Latest news with #GhulamAli
Business Recorder
5 days ago
- Sport
- Business Recorder
Pakistan Shaheens gear up for Darwin challenge
LAHORE: Pakistan Shaheens led by Muhammad Irfan Khan will begin their campaign in the Top End T20 Series on Thursday (August 14) when they take on Bangladesh 'A' in the opening match of the tournament at the TIO Stadium in Darwin, Australia. The first ball of the match will be bowled at 7pm local time (3.30pm PKT). The tournament matches will be broadcast live on A-Sports and live-streamed on ARY ZAP in Pakistan. Since their arrival in Darwin on 10th August, the 15-member squad has undergone three practice sessions under the coaching staff led by Ghulam Ali. The 11-team tournament comprising 13 matches will be played from August 14 to 24 across five venues in Darwin. Shaheens, who featured in the inaugural T20 edition in 2023 led by Rohail Nazir, lost to Northern Territory Strike by 46 runs in the final. In last year's edition, Shaheens captained by Mohammad Haris lost to Adelaide Strikers in the first semi-final by 30 runs. Muhammad Irfan Khan on the eve of the tournament said, 'We are aiming to take the best possible combination into the match. Bangladesh 'A' are also a strong side, so our focus will be on fielding the right combination, especially as this is the first game of the tournament and we want to start well.' Irfan said, 'We have trained according to the conditions and each player has been given a specific role to perform. The main focus is to execute those roles effectively in the match so that the team can achieve success. We are stepping onto the field with great energy and determination and will be putting in our utmost effort to deliver strong performances in the tournament.' 15-member squad: Muhammad Irfan Khan (captain), Abdul Samad, Ahmed Daniyal, Faisal Akram, Khawaja Mohammad Nafay (wicket-keeper), Maaz Sadaqat, Mehran Mumtaz, Mohammad Faiq, Mohammad Wasim Jr, Muhammad Ghazi Ghori (wicket-keeper), Mubasir Khan, Saad Masood, Shahid Aziz, Ubaid Shah and Yasir Khan. Pakistan Shaheens fixtures: 14 Aug – vs Bangladesh 'A', TIO Stadium (7pm local time); 16 Aug – vs Scorchers, TIO Stadium (4pm local time); 18 Aug – vs Renegades, TIO Stadium (6pm local time); 19 Aug – vs Kingsmen, DXC Arena (1pm local time); 20 Aug – vs Strikers, DXC Arena (7pm local time); 22 Aug – vs Nepal, DXC Arena (7pm local time) and 24 Aug – Semi-finals and final. Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
Express Tribune
5 days ago
- Sport
- Express Tribune
Shaheens gear up for Darwin challenge
Pakistan Shaheens led by Muhammad Irfan Khan will begin their campaign in the Top End T20 Series on Thursday, 14 August when they take on Bangladesh 'A' in the opening match of the tournament at the TIO Stadium in Darwin, Australia. The first ball of the match will be bowled at 7pm local time (3.30pm PKT). The tournament matches will be broadcast live on A-Sports and live-streamed on ARY ZAP in Pakistan. Since their arrival in Darwin on 10 August, the 15-member squad has undergone three practice sessions under the coaching staff led by Ghulam Ali. The 11-team tournament comprising 13 matches will be played from 14 to 24 August across five venues in Darwin. Shaheens, who featured in the inaugural T20 edition in 2023 led by Rohail Nazir, lost to Northern Territory Strike by 46 runs in the final. In last year's edition, Shaheens captained by Mohammad Haris lost to Adelaide Strikers in the first semi-final by 30 runs. Muhammad Irfan Khan while talking exclusively to PCB Digital on the eve of the tournament said: "We are aiming to take the best possible combination into the match. Bangladesh 'A' are also a strong side, so our focus will be on fielding the right combination, especially as this is the first game of the tournament and we want to start well. "We have trained according to the conditions and each player has been given a specific role to perform. The main focus is to execute those roles effectively in the match so that the team can achieve success. "We are stepping onto the field with great energy and determination and will be putting in our utmost effort to deliver strong performances in the tournament." 15-member squad: Muhammad Irfan Khan (captain), Abdul Samad, Ahmed Daniyal, Faisal Akram, Khawaja Mohammad Nafay (wicket-keeper), Maaz Sadaqat, Mehran Mumtaz, Mohammad Faiq, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Muhammad Ghazi Ghori (wicket-keeper), Mubasir Khan, Saad Masood, Shahid Aziz, Ubaid Shah and Yasir Khan Team management: Ghulam Ali (head coach), Sami Ullah Niazi (bowling coach), Mansoor Amjad (fielding coach), Muhammad Ibrahim (analyst) and Muhammad Aleem (physio) Coaches vow to excel Pakistan Shaheens head coach Ghulam Ali on Wednesday, expressed confidence in his team's ability to perform well in the upcoming Top End T20 series, emphasising the importance of adapting to local conditions. Speaking to the media in Darwin Ali said the team has been training in the city for the past three days to adjust to Australian conditions. "Most of our players are experiencing Australia for the first time, so we are working hard to get them accustomed to the pitches and weather. Our aim is to perform well in the series," he said. Highlighting the significance of overseas tours for player development, Ghulam Ali noted that the Pakistan Shaheens had previously toured England. "Playing abroad helps prepare quality players for the national team," he added. On the role of young openers in the squad, he said many are stepping up because they believe they can make an impact in the opening position. "Players are given plans according to their roles, and every position matters," he explained. However, Ali stressed that every player, regardless of their position, is crucial. He also emphasised the connection between fitness and fielding. "Better fitness makes for better fielders. With the increased amount of cricket today, focus on fitness and fielding has become even more important," he said. Meanwhile, Pakistan Shaheens bowling coach Samiullah Niazi described the squad's young fast bowlers as the future of Pakistan cricket. "We are working to make them mentally ready for international-level competition. The team is balanced, and every player has a good platform to showcase their talent," he said.
