PTI Chairman Imran Khan at the cricket match in Peshawar. PHOTO: MUHAMMAD IQBAL/EXPRESS
PESHAWAR: Pakistan Tehreek-i-insaaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan, while speaking after the T20 Peace Cricket match held in Peshawar, announced plans to build large stadiums in all districts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), Express News reported on Sunday.
The PTI Sports and Culture Forum held the game between Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Peace XI and Pakistan Peace XI at Arbab Niaz Stadium in Peshawar. Imran Khan was the chief guest at the event.
Pakistan Peace XI won the match in the 19th over, scoring 181 runs. Shahid Afridi made 66 runs for the team.
Imran Khan said that a talent hunt will be started for under 17s in K-P. He added that coaches will be hired to carry out the search in the seven agencies of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) to find strong players to play in the K-P cricket team.
The Pakistan team will be made stronger by the K-P team, said Imran, adding that Shoaib Akhtar was discovered during a talent hunt.
Below are a few of top tweets about the match:
#PeaceMatchPeshawar it Always b rmbrd as PeaceDay All participants organiser & spectators r true Peace Ambassadors pic.twitter.com/yEbjdi0gq1
— Furqan Nadeem (@furqan_pti) October 13, 2013
It would make my day if I can see Imran Khan come into the ground and bowl the last ball. #PeaceMatchPeshawar
— Fahd Husain (@Fahdhusain) October 13, 2013
If Mallala was the Cheif Guest at the #PeaceMatchPeshawar then even CNN n BBC would be covering the match live.. Right or am I imagining?
— Mubasher Lucman (@mubasherlucman) October 13, 2013
Love to see when #Peahawar smiles - Sadly, its not a 'news' for Pak media #PeshawarPeaceMatch
— Abrar Ul Haq (@AbrarUlHaqPK) October 13, 2013
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Peace XI:
Imran Nazir, Shezad Ahmad, Inzamam ul Haq (captain), Muhammad Yousaf, Younis Khan, Abdul Razaq, Khalid Latif, Sohail Tanvir, Mushtaq Ahamd, Shoaib Akhtar, Muhammad Khalil, Umar Amin, Zahid Fazal, Ali Naqvi, Manzoor Elahi, Mohsin Kamal, Akram Raza, Aqib Javed, Ashraf Ali, Rameez Raja, Naveed Anjum, Shahid Anwar, Saeed Anwar, Muhammad Hasan, Akhtar Sarfaraz, Taufeeq Ahmad and Aamir Sohail
Pakistan Peace XI:
Shahid Afridi, Yasir Hameed, Ijaz Ahmad, Salim Malik, Kamran Akmal, Muhammad Irfan, Shahid Malik, Muhammad Azam, Abdul Qadir (captain), Umar Gul, Shabir Ahmad, Nasir Jamshed, Wajahat Ullah Wasti, Roa Iftikhar, Rashid Anwar, Zahoor Elahi, Moin Khan, Muhammad Sami, Abdul Rehman, Imran Farhat, Mohsin Kamal.
COMMENTS (47)
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Yes, building cricket stadiums will solve all of KPK's problems. When that poor child gets hungry, he can eat wickets for breakfast.
ayaz ahmed khan
Shahid Afrifi delighted Peshawi,s with his 68 runs Boom Boom Afridi was in great form. He should have hit a century. Next time inshallsh. Instea of his bombastic statement of building stadiums in every district, he should have said, that the next stadium will be in Mardan. Kohat or Bannu. KP does not have spare money for 40 stadiums. Congratulations KP for the successful cricket match.
@NYC: Why shame on the media?? What is that relevant to say about stadiums in a province when the people want jobs and human dignity? Does KPK need stadiums or more importantly, security for its citizens and minorities, education for its women as well as more for its men, social welfare, employment and so on as promised in the election campaign by IK himself?? IK should have dedicated his time to sports and partying to raise funds - two things he is undoubtedly an expert in..... as yet we have to hear a policy adopted by his government for the safety and security of KPK's citizens after the horrific terrorist acts. This is a bit like Marie Antoinette saying why the population did not eat cakes when they could not afford bread!! No need to remind one of how she ended her days.....
