Islamabad, Pakistan — People on the streets of Pakistan shouting, banners waving and guns being fired— really nothing new as this country has been facing some very tough times over the last few years.  But those people on the streets late last night were not calling for the overthrow of the government or extremists chanting ‘death to America’ or even lawyers calling for judicial reform.  They were cricket fans celebrating Pakistan’s victory over Sri Lanka in the Twenty20 World Cup Championship.

Now I know that cricket is lost on most of us Americans, and believe me, I have tried many times to understand it.  It’s tough.  But seeing the jubilation on the streets and in the parks of Pakistan late Sunday night when their team was victorious, it did not matter if you knew the difference between a wicket and home plate or an ‘out’ verses an ‘over.’ It was crystal clear that this victory was a ray of hope the Pakistani people direly needed.

Not only have recent terror attacks thrown the country into a state of preoccupation and hyper-alertness, but it had hit their beloved cricket as well.  A few months ago, terrorists struck a convoy of the visiting Sri Lankan team just before a game in Lahore.  After that, international cricket organizations stopped any major games from being played on Pakistani soil.  So that attack prevented most Pakistanis from seeing their national team contest in international tournaments.

With nearly 2 million displaced people in the northwest, a serious battle raging in the Swat Valley between the army and militants and another just starting to open down in South Waziritstan, good news and a little bit of hope are just what the doctor ordered.  The TV news anchors even appear to be holding back ear-to-ear grins as they recount the game and show footage of drum-playing and bouncing cricket fans from every corner of Pakistan.  Thanks to huge outdoor TV screens set up at several camps, thousands of the internal refugees were able to see the game.

To be honest , while watching the dancing on the streets, in the back of my mind I was thinking that these scenes are exactly the soft targets the Taliban militants have been targeting on a regular basis over the last few months.  Luckily my paranoia was unfounded and the celebrations went off without a hitch.

My true hope is that the people of Pakistan get to savor this victory, giving them the opportunity to see that there is light at the end of the tunnel.  It’s a long and tough tunnel to travel through, but there is an end.

Forward Operating Base Tillman, Afghanistan –  Way out here on the far eastern edge of Paktika province, less than two miles from the Pakistani border, is FOB Tillman.  It’s named after Pat Tillman who gave up a multi-million dollar NFL contract with the Arizona Cardinals to serve his country.

Just after 9/11, he enlisted in the Army with his brother and then trained to become an elite Ranger.  Five years ago this week, he was killed when his patrol was ambushed in this rugged country.  His death was a result of friendly fire, but to those soldiers we have spoken with out here, it does not matter how he died.  He gave up his life serving his country.

Kabul-based Fox News reporter Conor Powell’s and my journey to this remote spot started on Monday at Bagram Air Field, about an hour’s drive from Kabul.  One C-130 flight to Salerno FOB, a Chinook helicopter and an overnight in FOB Orgun-E and then another Chinook flight this morning got us to our final destination.

To be honest, our timing was lucky.  We did not plot out actually being here on this solemn day, the exact day and region where the man so many have called an American hero was killed … and on the base named after him.

While waiting for our flight at Bagram we were killing some time at the USO Pat Tillman Center and a plaque with the date of his KIA caught my attention.  We could not believe the timing.  We did the story right then and there on the 5th year since his death and the USO center named after him.  It was only until we reached Orgun-E that we found out that we were coming to FOB Tillman.

Here’s a link to a story on Pat Tillman aired on the Fox Report:

During our stay over the next few days we will tag along with the 509th Baker Company as we learn the situation along this stretch of the border and how a ‘rubber meets the road’ approach is working by the three involved parties (Afghan security forces, US Army and the Pakistani Army) as they attempt to stamp out the cross border movement and attacks by insurgents.  There’s a lot at stake and has been for some time, but with the major focus by the Obama administration, the political instability in Pakistan and the Afghan Presidential elections around the corner, they ante is now through the roof.

Islamabad, Pakistan – This afternoon I had the opportunity to sit down with this country’s Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi.  I’ve been waiting weeks for this interview.  With the second visit this week of the new front man for the Obama administration seasoned diplomat Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, the dedicated envoy for Pakistan/Afghanistan, I was eager to hear the Foreign Minister’s thoughts about the new American strategy for the region.

Washington’s inner circles now refer to the region as AfPak, a title Qureshi does not appreciate.  “We have issues with this terminology.  We feel that we are two different countries with a different history and a different evolution. There are commonalities but we are distinct in many ways,” he said.

But one thing the two countries do share, a steady increase in terrorist attacks. Something the Foreign Minister admits is not going to get better anytime soon as his country is in a state of war, “All experts are of the opinion that it will deteriorate before it improves.”

The biggest sore spot for the Pakistani government right now are the US drone attacks in the tribal areas.  The Pakistani people and government view them as a breech of Pakistan’s sovereignty and it inflames anti-US sentiment they say.

I asked Qureshi if it bothers him that US officials do not publicly acknowledge the attacks. “Drone attacks, that’s a fact.  People are being hit by missiles.  People see bodies, people see women and children maimed.  People want to know how many high value targets you have achieved through these drone attacks and how many innocent people have been killed.  There was an article today that for 10 Al Qaida operatives, over 700 people were killed.  What justification do you have for that?”