Scroll.in
03-07-2025
- Politics
- Scroll.in
‘Come home only to be exiled again': Deported Afghans return as outsiders in their own country
Ghulam Ali begins his days in pain, his muscles aching from hauling grain on a rickety cart through the streets of Kabul, homesick for the country he called home for nearly four decades. Ali is among more than 1.2 million Afghans deported from neighbouring Iran since March 2024, according to the International Organization for Migration, after Tehran pledged mass deportations to counter mounting local discontent over refugees. Thousands have also fled this month after Israeli and US airstrikes hit Iranian military targets. For Ali, 51, whose family left Afghanistan during the Soviet invasion in the 1980s when he was just 10, Iran was home. 'I grew up there, worked there, buried my parents there,' he said during a midday break from work in Kabul, sipping green tea with a simple lunch of naan bread. 'But in the end, they threw us out like trash. I lost everything – my home, my little savings in cash, my dignity,' he told Context by video link. Like many others, he has returned to a homeland he barely knew and one that has changed drastically. Outsiders in their own country, many men struggle to support their family while women face severe restrictions on their daily life under the ruling Taliban. Since late 2023, an estimated 3 million Afghans have been forced out of Iran and Pakistan, where they had sought safety from decades of war and, since the Taliban's return to Kabul in 2021, from extremist rule. Unwelcome abroad they have returned to a homeland facing economic collapse and international indifference. UN Secretary-General António Guterres, in his latest report on Afghanistan, called on countries hosting Afghan refugees to protect those in need and abide by international obligations to ensure any returns to Afghanistan are voluntary. 'Returnees face immense challenges... in particular securing housing, employment and access to basic services,' he said. Up to 10,000 Afghan women, men and children are taking the Islam Qala border crossing from Iran on a daily basis, according to the Taliban authorities. Inside Afghanistan, humanitarian aid agencies say conditions are dire, with inadequate shelter, food shortages and no road map for reintegration. 'They return to a homeland that is dramatically unprepared to receive them,' warned Arafat Jamal, the UN human rights agency's representative in Afghanistan in a statement last month. The Taliban's deputy minister for border and refugees affairs, Abdul Zahir Rahmani, also told local media this week that Afghanistan had seen a sharp increase in refugee returns since this month's 12-day air war in Iran. Many said they had no say in the matter. Ali said he was arrested at a construction site in Mashhad, Iran's second-biggest city, lacking documentation during a crackdown on refugees by the Iranian police. He and his wife, six children, two daughters-in-law and five grandchildren were deported in March. 'We were treated like criminals,' he said. 'They didn't care how law-abiding or in need we were. They just wanted all Afghans out.' The extended family – 15 people aged 5 to 51 – is now packed into a two-room, mud-brick house on Kabul's western fringes. Ali said his Persian-accented Dari draws sneers from fellow labourers – another reminder he doesn't fit in. But he brushes off their mockery, saying his focus is on feeding his family. 'We can barely afford to eat properly,' his wife Shahla said by video as she sat cross-legged on a worn rug. 'Rent is 4,000 afghanis ($56) a month – but even that is a burden. One of my sons is visually impaired; the other returns home every day empty-handed.' For women and girls, their return can feel like a double displacement. They are subject to many of the Taliban's most repressive laws, including restrictions on their movement without a 'mahram', or male companion, and curbs on education and employment. On Kabul's western edge, 38-year-old Safiya and her three daughters spend their days in a rented house packing candies for shops, earning just 50 afghanis for a day's work, below Afghanistan's poverty level of $1 a day. Safiya said they were deported from Iran in February. 'In Tehran, I stitched clothes. My girls worked at a sweet shop,' said Safiya, who declined to give her last name. 'Life was tough, but we had our freedom, as well as hope … Here, there's no work, no school, no dignity. It's like we've come home only to be exiled again.' During their deportation, Safiya was separated from her youngest daughter for a week while the family was detained, a spat over documents that still gives the 16-year-old nightmares. In Iran, said Safiya, 'my daughters had inspiring dreams. Now they sit at home all day, waiting', Afghans are also being forcibly deported from next-door Pakistan – more than 800,000 people have been expelled since October 2023, according to Amnesty International. Born in Pakistan to Afghan refugee parents, Nemat Ullah Rahimi had never lived in Afghanistan until last winter, when police barely gave him time to close his Peshawar grocery store before sending him over the Torkham border crossing. 'I wasn't allowed to sell anything. My wife and kids – all born in Pakistan – had no legal documents there so we had to leave,' said the 34-year-old. Rahimi now works long hours at a tyre repair shop at a dusty intersection on the edge of Kabul as he tries to rebuild a life. 'I can't say it's easy. But I have no choice. We're restarting from zero,' he said.
