Hysteria will not end corruption

Tavleen Singh Posted online: Sun Apr 10 2011, 00:22 hrs

As I have watched mass hysteria build up over Anna Hazare’s fast, there have been moments when I felt that his supporters had forgotten that India is a democratic country. I have long believed that the most apolitical Indians are those who belong to the English speaking, tweeting, texting middle classes but I had no idea just how apolitical they were till last week. Without reading the Jan Lokpal bill that Anna Hazare is trying to ram down our throats, actors, writers, social activists, television anchors and sundry other supposedly educated Indians leapt on to Anna’s bandwagon.Some seemed to have been inspired by the recent revolution in the Middle East. They babbled on about text messages and social media sites having brought about a ‘people’s movement’ without noticing that in India the people have the right to vote. Every five years they choose who they want to represent them in the Lok Sabha and in their state assemblies. It is the job of these legislatures to make laws for the country. It is not the job of sanctimonious activists.
If they had bothered to read the draft that Hazare’s Leftist advisors have drawn up, they would have noticed that its worst flaw is that it is anti-democratic in the most frightening way. It is not an ombudsman that it seeks to create but a despot with the powers to investigate, judge and punish anyone he suspects of corrupt practices. So if some NGO type of Leftist persuasion were to decide that his local MP was spending his constituency allowance on a project that did not benefit ‘the masses’, he (or she) could complain to his local Lokayukta and organise a raid on the MP’s property and order his arrest if he decides that public funds are being misused. It is not just officials but private citizens who will be under the Lokpal’s purview.
This is the way of totalitarian countries like China. It is not India’s way but you would not know it if you had been watching our news channels last week. One famous TV anchor became a sort of Lokpal himself by haranguing a Congress Party spokesman on behalf of ‘the people of India.’
Meanwhile, hunger pangs appear to have caused Anna Hazare to suffer hallucinations of becoming India’s next Mahatma, so he has ordered a ‘jail bharo andolan’ as if we were still fighting the British. And, his coterie of Lefty advisors are using their fifteen minutes of fame to rant against the liberal economic policies that have brought the only prosperity that India has seen since 1947. Without it there would be no tweeting, texting middle class.
In the process we seem to have all forgotten that it is not the economic reforms that have created India’s vast and wondrous infrastructure of corruption. This was built in those times when the ‘commanding heights’ of the economy were inflexibly in the grip of high officials and mighty ministers. With the rise of the private sector in the past twenty years, politicians have turned their greedy eyes upon the possibilities of bigger takings and to this end ensure that their progeny succeed them to take care of the family business. If we want corruption to end, we could begin by banning hereditary MPs and making it compulsory for political parties to have regular elections. We could also ban political parties who cannot account for their donations. Political parties are richer today than ever because they have become leeches on the back of the private sector.
Nearly all corruption in India is related to government. If big businessmen pay for every contract they get, pavement shopkeepers pay for the right to earn their meagre living. I have never met an Indian who has not been forced to bribe an official at some time or other. This is why there is so much understandable anger against corruption but anyone who thinks a despotic Lokpal is the solution is deluded, naïve or an NGO.
Speaking of which, I found it most annoying last week to listen to NGOs behave as if they were the incorruptible, rightful spokesmen for ‘civil society’. In my time, I have met as many corrupt NGOs as I have met corrupt officials and they are accountable to nobody. Many receive funds from mysterious foreign sources that they would have to declare if they stood for elections. Is that why fasting in Jantar Mantar is the preferred option? If NGO types want to make laws, let them get elected to the Lok Sabha or else go back to activities that are genuinely non-governmental. Making laws is the right of governments, no matter how ineffective or corrupt these governments may be. This appears to have been forgotten in the mass hysterics of last week. It is time to remember.
Follow Tavleen Singh on Twitter@tavleen_singh

The company that Hazare keeps10/04/2011 00:08:36  Courtesy : Vijayavaani.com

Krishen Kak

Recently, the front pages of the Indian news media have been saturated with Anna Hazare’s “fast-unto-death” against corruption in the Indian polity. Hazare is described as a Gandhian – the politics and morality of the Gandhian fast is another story; this one is about the company this Gandhian keeps.  

