acknowledged by PHF secretary Khalid Mahmood and chief selector Khawaja Zakauddin. Both the officials have termed team’s performance disappointing.

They have, however, taken an exception of power failure which forced the organisers to ask Pakistan and South Korea to complete the match on another day. They say it is unprecedented and forcing Pakistan to play four days in a row was unfair.

Pakistan’s first-ever paid manager-cum-chief coach Islahuddin Siddiqui came up with diplomacy lessons to the media when he repeatedly raised a hue and cry over the ‘injustice’ of the organisers but at the same time refrained from openly declaring it as an excuse for the ignominy. But more ironic was his refusal to accept that it really was a disappointing show. He neither accepted nor denied that it was a disappointing performance. Word ‘rebuilding’ — the most popular one in PHF’s vocabulary — was the mantra that Islah kept on repeating during the press conference on his return from Malaysia.

What Khalid has ignored was how March’s national championship in Karachi was made a farce when Wapda protested against Steel Mills for fielding their four players, violating tournament rules. PHF is yet to take action on the issue. Likewise, Islah has perhaps forgotten the blackout during 2005 Super Hockey League when a match was stopped for at least an hour following power failure at Karachi’s Hockey Club of Pakistan.

The mishaps occurred as there was no back-up support in case of such incident. With Islah being the tournament director of the league which also participated by six Indians was played under inadequate lights and bumpy surface which became a nuisance for players during the premier event.

Slackness on the part of the organisers is certainly not something which could be showered with praise. The point is that it was a level playing field for both Pakistan and South Korea. Confessions from Islah and coach Manzoorul Hassan that team miserably failed under them might have pacified hockey buffs rather than diplomatic statements.

Islah, before leaving for Malaysia, had claimed players were fit as fiddle and that the squad had strenuous sessions including focus on forwards, penalty corners and combinations, apart from physical training at beach. If that was the case then why, according to him, forwards lacked accuracy and physical fitness in Malaysia.

The pair of coaches had failed even before landing in Malaysia. What would happen was evident from the fact that even PHF president Zafarullah Jamali had shown reluctance to send the team, saying probables lacked enthusiasm during the two-day trials.

The fact of the matter is that team’s performance in penalty corner conversions was unimpressive, there were yawning gaps in defence, while defenders were involved in faulty clearance — basics of hockey.

It is a fact that two coaches hardly showed a professional approach during the camp. While not only Manzoor opted to stay away from national duty for two or three days to attend wedding of the son of a former PHF president, Islah approved the ‘leave’. How players are expected to respect and follow their coaches as they lack dedication and commitment which used to be the hallmark of PHF hierarchy in the 1960s and 70s.

The situation clearly indicates that it was the failure of Islah and Manzoor to handle the players that team fell by the wayside.

One can’t rule out the row over the captaincy as one of the reasons for debacle in Malaysia. Since full-back Zeeshan Ashraf had clearly expressed indignation over being ignored for captaincy over Rehan Butt. As for centre-forward Shakeel, the PHF ostensibly dropped him on the basis of unimpressive performance. But he is believed to be involved in forming groups among players. In this scenario, the PHF should have openly announced that the spearhead had been axed because of his indiscipline which was not the case.

To make matters worse, Zakauddin has been favouring debarred and indicplined trio of Mohammad Saqlain, Sohail Abbas and Waseem Ahmad, saying he would consider them if they prove physical fitness.

Calling back these players into the folds is like flogging a dead horse. It is incomprehensible why the trio should be called back although Jamali had already debarred them for showing disrespect to national colours by preferring foreign league over the national camp for Doha Asian Games last year. It should not be the question of fitness. What should be focussed is their discipline, display of player power and selfish mindset.

Sohail, Waseem and Saqlain might have been key players during their heyday, but the point is Pakistan failed to win any major title despite their presence in the past. Sohail and Waseem have careers tainted with several incidents of indiscipline.

Gen Aziz Khan and Brig Musarrat Ullah Khan-led PHF pampered the duo by including them into the Championship Trophy squad after slapping a meagre Rs100,000 fine for preferring German league and skipping two four-nation events in Australia.

Both quit international hockey after 2004 Champions Trophy in Lahore, saying they want youngsters to take over. The PHF was left red-faced when both didn’t pay heed despite several call-ups. It was only last year they tendered apologies and played Champions Trophy in Spain and World Cup in Germany before going into oblivion. Once again they ditched Pakistan when they were called up for the Doha Games.

As for Saqlain, he has a history of violent temper and indiscipline. The former centre-half was slapped 1000-euro fine and three-match suspension by International Hockey Federation (FIH) for seriously injuring Australia’s Victory Craig at Hamburg Masters in 2005.

The midfielder was ousted from 2004 Athens Olympic squad by coach Roelant Oltmans for hitting team-mate Adnan Maqsood before being suspended for one match for hitting a South Korean player during the Azlan Shah Cup.

The fact of the matter is that Sohail, Waseem and Saqlain might be useful to clubs abroad but not for Pakistan anymore since they have been disloyal to the country several times.

Besides, they might be fit enough to play league hockey, but international hockey is a different ball game altogether which not only needs consistent association with the national team but also unquestionable loyalty with the country.

Apart from PHF, Islah and Manzoor, who have been given charge till 2008 Beijing Olympics, might not be having magic wand to win titles. But what is needed is sincerity, unquestionable devotion and commitment by the duo. Have the two Olympian adopted these traits, only results in the future will tell.