Pressure mounts on PCB chairman Ijaz Butt

	There was speculation that Ijaz Butt was going to be sacked, but they were officially denied © AFP Enlarge
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Members of Pakistan's parliamentary committee on sports panel have asked for a meeting with Pakistan president Asif Zardari, who is also patron of the PCB, as pressure mounts on Ijaz Butt's board administration after two days of development in Islamabad.

First, the National Assembly's Standing committee on sports, headed by the increasingly vocal Jamshed Dasti, met in the capital on Wednesday and again grilled Butt over a range of issues. Then on Thursday the upper house of parliament, the senate, called its own committee meeting though Butt didn't turn up for this one.

Dasti has repeatedly called for Butt's sacking, criticised the PCB's handling of the aftermath of the Lahore attack on the Sri Lankan team bus last year, as well as levelling match-fixing allegations after Pakistan lost a close league game to Australia in the ICC Champions Trophy last year. "We want to brief the president, who is also the patron of the Board, regarding all prevailing ills in the PCB," Dasti said. "We have already forwarded recommendations to the president."

Butt was scheduled to attend the senate meeting but didn't, and PCB chief operating officer Wasim Bari explained that Butt had been summoned to the president's office. That sparked speculation that Butt was going to be sacked, and reports did emerge that he had been asked to resign, though they were officially denied. Confusion still prevails over whether Butt actually went to the presidency and which official he met there.

When Butt didn't turn up, the committee hit out at his attitude towards parliament, and later urged the Sports Minister Aijaz Jakhrani to get its recommendations approved. "I have already taken up the matter with the president during my meeting last Thursday and hopefully something positive would come up in a few days times," Jakhrani said. "It is entirely up to the president to decide on the issue and I cannot give any deadline for changes."

Meanwhile, Waqar Younis who was the bowling and fielding coach of the Pakistan team during the Australia series has claimed that there were non-cricketing reasons behind the teams shoddy show on tour.

"The performance of players was not the only reason behind the poor showing. I will only spell out these reasons before the National Assembly Standing Committee on Sports. I want the committee to call me as I want to tell the people the reasons for the team's poor performances," Waqar was quoted in the Dawn.