“India Against Corruption” (IAC) is Anna Hazare’s address for his letter dt. 6/4/11 to the Prime Minister, and is therefore presumably the prime mover of this fast-unto-death. IAC describes itself as “an expression of collective anger of people of India against corruption”.  Those who started it include, besides Hazare himself, spiritual leaders Swami Ramdev and Sri Sri Ravishankar, religious leader Archbishop Vincent Concessao, a politician in the guise of a religious leader Swami Agnivesh, and three notables usually described as civil society activists: Kiran Bedi, Mallika Sarabhai, Arvind Kejriwal. In addition, “notable participants” include another now-notorious civil society activist, Medha Patkar.

Agnivesh has his own websites, his own political party, and is a “self-titled Arya Samaj scholar”. He has under his saffron robe the Rajiv Gandhi National Sadbhavana Award, the Right Livelihood Award, and the Rev. M.A. Thomas National Rights Award. He describes himself as “the most distinguished leader of the Arya Samaj” though this has been questioned, as has his fascination for Mother Teresa, his infatuation for Mother Sonia (“only light of hope of spirituality at end of dark tunnel”), and his unabashed admiration for Islam and Pakistan.

Kiran Bedi’s service record was actually far from distinguished; she was professionally unreliable and untrustworthy; deserted her post more than once; and expected favouritism because she was a woman officer. She excels at public and media relations and, over the years, picked up a Magsaysay award and awards from the American Federation of Muslims of Indian Origin, the Don Bosco Shrine, the Mother Teresa Memorial National Award for Social Justice, and other such assorted goodies. The Hindu (Delhi) on its front page on 6/4/11 had a picture of Bedi carefully situating right next to the fasting-unto-death Anna Hazare a placard that announced “bhrashtachar ko khatm karo - www.jnss.in”.

JNSS is the Jagruk Nagrik Suraksha Sangathan (National President: Mr Denson Joseph). It proclaims itself nationalist and anti-terrorist and “salutes and supports the efforts of all agencies working hand in hand to secure the nation”. These agencies are the Home Ministry, the Delhi Police, BSF, NSS, CISF, and the United Nations! It solicits donations - but nowhere on its website does it give its accounts.

Prominent with Hazare when he began his fast were “Arvind Kejriwal along with Mallika Sarabhai and Magsaysay award winner Sandeep Pandey”, and “famous former top cop Kiran Bedi said all the activists present there would be on a day-long hunger strike, but Hazare would continue his fast till the Government agrees to our demands.”

Accused of cheating by dancers who filed a complaint against her, Mallika Sarabhai declared “neither the country nor its people for whom I have spent 25 years working deserve me”. Indians and India don’t deserve Sarabhai, but does Sarabhai deserve India? How much in those 25 years was not motivated by her desire for profit or for her own greater glory? I can personally testify to the desperation with which the dancing-Sarabhais sought government sponsorship and recognition.

There are thousands upon thousands of jawans who are far greater patriots than her - and don’t boast about it. They are prepared to die for the country that Sarabhai wanted to flee because her fellow-dancers accused her of cheating them. Why did her most vocal defenders not include any of her dancer peers? Was this because, within the dancer sorority, they were aware there was more to the Sarabhai publicly-cultivated image than met the eye?

Was she not, through this particular contract that was challenged by the dancers, peddling to them her saleability? Was she not touting her own brand image to introduce them - on payment by them to her or her organization - to foreign audiences that they could not have managed on their own? If (according to The Pioneer, Nov 2, 2003) 13 dancers complained about her, had she not netted from them a cool Rs. 2.60 lakhs for not taking them abroad!? And, if they felt cheated because she took their money - but not them - and she claimed she acted according to the terms of the contract, why should they not challenge those terms? “…there is hardly any doubt that daal mein kuchh kala hai, that something fishy has been happening over sending dance troupes to the US by Ms Sarabhai’s academy”, wrote Chandan Mitra.

As it is kala in the daal of Mapin Publishing (co-founded by her and her ex-husband and with which apparently she still is associated) that welshes on its word and its payments (cases known personally to me).

Medha Patkar has the Right Livelihood Award, the Rev. M.A. Thomas National Human Rights Award, Amnesty International’s Human Rights Defender’s Award, and the BBC’s Green Ribbon Award for Best International Political Campaigner. Her Narmada Bachao Andolan is described as a “social movement”. Presumably this social movement handles money, if only for its own expenses. But the Supreme Court has noted the NBA is not a registered entity. So how does it bank its money? How does it account for its expenses? The NBA, which has international connections, does not seem to have its own website. Foreign sources funded its support groups. Accused of faking medical certificates, fined more than once for dodging court hearings, Patkar is now accused by the Supreme Court itself of filing a false affidavit before it.

