Sir: As expected, the Lord did not come to the rescue of our cricket team. Notwithstanding colour or creed, He stuck to his age-old principle of siding with the better squad. The artificial sky of exaggerated hopes and hype fell through from the very first ball and completely collapsed in the next few overs. The ‘boyez’ will be welcomed home with garlands of stuff that we wear on our feet. There will be consequences, inquiries and resignations. The nation will mourn for 40 days and fly the national flag at half-mast. Every channel will dedicate half of its airtime to keep repeating, over and over again, how every batsman met his Waterloo. The sickening ‘tamasha’ will go on ad nauseam. After all, losing a cricket match is far more serious than losing a war — a feat we managed to perform in the same city some 43 years ago.Pakistanis ought to reassess their media-manufactured cricket hysteria — largely sponsored by commercials, consumerism, corporates and bookies. Why must our patriotism be hostage to a bunch of half-baked players winning or losing a game? How come our patriotism is not hurt when we are told that thousands of schools are closed in Sindh (and other provinces) while the teachers get their salaries sitting at home? How come our patriotism is not hurt when we find our political parties patronizing gangs of private militias? How come our patriotism is not hurt when the leaders stoop to negotiate with those who play football with the heads of our soldiers? Clearly our patriotism does not hurt when our little girls are raped, our churches bombed, our temples burnt and our minorities massacred. Time to rethink and reframe our ‘patriotism’ in a more meaningful context!naeem sadiqKarachi Thumbs up for Sindh Assembly Sir: Some people may take it as a harsh demand from the Sindh Assembly to disband the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) but is it not a fact that the CII’s attitude and stubbornness has asked for it? First things first; don’t we have any other issue in Pakistan other than permitting underage marriages and polygamy, requiring four male witnesses to prove rape cases, or scrapping the banking system? Apparently the so-called scholars and jurists who have hijacked the CII are living in a frozen state of mind. They are unable to see beyond the narrow interpretation of religion and tribal lifestyle. In a country where girls and women in rural and tribal areas are still considered as second class citizens, permitting underage marriages will result in the revival of slavery of women. Parents, guardians and people with money would have the authority to sell and buy girls against hard cash, land and favours. I pity the CII’s scholars and jurists who feel no shame in using all available scientific gadgets but discard DNA testing in rape cases. The same is applicable on the CII’s demand about the banking system. Islam prohibits exploitation under the perpetual system of compound interest for loans exchanged between individuals. But we have since moved away from individuals dealing in loans. Pakistan’ banking system is connected with world financial institutions wherein interest is paid on capital amount to cover up inflation, decline in monetary value and to share the profits banks make by investing the same. However, the CII demands to abolish the entire banking system. One may presume that the CII is well aware that so-called interest-free banking also provides a guaranteed return on investment. Can we identify even one single interest-free banking institution that has refused to pay a return on investment, taking the plea that it has gone into loss? So who is fooling whom?We congratulate the Sindh Assembly on its bold action to demand disbandment of the CII. In the present set up wherein the council’s chair and membership is a tool to bribe political affiliates, there is no chance that the CII can ever fulfil the purpose it was created for.Masood KhanJubailSaudi Arabia