@Faysal:
And your point is?
IK thinking of sports while KP burns! A bit like Nero.. It is shameful considering the amount of lives lost in the past weeks, he or his CM have not come up with any sane policies for the security of KP's citizens. Or delivered in health or education as he campaigned. Or improved employment by an iota.. the list could fill pages.. But then what IK has shown for the umpteenth time is he is best in the sports sector or partying for funds....
well one can expect these types of events from hope(IK) the effort must be applauded and appreciated unfortunately or fortunately i do not know,the media coverage was not up to the expectation. kpk gov also deserves to be praised via sports we can really improve our image outside ..
I applaud the effort and would like more VISIONS turned into reality by KP and National Govt outside of paper, SOON.
Why media miss this big news? They daily telling us live rate of cattle but have no time to live telecast the mega event
Captain Imran Khan Niazi and his trolls are good at cricketing only.... Their over-simplified formula throws every blame on drone attacks, even the massive electricity theft by PESCO's consumers is also because of drone attacks :p
Shame on our TV Media for not covering this event!
@Faysal: I would like for your ignorant self to keep up with the news and PTI's KPK government before commenting. KPK is the only province in Pakistan where Health and Education have been declared and emergency. The patients are being given free health services, including check ups, medicine and X rays. As for education up till now KPK has enrolled about 250,000 new students, and are working on reforming the schools and the curriculums. And as for solar parks to reduce load shedding...KPK govt has already opened up a mini hydel power plant and is working on building a lot more. For more info please follow @KPKupdates on twitter so you don't make such ill formed remarks again.
Using Public money to promote a ruling party, just like PMLN & PPP does. Not surprising PTI has wasted no time in establishing its hypocrisy and double standards.
I see smell someone is burning inside.....Adnan S.....!
Maybe he should spend more time focusing on protecting minorities and providing security rather than building stadiums? I suppose it's one of the obvious downsides of electing sports hero's - they have no sense of priorities.
@Adnan Siddiqi: And Adnan is back with all the hatred he has for PTI. and he thanks PMLN for the price hire. What a slap on PMLN face and its supporter like u. Go find some other place to spread your filth.
Thanx Imran
"..Pakistan Tehreek-i-insaaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan...announced plans to build large stadiums in all districts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P).."
Even NS's plan of building motorways that are only used by a few is a much better idea than IK's brain-dead plan of building many stadium in KP. Once and if ever built, the stadiums will be collecting dust most of the year. Unless a cricket stadium can be a regular 'paid' venue, it is a white elephant. On the other hand, the talibans (PTI's brothers) will have a place for public flogging and beheading as the talibans were doing in afghanistan on a football stadium.
How about rehabilitating Taliban as cricket players ? That might be the most innovating thing.
Good to see my KP brethren smiling. Thanks Allah. Thanks IK :)
@babershen khan The only statesman you have in Pakistan is IK. These events are very important, remember Nelson Mandela and rugby?
on one hand CM punjab is initiating solar power projects to get rid of loadshedding and on the other hand khan is building stadiums...all about priorities...remember how khan.criticized punjab for preferring metro over hospitals?
Really proud of IK and people of Peshawar, brave people. We are with our brothers and sisters! InshAllah.
But very very very disappointed with media, i always thought they are on pay rolls but i never realised they have sold themselves to this extent.
@Adnan Siddiqi: Probably the most sinister commentator on this. I am no fan of Imran Khan but I am definitely no fan of the corrupt leaders who have brought Pakistan to this place. IK is not to blame for what has happened or is happening that's why I believe we need to give him a chance or at least stop being negative to everything he does. Btw it's a shame ET didn't bring the news of the Peshawar church bombers being foreigners!