Magsaysay awardee Sandeep Pandey and his Asha for Education have a full chapter to themselves in the Vigil book that details their magic of making foreign money disappear after it reaches them, their allergy to professional accounting, and (in the book’s Appendix 12) his blatant lying to the Deccan Chronicle.  

Now, India Against Corruption solicits donations. But it doesn’t solicit them in its own name.  It solicits money in the name of the Public Cause Research Foundation (PCRF). In other words, the money you donate for IAC’s work actually goes into PCRF’s pocket. Guess who set up and runs PCRF? Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and Abhinandan Sekhri, started with the Magsaysay money to Kejriwal. It is not clear from its website under what law it is registered, but it was filing a tax return in Form ITR 7 and claiming s.80G exemption.

Let us look at Public Cause Research Foundation’s accounts:

1.        For FY 2006-2007, PCRF reported Rs 51,434/- as utilized for charitable purposes - though actually all this was was entirely office/admn. expenses. It reported an opening corpus fund of Rs 13,01,000/- and a closing corpus fund of Rs 12, 49,566. In other words, it utilized its corpus fund solely for routine office/admn. expenses.

2.       For FY 07-08, PCRF reported Rs.6,31,797/- utilized for charitable purposes - again, actually all this plus another Re. 0.90 was entirely office/admn. expenses (including salaries of Rs 3,26,600/- and legal exp. of Rs 91,209/-).  It reported donations received of Rs 21,400/-, loans and advances of Rs 2,15,000/-, and a closing corpus fund of Rs 14,49,168.10/-. Its corpus fund statement as on 31/3/08 showed for “specific corpus fund” an opening balance on 1/4/07 of Rs 1,000/- only and an addition during the year of Rs 8,10,000/-. And as “nonspecific corpus fund”, an opening balance of Rs 12,48,566/-. The loan of Rs 2,15,000/- was “Kabir Loan 200,000.00” and  “Loan to Parivartan (Mangal surat) 15,000/-”.

3.       The Parivartan is presumably Kejriwal-Sisodia’s Parivartan. Kabir appears to be the registered society “spun off of Parivartan”. Founder-member Manish Sisodia is also its “Chief Functionary”; Kabir’s governing body includes Arvind Kejriwal. Though founded in 1999, Kabir’s website reports no financial details.

4.       For the year ending 31/3/09, PCRF omits the ITR scans, the corpus fund is now Rs 31,51,416/-, the loans and advances are Rs 2,46,274/-, and the office and admn. expenses are Rs 8,10,078.10/-. No donations are reported, and there is no financial information for after 31/3/09.

5.       Kejriwal’s Parivartan was analysed in the Vigil book. Manish Sisodia was Parivartan’s founder-member and treasurer. Kejriwal and Sisodia founded PCRF, Sisodia founded Kabir, and together they “govern” it. Note the incestuous connections between all these different agencies actively soliciting money from the public, and note the opacity of their publicly-declared accounts. Kejriwal was in the income-tax service. Surely he understands accounting.

6.       Prima facie, your IAC money – which you gave because of Hazare? - is channeled into Kejriwal-Sisodia’s PCRF and from there into Kejriwal-Sisodia’s Kabir and possibly Kejriwal-Sisodia’s Parivartan.

As was asked about Parivartan, “This is transparency? This is accountability? Something wrong with their maths? Or with their morals?”
A “triumvirate” of an ex-police officer, an ex-income tax officer and a very worldly godman publicly abet an old Gandhian’s attempted suicide, while they themselves have no intention of shuffling off their mortal coil. Their personal ambitions become apparent, and there are “sharp differences in movement over spoils” – “both Kejriwal and Agnivesh can leave if they cannot sink their differences,” said Hazare.

Here was Hazare fasting-unto-death and Bedi withdrew from the dharnasthal because of “poor health”! Agnivesh opened his own direct line to the Congress. Kejriwal declared, “A 73-year-old man is fasting-unto-death… He is fighting for each one of you and for your children’s future. This is your last chance…”

And then Kejriwal smartly seized his chance and out-manoeuvred both Bedi and Agnivesh!

Sonia Gandhi’s NAC colleague Aruna Roy is emerging from the woodwork (yes, this is the same Aruna Roy whose duplicity is detailed in the Vigil book, and who calls the Indian government “fascist” but has no qualms sitting at its highest table with the de facto head of this fascist government to “advise” her and it).

