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‘I Just Wanted to Go Back Home’: Ramiz Raja Jr. Accuses Waqar Younis of Racism

Pakistan cricketer, Ramiz Raja Jr., has revealed that he was treated rudely by former coach, Waqar Younis, during his only tour because he was from Karachi and that he wanted to leave the tour midway, Geo Super reported.

“During my only international tour with the national team, I faced rude behavior from Waqar Younis. He taunted me a lot just because I belong to Karachi. That tour became horrible for me and I just wanted to go back home.”

Ramiz Jr. has played two T20 international matches for his country, scoring 24 runs in those contests. However, his performance on the domestic circuit has been impressive.

The right-handed batter claimed he was forced to learn Punjabi in order to compete at the national level. He also mentioned an incident in which the former coach barred him from training with Sohail Khan.

“He told me to learn Punjabi to survive in the team. They used to speak Punjabi in all team meetings. Once I asked him to go for training with Sohail bhai. He refused and said ‘this is not Karachi team.'”

Last week, one of the reporters questioned PCB Chairman, Ramiz Raja, about the Lahore-Karachi rivalry in Pakistan cricket, and he responded that such things were not possible in this social media era.

It is important to note that Waqar Younis’ coaching career has been marred by controversy, and many cricketers have complained about his rude behavior.

Last month, Ahmad Shehzad also blamed the former coach for destroying his international career and demanded Waqar’s report against him be made public.


  • He did prefer speaking the language with a Sikh player on an Indian talent-hunt show in 2007. But he also complains about being treated unfairly for being Seraiki from Vehari. I, too had been tortured for months alongside my family for not speaking Punjabi at home in a foreign country. It surely is a language we may be familiar with but it’s not our lingua franca. Turned out that it was not from Pakistani Punjabis except a few of them but mainly North American handlers of the Sikhs, who want them to have a separate homeland. They handle these Pakistani Punjabis, including some involved in our cricket. Shoaib Akhtar or Inzamam with Yuvraj Singh. Imran Khan and Navjot Sidhu. Other examples would be stopping Miandad from being PCB head, the Sarfaraz captaincy fiasco and cases against Yaser Shah. We mustn’t be quick to blame our own people even if some of them aren’t perfect. Had it not been American support, you wouldn’t have had Ayub triumph over Fatima Jinnah and Zia over Bhutto. On the other hand, Musharraf had to leave the country and Nawaz became PM. In fact, had some people not stepped in, they would’ve had Musharraf meeting the same fate as Bhutto all in the name of democracy. Something they hadn’t really made a cornerstone of their policy till the Rosa Parks of the State Department declared the “values” of their American Century. Times like these you wish they had them sitting at the back. Poor Nawaz was planning his fourth term until he fell out of favor for “looking East”. But would anyone call Musharraf and Fatima Jinnah communists? Or Berkeley and Oxford educated Bhutto that, even though we can argue that he had been moving towards socialism, but not entirely as per those who were genuine socialists. Jalib and J.A. Rahim are examples of those who would have disagreed. The love affair with the Punjabis dates back to the 18th century when the Sikhs were first created as a means to block the land bridge to Northern India from Central Asia. Even Abdali had problems seeking reinforcements when he paid India a visit at Panipat. Then, the Qadianis were created from local Muslims after the Sikhs were dislodged from power. Only to prevent the local, potential fifth column of Turkic-Afghans from inviting invaders and going back to Muslim rule. So, most of them were recruited to fight alongside the British against the very same tribes they were from. It wasn’t an ethnic or linguistic divide. They had the same race but the religions had changed. The Hindko language from the Ghandara civilization became known as the language of the five rivers. In the 20th century, there were the Unionists and also, the countless factions of the Muslim league. Cricket was merely a “colonial civilizer” that was part of the colonial deal. The original Ramiz Raja himself is from a line of British Raj conscripts and guess what they were all taught to enjoy, only to civilize them? Cricket. The British, however, moved on but those from across the pond from them, did not. That’s because the US had WW1 veterans who were Sikhs. They claim that Bhagat Singh was influenced by a political party founded in their west coast. And they also had a Sikh politician in the 19th century. In the 80s, came the Zia era. The Punjabi capitalist versus the socialists of all three provinces. The Bengalis had already seceded. It created this religious seminary culture that permeated through Punjab but also, the KP of today for geopolitical reasons. The politics of that era in Punjab bastardized into the N-league. It was a weird mix of Wahhabism and Punjabi linguistic nationalism. Yet, with the advent of social media and now that we’ve entered the Information Age, the so-called Punjabis seem to be going back to their roots that they’d been kept away from for about 3 centuries. This has partially been influenced by Turkish TV shows and even recent trips by Uzbek leaders. In the coming years, more regional economic integration is likely to change a centuries-old “Punjabization” policy, even if it has geopolitical consequences from both sides or even sectarian undertones. Torture and misery may have worked in Peshawar under Sikh rule when American mercenaries using Muslim names helped Ranjit Singh establish his rule. But today, there are no invading Central Asian tribesmen claiming to be the heirs of the Timurid empire or trying to perpetuate his lineage. Neither does a landlocked Punjabi state have any geostrategic value. The Crusader-like obsession with getting a Punjabi state is at par with getting the Holy Land or even Hagia Sofia back. For the former, the Muslims have willingly imposed a travel ban on themselves. And these folks also have this minority, whose messiah they worship as their god, in control of the place. It’s hard to understand how they’re any different. I mean more than half of this minority has the same gene pool, speak many of their languages and completely follow their culture. Yet, they don’t always get along (Keywords: the “expats” in Qatar and the port in Haifa). The point was that these folks have a pretty comfortable pathway back and forth, unlike the Moslems, who they got the Holy Land back from, very very democratically. I mean, it is out of our free will that we don’t have relations with Israel. Primarily for the Muslim Palestinians. But when it comes to their own kind, like the Christian Palestinians, including the journalist, it’s a matter of interests and not human rights. Richard the Lionheart must be very jealous. Even his diplomats couldn’t have thought this far. A thousand years ahead of him. Quite literally. I remember that outside the Hagia Sofia, they wrote that Islam was a cult. Now that it’s been turned into a mosque, the only typical solution for them is to wreak havoc across NATO at a time of war. Or, maybe just find a middle path for the Orthodox community to pray on Sunday, while the Muslims pray on Fridays. But of course, the Russians are Orthodox too so that won’t work. They did split the Orthodox Church though like the Ottomans, along with Jewish help, split the Catholic Church with local German help. Speaking of Germany, they had this army called the INA, whose soldiers from Rawalpindi eventually joined the Pakistan Army. Some were high-ranking. Was it Hitler who taught them about the Master Race or was it the British, who taught them about the Martial Race? Too close to call. In either case, the Bengalis won. As did the North Indian Hindus. Looks like being dark and short pays off, on occasion. Especially, when you’re up against a force confused about their identity and heritage.


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