To all the Righteous, Pious and Holistic followers of the Cult of Deen-e-Imrani - Please quit being so emotional here and try to dismount from y'alls high horse of morality. When the same media was "Heavily Funded" by "Unknown Sources" and giving round-the-clock coverage to 30th October and 25th December, 2011 Jalsas; not only did you people levitate at such a massive projection but hailed the Pakistani Media as being free and playing its part toward the transformation of a "Naya Pakistan."
Heck the same media which is being chastised right now for projecting KPK and PTI in a very negative light, was once beginning its broadcast early in the morning and reporting live till a PTI jalsa adjourned later at night......please get some life folks!
@Muhammad Usman:
All is kosher in the land of Deen-e-Imrani :D
I notice whole electronic media on-air news regrading Kishor Kumar anniversary but no coverage of this KPK match. Our electronic must gave the coverage as same way when they cover the bad news about Taliban terrorism. It is historic day as people living in fear came out and show the life in KPK. We our electronic media not made it headline that "smiling people of Peshawar"???
I think there should be sports stadiums instead of focusing only on cricket......this will promote all games but not only cricket.
why Imran is the chief guest. is he chief minister? why he is making announcements for projects? double standards. If nwaz did this in the past, he was asked if he was govt official?
Imran Khan should invite Taliban and encourage them play cricket with a slogan 'Blast vlast chodo, cricket khelo mere yaar'.
IK should delivery now, mere announcement not enough. come up with realistic deadline but not the one announced in the election to bring change in 100 days!
Great to see amazing gesture by KPK government, talent hunt in KPK would fully develop cricket team equally comparable to existing national cricket team. Pakhtuns have a great talent and rigor to accomplish their task but what is desperately missing is to channelize their innate abilities.
Great Job Khan Sahab, anxious waiting to see much more efforts.
Peshawar Smiles, after long time. I only heard news regarding crying on people dying. What a great day for KPK
Shame on our sold out media for not covering the match. As I've previously mentioned in my comments, the corrupt, dishonest and sold out media, is as big a problem for Pakistan as illiteracy, poverty and terrorism. Here was a chance to promote a positive image of the brave people of KPK who turned up in thousands for the sake of peace, but our media decided to completely ignore the event because they received orders, money etc from higher forces. I find it an insult of an average Pakistani to call media 'Pakistani Media'. The media in Pakistan don't have Pakistan's vested interest at heart, and are merely interested in making money, whether through legitimate or illegitimate means, and for that reason, we should not refer to them as Pakistani Media, but rather 'Slaves of the System'. Indeed, shameful behavior.
Catwalk in Mumbai was more important for the media than the smile on the faces of 25 thousand Pakistanis sitting in the Arbab Niaz Stadium in Peshawar
after 8 years Arbab Niaz Stadium in Peshawar was filled with huge crowed & i am sorry to say but our media only gives coverage to bomb blasts in Peshawar but not a Successful Peace Match.
With his choice of priority and public speaking on issues, I seriously doubt that Imran Khan has what it takes to be a statesman. At best he could be a sports minister of KP and do justice to the job. I think we have been hoping little too much from him for long time.
And who is going to pay the Arbab Niaz Stadium Management for this event which is clearly an attempt at gaining political mileage since it is being held by PTI the political party.
Once again, IK is trying his best to be a "Poor man's Shahbaz Sharif" here.
Let us turn towards health and positive activities in KP. This is high time for such things and if today we failed to bring KP out of the chaos, the situation will be no more different than that of Balochistan
IK tough time ahead but we are with you, keep it up!
Many thanks to all the players who participated in the match.
With latif Mahsood in US custody and Baitullah in hiding, it is your oppurtunity to show what you can do. Keep it up! Remember, you are the BESTEST in this sport. Good Luck.
after so many years peshawaris are smiling and having fun...we salute PTI for this arrangement..but I am very sad with the medias response...this is about KPK..about the people who literally forget how to have fun and laugh...this was not about PTI that they ignored it....it is like that media only likes to give bombs and killings news from KPK..they deliberately ignore these things..a sad day for freedom of media in our country...
Well Done PTI, it has been a tough 2 months, but we are with you and hope for a good future.