-        “…who will decide who are representatives of civil society for the joint committee? Anyone and everyone can claim that they are part of civil society so must be included into this panel to formulate the Lokpal Bill.”

Of all the “civil society” activists featured here, Kejriwal has ensured he’s the only one into the joint drafting committee. Thus, Arvind Kejriwal, of dubious accounting fame, now represents at the national level our country’s “civil society”.
Anna Hazare demanded “there should be no tainted ministers in the committee. Asked if there were five untainted ministers in the government, Hazare said `they should be least tainted’.”

The public official must be “untainted” or, at any rate, “least tainted”. Fair enough. So, we assume the five ministers named to the joint drafting committee and accepted by Hazare are untainted or the least tainted, including Kapil Sibal who publicly castigated the country’s Comptroller & Auditor General and equally publicly absolved Spectrum Raja of any wrongdoing!
But, characteristically, what’s sauce for the sarkari goose is never sauce for these “civil society” ganders.

Of the “triumvirate” that negotiated the joint drafting committee’s composition, is Arvind Kejriwal really “untainted;” or, of the three, the “least tainted”? As the primary negotiator on behalf of Hazare, was it ethical of him that he negotiate his own name? If Justice Santosh Hegde who is Hazare’s first choice could suggest Justice J.S. Verma rather than himself as the “ideal person” to be the committee’s Chair, why could Kejriwal not insist on some other “civil society” activist for the committee?

Was he negotiating for his own inclusion and/or ensuring the exclusion of Bedi and Agnivesh?

All these so-called civil society activists will be aware of the legal doctrine of clean hands. Yet, as is amply clear, they demand public officials have clean hands even as their own hands stink.

Questions arise:

1.        Baba Ramdev has been doing far more to raise popular awareness against corruption than this lot, yet neither the English-language mainstream media nor these so-called civil society activists extended to him the “civil society” support they extended to Hazare.
Why not?  

2.       None of these so-called civil society activists has stood for popular election, whether State Assembly or Parliament, except Mallika Sarabhai (and she was roundly trounced by the electorate, losing her deposit). So, whom do they really represent?

3.       Why does Anna Hazare promote that extra-Constitutional “civil society” bastion called the National Advisory Council headed by Sonia Gandhi? He “sought to project that Gandhi and he were on the same page on the issue of an effective Lokpal Bill”.

Para 3b at http://www.hindustantimes.com/Full-text-of-Anna-Hazare-s-letter-to-PM-Manmohan-Singh/Article1-681961.aspx# must be juxtaposed with the widely-circulated “bhrast-achar” email - e.g.,http://www.flickr.com/photos/13505613@N06/5539172796/. The connection is obvious, yet Agnivesh is “already singing paeans to the Government and Congress president Sonia Gandhi”.

4.      Whatever the merit of the cause, is Anna Hazare wittingly or unwittingly a pawn in the unclean hands of these “civil society” activists?


5.      Of IAC’s 19 others who “started the movement” with Anna Hazare, how many and which ones showed up to express solidarity when he started his “fast-unto-death”? Only four – Agnivesh, Bedi, Sarabhai and Kejriwal. Why didn’t the other founders join him?

6.      Finally, there will be expenses, if only on the bandobast of this “fast-unto-death” mela. Who is providing the money? And who is keeping the accounts?