New Straits Times
30-06-2025
- Politics
- New Straits Times
Afghans in Iran return to land they hardly know
Ghulam Ali begins his days in pain, his muscles aching from hauling grain on a rickety cart through the streets of Kabul, homesick for the country he called home for nearly four decades. Ali is among more than 1.2 million Afghans deported from neighbouring Iran since March 2024, according to the International Organisation for Migration, after Teheran pledged mass deportations to counter mounting local discontent over refugees. Thousands have also fled last month after Israeli and United States airstrikes hit Iranian military targets. For Ali, 51, whose family left Afghanistan during the Soviet invasion in the 1980s when he was just 10, Iran was home. "I grew up there, worked there, buried my parents there," he said during a midday break from work in Kabul, sipping green tea with a simple lunch of naan bread. "But in the end, they threw us out like trash. I lost everything — my home, my little savings in cash, my dignity," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by video link. Like many others, he has returned to a homeland he barely knew and one that has changed drastically. Outsiders in their own country, many men struggle to support their family while women face severe restrictions on their daily life under the ruling Taliban. Since late 2023, an estimated three million Afghans have been forced out of Iran and Pakistan, where they had sought safety from decades of war and, since the Taliban's return to Kabul in 2021, from extremist rule. Unwelcome abroad, they have returned to a homeland facing economic collapse and international indifference. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, in his latest report on Afghanistan, called on countries hosting Afghan refugees to protect those in need and abide by international obligations to ensure any returns to Afghanistan are voluntary. "Returnees face immense challenges... in particular securing housing, employment and access to basic services," he said. Up to 10,000 Afghan women, men and children are taking the Islam Qala border crossing from Iran on a daily basis, according to the Taliban authorities. Inside Afghanistan, humanitarian aid agencies say conditions are dire, with inadequate shelter, food shortages and no road map for reintegration. "They return to a homeland that is dramatically unprepared to receive them," warned Arafat Jamal, the UN refugee agency representative in Afghanistan in a statement. The Taliban's deputy minister for border and refugees affairs, Abdul Zahir Rahmani, also told local media this week that Afghanistan had seen a sharp increase in refugee returns since last month's 12-day air war in Iran. Many said they had no say in the matter. Ali said he was arrested at a construction site in Mashhad, Iran's second-biggest city, lacking documentation during a crackdown on refugees by the Iranian police. He and his wife, six children, two daughters-in-law and five grandchildren were deported in March. "They didn't care how law-abiding or in need we were. They just wanted all Afghans out." The extended family — 15 people aged 5 to 51 — is now packed into a two-room, mud-brick house on Kabul's western fringes. Ali said his Persian-accented Dari draws sneers from fellow labourers — another reminder he doesn't fit in. But he brushes off their mockery, saying his focus is on feeding his family. "We can barely afford to eat properly," said his wife Shahla. "Rent is 4,000 afghanis (US$56) a month — but even that is a burden. One of my sons is visually impaired; the other returns home every day empty-handed." On Kabul's western edge, 38-year-old Safiya and her three daughters spend their days in a rented house packing candies for shops, earning just 50 afghanis for a day's work, below Afghanistan's poverty level of US$1 a day. Safiya said they were deported from Iran in February. "In Teheran, I stitched clothes. My girls worked at a sweet shop," said Safiya, who declined to give her last name. "Life was tough, but we had our freedom, as well as hope… Here, there's no work, no school, no dignity. It's like we've come home only to be exiled again."
