Cricket circle stunned over ban on Aamir Sohail (18 Apr 1997

18 April 1997

Cricket circle stunned over ban on Aamir Sohail

Staff Correspondent

KARACHI, April 17: Former chief cricket selector Hasib Ahsan has termed the ban imposed on Test opener Aamir Sohail by the PCB as `unfair'. In an interview here on Thursday the former off-spinner said the verdict to ban Pakistan opener for two years was done summarily without giving a fair chance to the player.

He said the PCB and its disciplinary committee should have followed due process before coming to a decision but they side-tracked every norm of justice and gave the verdict which may destroy the cricket career of a prominent Test star who had served Pakistan well in the past. The only honest course open before the PCB and the disciplinary committee was to invite all those who were accused by Aamir Sohail of betting and bribery and recorded their statement while dealing with the so-called breach of code of conduct by Aamir Sohail, he added. The former Test spinner said instead of cross-checking all facts about the allegation the committee met and took a summary decision.

The disciplinary committee had acted in a `kangaroo court' style while giving its verdict, he remarked. Hasib said the player was not given justifiable opportunity to defend himself which is the basic requirement of normal justice. He said had Aamir Sohail failed after getting proper chance to defend himself, sterner action could have been taken. He recalled an inquiry conducted into the allegation levelled by former Test opener Qasim Omer against ex-captain Imran Khan.

Qasim Omer was penalised and banned from active cricket for seven years only after the committee looking into the allegation gave full chance to the player to prove the allegation. The inquiry against Qasim Omer was conducted over a period of a few months and after finalising its report it was conveyed to the Patron of then BCCP who endorsed the decision of ban.

Hasib was of the opinion that an independent enquiry committee consisting of reputable persons without any vested interest should have been set up for dealing with the much talked about issue. He said the career of a player was put at stake and therefore it was essential not to take things lightly. `All exercise seems to have been done in a hurry', he concluded.

The Secretary, Karachi City Cricket Association (KCCA), Prof Sirajul Islam Bokhari, has questioned the authority of the PCB Disciplinary Committee to take severe action as it had done in the case of Aamir Sohail.

In a statement here he said: he doesn't think that the disciplinary committee has so much unlimited powers so as to take such an extreme action of its own without the approval of the General Body or the Council against a cricketer who has served Pakistan cricket meritoriously for such a long time winning laurels for the country. Sirajul Islam Bokhari urged upon the PCB Chairman, Syed Zulfiqar Ali Shah Bokhari, to withhold implementation of this drastic action and convene a meeting of the General Body to take it into confidence for such a hard penalisation.

Source:: Dawn (https://xiber.com/dawn/)