हिज्बुल मुजाहिदीन अब लगभग समाप्त हो चुका

केंद्रीय गृह सचिव जी. के. पिल्लै ने कहा है कि कश्मीर का सबसे बड़ा आतंकवादी संगठन, हिज्बुल मुजाहिदीन अब लगभग समाप्त हो चुका है और यदि पाकिस्तान-अधिकृत कश्मीर में मौजूद इसका नेतृत्व शांति प्रक्रिया में शामिल होना चाहता है तो वह ऐसा कर सकता है। लेकिन सरकार आतंकी नेताओं को तब तक वार्ता के लिए नहीं बुलाएगी, जब तक कि वे हथियार नहीं डाल देते।
आतंकवाद में कमी: पिल्लै ने अपने कार्यालय में एक बातचीत में कहा, 'कश्मीर में आतंकवाद में कमी आई है। आप हर रोज खबरें पढ़-सुन रहे होंगे कि कोई-न-कोई आतंकी मारा गया। मैं समझता हूं कि हिज्बुल मुजाहिदीन लगभग समाप्त हो चुका है, खास तौर से इसकी पाकिस्तानी जड़ें समाप्त हो गई हैं।'
उन्होंने कहा कि फिलहाल सरकार की ऐसी कोई योजना नहीं है कि वह पाकिस्तान-अधिकृत कश्मीर स्थित आतंकवादी सरगनाओं, खास तौर से हिज्बुल मुजाहिदीन के प्रमुख व संयुक्त जिहाद परिषद के प्रमुख (यूजेसी), सैयद सलाहुद्दीन को बातचीत का प्रस्ताव दे। यूजेसी जम्मू एवं कश्मीर में सक्रिय एक दर्जन आतंकी समूहों का संयुक्त मंच है।
हिंसा छोड़नी होगी: पिल्लै ने कहा, 'यदि सलाहुद्दीन बातचीत करना चाहता है, तो उसका स्वागत है, लेकिन उसके पहले उसे हिंसा त्यागनी होगी। हम किसी को इंकार नहीं कर रहे हैं। उसे यहां आकर बातचीत करनी होगी। कोई भी उससे बातचीत करने के लिए उसके पास नहीं जाएगा।'
यह पूछे जाने पर कि सरकार शांति वार्ता में आतंकी सरगनाओं को शामिल करने को लेकर क्यों उदासीन है, गृह सचिव ने कहा, 'कश्मीर में आतंकी संगठनों की संख्या 100 से कुछ ही कम है। कोई उनसे बात भी नहीं कर पाएगा। उनका कोई आधार भी नहीं है।'
खतरा बरकरार : उन्होंने कहा कि सुरक्षा बलों द्वारा पाकिस्तान से लगी सीमा पर कड़ी चौकसी बरते जाने के बावजूद राज्य में आतंकवाद के फिर से भड़कने का खतरा बना हुआ है। घाटी में अभी भी लोग हैं। पाकिस्तान - अधिकृत कश्मीर में अभी भी सैकड़ों ऐसे लोग हैं जो इस पार आने की फिराक में हैं , क्योंकि बर्फ पिघलनी शुरू हो गई है और इससे उन्हें सीमा पार करने में आसानी होती है। हमें सतर्क रहना है , हमारे पास दूसरा कोई विकल्प नहीं है।
माफी योजना शीघ्र : उन्होंने कहा कि पाकिस्तान स्थित जो कश्मीरी आतंकवादी आत्मसमर्पण करना चाहते हैं और घर वापस लौटना चाहते हैं , उन्हें माफी देने हेतु घोषित योजना जल्द ही शुरू हो जाए गी।

क्यों चैत्र प्रतिपदा से शुरू होता है हिन्दू नववर्ष?

 

 

रिलेटेड आर्टिकल

• भक्ति और रिश्तों के लिए जरूरी ऐसा प्रेम
• मानसिक शांति के लिए करें ऐसी चन्द्र पूजा
• सोने से पहले शिव की ऐसी प्रार्थना देती है मनचाहे सुख
• जबर्दस्त शक्ति व ऊर्जा देता है गायत्री मंत्र
• बरकत के लिए लक्ष्मी को यह मंत्र बोल लगाएं चन्दन

हिन्दू पंचांग का चैत्र माह दो ऋतुओं का मिलन काल होता है। इस माह पतझड के मौसम की बिदाई होती है और चैत्र कृष्ण प्रतिपदा को ही बसंत ऋतु के आगमन का पहला दिन होता है। इस समय से दिन बड़े और रात छोटी होने लगती है। सभी पेड़-पौधे व वनस्पतियां नए पत्ते, फूलों की खुशबू और रंग से भरे होते हैं। प्रकृति नया रूप लेती है। सारी प्रकृति शक्ति रुपा दिखाई देने लगती है। इसलिए इस माह में शक्ति उपासना का भी बहुत महत्व है। प्रकृति में चारों ओर हरियाली और लालिमा नए जीवन संदेश लेकर हमारे जीवन से जुड़ जाती है। प्रकृति में बदलाव से प्राणी जगत भी आलस्य व दरिद्रता से मुक्त होकर उमंग और उत्साह से भर जाते हैं।

