very intresting. thanks for posting.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Amit Sanghvi" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, March 09, 2011 3:48 PM
Subject: [AI] Blind Pakistani reporter dreams of peace
Blind Pakistani reporter dreams of peace
Date: 2011-03-09
Place: Colombo
Sania Zaidi sits in the R. Premadasa stadium press box as the World Cup
drama unfolds beneath her.
Nothing unusual about that except the 28-year-old Pakistani journalist has
been blind since childhood and is on a mission to promote better relations
between Pakistan and India.
"I want cricket to promote peace, courtesy and courage which we have been
lacking in our wonderful world. I can't see it but I can sense it and am
here at this World Cup to promote my mission," Sania told AFP.
Working on a laptop with special software, the college professor from
Multan
in central Punjab is hard-working and determined.
On her mobile phone she tapes all the tournament press conferences to use
in
her stories for a Pakistan magazine as well as radio bulletins.
Her objective is to tell the world about Pakistan and its love of cricket
and the heartache caused by the sport's international suspension in the
country following the terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team bus in
Lahore
in 2009.
The brazen attacks, which left eight people dead and seven Sri Lankan
players and their assistant coach injured, forced Pakistan to play its
home
series on neutral venues.
It also prompted the International Cricket Council to strip Pakistan of
its
right as a co-host of the 2011 World Cup, a move which Sania deplores.
"Countries like Australia, England, India and South Africa have abandoned
touring us, which is very sad," she said.
"I think they must realise that cricket should go on and we can only
defeat
terrorism by facing it, not by leaving it unchallenged."
With a master's degree in mass communication and busy working on her
post-graduate studies, Sania teaches at the Bahauddin Zakaria University
in
Multan, the home city of Pakistan prime minister Yousuf Raza Gillani.
But cricket remains her major interest, having compiled two books of
interviews with several players from Pakistan, Sri Lanka, India, the West
Indies and England.
"I have interviewed a number of players but the ones I did with Indian
batting legends Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar stand out for me," said
Sania, who most of the Sri Lankan players know by name.
In between covering matches, she found her match in Khawaja Mohammad Khan,
a
teacher of sociology in Multan, who has no interest in the game.
"My husband is here in Sri Lanka and I am trying my level best to teach
him
cricket, so that he can help me in my mission of promoting peace through
cricket," said Sania, who intends to travel to India for the April 2
final.
"I want to tell the Indian people that we want brotherly relations with
them
and cricket is one way to promote that."
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