Demagogue

Tempers are flaring in Pakistan. An editorial in an English-language newspaper decried the fact that someone "gets away with murder" and about 100 Pakistanis gathered in the port city of Karachi to protest and chant "Death to Darrell Hair!" But who is Darrell Hair and what is all the anger about?

Would you guess a cricket match? The AP explains what happened on Sunday to prompt this uproar in Pakistan:

... Pakistan was penalized five runs for tampering with the ball by umpires Hair and Billy Doctrove, from the West Indies. Pakistan continued in the short-term, but protested the decision by refusing to come out of the pavilion after a tea [break]. That prompted the umpires to award a forfeit to England, the first in almost 130 years of Test cricket.

Pakistan went on to the pitch later in the day, but by then the umpires had made up their minds. Hours of frantic negotiations would not sway the officials to change the decision.

... (the Pakistani English-language newspaper) Nation, said the events at The Oval "left none with honour and damaged the game immeasurably," and that ICC should not leave the game "to the whims and biases of mini-Hitlers like Mr. Hair."

... "Is it because the ICC's chief executive is a fellow Australian that Mr. Hair gets away with murder, despite being complained against by three South Asian boards over the last decade?" Tuesday's Nation wrote in an editorial entitled "Bad Hair day."