इसी चैत्र माह की प्रतिपदा यानी पहले दिन से नववर्ष की शुरूआत होने के कारण अनेक लोगों की जिज्ञासा होती है कि जब हिन्दू पंचाग के अनुसार चंद्रमास कृष्ण पक्ष की प्रतिपदा से शुरू होता है, तो फिर संवत्सर का आरंभ चैत्र माह के शुक्ल पक्ष से क्यों? इसका उत्तर शास्त्र मुताबिक यही है कि कृष्णपक्ष में मलमास आने की संभावना होती है। विधान अनुसार मलमास में शुद्ध और शुभ काम नहीं किए जाते, जबकि चैत्र शुक्ल पक्ष इनके लिए शुभ माना जाता है।

हिन्दू माह चैत्र शुक्ल प्रतिपदा का दिन चंद्रमा की कला का प्रथम दिवस भी माना जाता है। ऐसा माना जाता है कि इस चन्द्रकला से जीवन के मुख्य आधार पेड-पौधों को जीवनदायी रस प्राप्त होता है, जो औषधियों और वनस्पतियों के रूप में प्राणियों के तन व मन के स्वास्थ्य के लिए भी लाभदायक है़, इसलिए भी इस दिन से वर्ष का आरंभ शुभ माना गया है।

इसके अलावा मान्यता है कि ब्रह्मदेव ने चैत्र शुक्ल प्रतिपदा से ही सृष्टि की रचना शुरू की थी। इस भाव से कि सृष्टि निरंतर प्रकाश यानि सृजन की ओर बढ़े। उस काल में इसे प्रवरा यानि सर्वश्रेष्ठ तिथि माना गया। इसकी श्रेष्ठता और पवित्रता के कारण ही आज भी अनेक धार्मिक, सामाजिक, लोक व्यवहार और शासकीय महत्व के कार्य इसी तिथि से शुरु होते हैं।

चैत्र शुक्ल प्रतिपदा तिथि से ही सतयुग का प्रारंभ माना जाता है। यह युग कर्म,कर्तव्य और सत्य को जीवन में अपनाकर आगे बढऩे का प्रतीक है। यह दिन भगवान विष्णु के मत्स्यावतार का भी माना जाता है। साथ ही ब्रहृमा द्वारा सृष्टि आरंभ भी इसी दिन से मानने के कारण इस तिथि से संवत्सर की शुरूआत मानी जाती है।

Do you think Shahid Afridi's remarks against Indians will damage the goodwill created by the India-Pakistan World Cup semifinal match?

ISLAMABAD: Days after winning the hearts of numerous Indian fans with his remarks after his team's loss in the World Cup semifinal, Pakistancricket captain Shahid Afridi has said Indians are not as large-hearted as Pakistanis.

Afridi also slammed the Indian media for its "very negative approach" and said the Pakistani media was a "hundred times better" than its Indian counterpart.

"In my opinion, if I have to tell the truth, they (Indians) will never have hearts like Muslims and Pakistanis. I don't think they have the large and clean hearts that Allah has given us," Afridi said during a talk show on Samaa news channel when he was asked about relations between the two countries.

"It is a very difficult thing for us to live with them (Indians) or to have long-term relationship with them. Nothing will come out of talks. See how many times in the past 60 years we have had friendship and then how many times things have gone bad," he said as the audience in the TV channel's studio applauded him repeatedly.

"We don't want to fight with each other but a third country - everyone knows which one it is - is trying to spoil our relations. (This country) is taking advantage of Pakistan and wants to take advantage of India. I don't want to go into details but these people will not let us come together," he added.

Asked about the Indian media's coverage of the Pakistani team during the semifinal with India at Mohali on March 30, Afridi replied: "The Indian media has a very negative approach and very negative thoughts. The people may not be like that but I think the media had a very dirty role in spoiling relations between us and India.

"Our media, which is criticised by people, is hundred times better than theirs," he said.

India beat Pakistan in the semifinal, which was watched by the Prime Ministers of the two countries, who used cricket diplomacy to boost the peace process between the two sides.

Afridi also criticised Interior Minister Rehman Malik for warning the Pakistani team not to get involved in match-fixing and Indian cricketer Gautam Gambhir, who vowed to dedicate victory in the World Cup final to victims of the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

"I think they were both very stupid comments by Rehman Malik and Gautam Gambhir...I wasn't expecting this from Gautam...This is all politics, what do you know about who carried out the Bombay attacks?" he said.

The Mumbai attacks, which left 166 people dead, were carried out by Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba.