Ijaz bail plea rejected in forgery case

Former Pakistan batsman Ijaz Ahmed was remanded in custody for 14 days on Friday after a magistrate rejected his plea for bail in a forgery case. Magistrate Mohammad Younis Awan conducted a hearing for the case in which Ijaz was alleged to have issued false cheques worth Rs 10.05 million (approximately US$1.3 million) to two clients, reported to be property dealers.

"The magistrate has put off Ijaz's bail plea, remanded him for 14 days and directed police to provide him with medical facilities as he was unwell," a court statement said.

Ijaz, 40, last week had pleaded his innocence and said he would take the accusers to court. He was arrested on March 26, but was taken to hospital after suffering a bout of asthma and breathing problems.

Kashif Javed, Ijaz's lawyer, said his client would return to hospital. "We will continue to seek bail when the case resumes and hopefully police will send him to hospital later on Friday, as he was still unwell," Javed told AFP.

Ijaz played 60 Tests and 250 ODIs and was a member of the Pakistan team that won the 1992 World Cup. Following his retirement from international cricket, he had been working as the fielding coach of the national team for the last few months. He was earlier on the selection committee and had also served as senior coach at the National Cricket Academy.