Arab News
26-06-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
‘Thrown out like trash' from Iran, Afghans return to land they hardly know
ISLAMABAD: Ghulam Ali begins his days in pain, his muscles aching from hauling grain on a rickety cart through the streets of Kabul, homesick for the country he called home for nearly four decades. Ali is among more than 1.2 million Afghans deported from neighboring Iran since March 2024, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), after Tehran pledged mass deportations to counter mounting local discontent over refugees. Thousands have also fled this month after Israeli and US airstrikes hit Iranian military targets. For Ali, 51, whose family left Afghanistan during the Soviet invasion in the 1980s when he was just 10, Iran was home. 'I grew up there, worked there, buried my parents there,' he said during a midday break from work in Kabul, sipping green tea with a simple lunch of naan bread. 'But in the end, they threw us out like trash. I lost everything — my home, my little savings in cash, my dignity,' he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by video link. Like many others, he has returned to a homeland he barely knew and one that has changed drastically. Outsiders in their own country, many men struggle to support their family while women face severe restrictions on their daily life under the ruling Taliban. Since late 2023, an estimated 3 million Afghans have been forced out of Iran and Pakistan, where they had sought safety from decades of war and, since the Taliban's return to Kabul in 2021, from extremist rule. Unwelcome abroad, they have returned to a homeland facing economic collapse and international indifference. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, in his latest report on Afghanistan, called on countries hosting Afghan refugees to protect those in need and abide by international obligations to ensure any returns to Afghanistan are voluntary. 'Returnees face immense challenges... in particular securing housing, employment and access to basic services,' he said. Up to 10,000 Afghan women, men and children are taking the Islam Qala border crossing from Iran on a daily basis, according to the Taliban authorities. Inside Afghanistan, humanitarian aid agencies say conditions are dire, with inadequate shelter, food shortages and no road map for reintegration. 'They return to a homeland that is dramatically unprepared to receive them,' warned Arafat Jamal, the UNHCR representative in Afghanistan in a statement last month. The Taliban's deputy minister for border and refugees affairs, Abdul Zahir Rahmani, also told local media this week that Afghanistan had seen a sharp increase in refugee returns since this month's 12-day air war in Iran. Many said they had no say in the matter. Ali said he was arrested at a construction site in Mashhad, Iran's second-biggest city, lacking documentation during a crackdown on refugees by the Iranian police. He and his wife, six children, two daughters-in-law and five grandchildren were deported in March. 'We were treated like criminals,' he said. 'They didn't care how law-abiding or in need we were. They just wanted all Afghans out.' The extended family — 15 people aged 5 to 51 — is now packed into a two-room, mud-brick house on Kabul's western fringes. Ali said his Persian-accented Dari draws sneers from fellow laborers – another reminder he doesn't fit in. But he brushes off their mockery, saying his focus is on feeding his family. 'We can barely afford to eat properly,' his wife Shahla said by video as she sat cross-legged on a worn rug. 'Rent is 4,000 afghanis ($56) a month — but even that is a burden. One of my sons is visually impaired; the other returns home every day empty-handed.' For women and girls, their return can feel like a double displacement. They are subject to many of the Taliban's most repressive laws, including restrictions on their movement without a 'mahram,' or male companion, and curbs on education and employment. On Kabul's western edge, 38-year-old Safiya and her three daughters spend their days in a rented house packing candies for shops, earning just 50 afghanis for a day's work, below Afghanistan's poverty level of $1 a day. Safiya said they were deported from Iran in February. 'In Tehran, I stitched clothes. My girls worked at a sweet shop,' said Safiya, who declined to give her last name. 'Life was tough, but we had our freedom, as well as hope … Here, there's no work, no school, no dignity. It's like we've come home only to be exiled again.' During their deportation, Safiya was separated from her youngest daughter for a week while the family was detained, a spat over documents that still gives the 16-year-old nightmares. In Iran, said Safiya, 'my daughters had inspiring dreams. Now they sit at home all day, waiting.' Afghans are also being forcibly deported from next-door Pakistan – more than 800,000 people have been expelled since October 2023, according to Amnesty International. Born in Pakistan to Afghan refugee parents, Nemat Ullah Rahimi had never lived in Afghanistan until last winter, when police barely gave him time to close his Peshawar grocery store before sending him over the Torkham border crossing. 'I wasn't allowed to sell anything. My wife and kids — all born in Pakistan — had no legal documents there so we had to leave,' said the 34-year-old. Rahimi now works long hours at a tire repair shop at a dusty intersection on the edge of Kabul as he tries to rebuild a life. 'I can't say it's easy. But I have no choice. We're restarting from zero,' he said.