Despite that, the Foreign Minister still had some positive/diplomatic comments about the meetings this week.  “Just because we don’t agree on everything does not mean the meetings were bad.”

Many here who viewed Holbrooke’s visit, who was accompanied by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Admiral Mike Mullen, said it appeared a bit chilly.  In fact, the head of Pakistani intelligence service (ISI) refused a separate meeting with the two American visitors, only attending a general meeting. The snub was possibly a reaction to media reports quoting American officials saying that there are some ISI connections to the militants.

No doubt the drone attack issue will top the agenda when Qureshi goes to Washington in early May and that trust between the two countries will continue to be a work in progress.  As trust, Qureshi said, is the key to any relationship.

My Pakistani cricket team hat

Islamabad, Pakistan – The banner headlines in today’s newspapers say it all:
TERROR BOWLS CRICKET OUT, MUMBAI TERROR VISITS LAHORE.

Tuesday’s deadly terror attack on the visiting Sri Lankan cricket team in the eastern city of Lahore left eight from their team wounded and seven others dead, six of them security officers.  This was among the highest-profile attacks on a sports team since Palestinian militants killed eleven Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics.

Stories are emerging of heroic actions, including the driver of the team’s bus who stayed behind the wheel and drove to safety even as bullets were whizzing through the windshield.  In total, twenty-five bullets struck the bus.

This is yet another blow to this country whose civilian government appears to be losing control at every turn, but this latest attack is a serious strike against the morale of the Pakistani people.  This in addition to ongoing battles with the Taliban and Al Qaeda, rolling blackouts and an economy that’s making it difficult for average people to feed their families let alone throwing the country’s poor further into desperation.

In this part of the world cricket is religion and now for the foreseeable future it will be impossible for the average Pakistani to see their national team play PERIOD, let alone on their own soil.  No teams will take the risk to come here for a match and the International Cricket Council is now reviewing Pakistan as a co-host for the 2011 Cricket World Cup.  Yesterday, New Zealand called off its December tour and the only reason the Sri Lankan team was in country this week is because India canceled its tour just after the Mumbai terror attacks in November.

About three months ago while poking through one of the many shopping areas here in the capital, I came across a sports store that carried the entire line of Pakistani cricket team jerseys and hats.  I bought a green cap with the team’s gold star emblem on the front.  Nearly every time I wore it, someone would comment on it.  It made their heart swell to see a foreigner wear their team’s hat.  Little did they know that I have never even been able to keep score in a cricket match, but even if they did, I’m sure it would not have mattered.

One of Fox News’ Pakistani employees was a spin bowler in his day.  I guess the best way to describe a spin bowler is like a starting pitcher in baseball with a mean curveball.  When word of the attack in Lahore came in, all he said was “Pakistani cricket, it’s now finished.”  For Munir’s sake, and for the millions of Pakistani cricket fans here, I hope that the lapse in matches will be a ‘tea break’ and not a permanent game ender.

By Scott Heidler, Islamabad Bureau

Rawalpindi, Pakistan ­ – After moving back to Pakistan last summer I was excited to return to a region I know well and report on the ever-changing political landscape here, but I was also looking forward to taking the time to put together some feature stories that put a face to Pakistan and her people.

Well, after eight months of a near-constant flow of hard news I was finally able to do a story I have been wanted to do for a long time.  A peek inside the Murree Brewery and Distillery in Rawalpindi, the large city just next to the capital Islamabad.

Pakistan was formed as an Islamic Republic as the British were dissolving their colony on the Indian subcontinent in 1947.  The nation was formed to be home for the Muslim people as partition came into play, dividing the former, massive colony.

There are some colonial hangovers that come up in normal Pakistani life; the train stations are very Raj era in appearance with wicker fans and pith helmets hanging on hooks (even if there’s a strong feeling that they have seen much better days), and the traffic cops still wear canary yellow ascots.

But my personal favorite is the Murree Brewery.  It was built in 1860 up in the Himalayan foothills in a place called Murree, but then moved down here in the 1920s as they needed land to expand that the mountain landscape did not allow. It was constructed by the British to provide beer for its army.

When the Brits started heading back in the late 1940s, CEO Isphanyar Bhandara’s grandfather bought a controlling share of Murree, and it has been in the Bhandara family ever since.  Isphanyar just took the helm last year after his father died.  The Bhandaras are part of a small non-Muslim Parsi ethnic group. That allowed them to legally run the brewery in a country where it’s illegal for Muslims to drink.  The company can only sell its alcoholic products to government approved hotels and wine shops.  They are only allowed to sell it to foreigners or non-Muslims.

Murree epitomizes family business, but not just because of the executives of the company. While we were taking our tour we met two men who had sons working at the brewery, one even has a grandson who is about to start.  We were told they were not an anomaly.

Check out the story that aired on FNC:

So, next time you’re in Pakistan make sure you grab a cold Murree brew — kshhh-unk (the best phonetic spelling I could come up with for the sound of a beer can opening.) Cheers!