Pakistan: Senate sports body critical of cricket affairs (23 Aug 1998)

23 August 1998

Senate sports body critical of cricket affairs

By Farhana Ayaz

ISLAMABAD, Aug 22: The stop-gap arrangement for appointment of captain and coach of the Pakistan cricket team and support to undisciplined cricketers by the Pakistan Cricket Board was severely criticised by members of the Senate Standing Committee on Sports headed by Senator Justice Javed Iqbal, which met at the Parliament House here on Saturday.

The committee members maintained that such shortsighted arrangements hampered the overall performance of the team. The committee was informed by the chief executive PCB, Majid Khan, that PCB Council appointed Aamir Sohail captain for the Sahara Cup being held at Toronto next month. He also stated that services of Javed Miandad have been acquired as coach-cum-player for Pakistan team. The committee took exception to Maindad's appointment as coach-cum-player while stating that it appeared "ridiculous".

The decision of the cricket board to include cricketers allegedly involved in match-fixing was critically remonstrated by the committee members. They maintained that by recalling these players to play for the country amounted to rewarding them for being "undiscipline and corrupt".

It was learnt that chairman PCB, Khalid Mehmood, was directly charged by the Senate Standing Committee for taking steps to bail out those cricketers. The Committee urged the board that the elements detrimental to the image and prestige of the nation should be discouraged at all costs.

The standing committee was to mainly discuss the match-fixing and betting allegations on certain Pakistani cricketers. However, the issue took a backseat in the face of one-man inquiry Commission constituted by the Government.

The Standing Committee members unanimously disapproved the action of the government and directed the Ministry of Sports to give its explanation on the issue within a week.

While taking up the issue of match fixing allegations against certain players of Pakistan team on Saturday, the committee was informed that the government had constituted an inquiry commission headed by a Judge of the Lahore High Court to probe the matter.

Terming the action taken by the government as "breach of privilege" of the Senate Standing Committee, an official Press release expressed it as "sabotaging" the inquiry process. It was stated that the Senate Standing Committee was considering the issue in detail through a three-member Sub-Committee headed by Senator Javed Iqbal himself, exclusively constituted for the purpose.

It was stated that the sub-committee was awaiting the submission of report of another Committee headed by a Judge of the Shariat Court, Ejaz Yousuf. The report to be completed in late July was delayed. However an "interim" report was submitted about two weeks back. In view of the interim report the sub-committee made its recommendation that till the credentials of the involved cricketers were not cleared, they should not be made part of national team. The report is learnt to have namedthree players guilty of match-fixing and another six players are on the probe list.

A high level ministerial source disclosed to Dawn that action of the government to form an inquiry commission was actually a delayed response to the appeal made by the PCB Chief executive Majid Khan. It was learnt that CEO PCB had written a letter to President Rafique Tarar, who is also the patron-in-chief of cricket, in January to take some action against these involved in match-fixing and betting.

Majid Khan told the Senate Standing Committee on Saturday that if any action was taken he no indication to that effect. But, senator Iqbal Haider, member of Standing Committee, minced no words while criticising the role of chairman PCB.

The committee members have also urged Majid Khan not to resign as PCB Chies Eexcutive in the backdrop of campaign to rescueshady cricketers.

The Standing Committee was told that before government's notification of constituting the inquiry commission on August 13, three committees were probing the match fixing issue which included the Senate Standing Committee on Sports, National Assembly Standing Committee on Sports and the Probe Committee headed by Justice Ejaz Yousuf.

The committee unanimously recommended that in future no housing scheme be approved unless its planners are catered for the construction of a proper sports complex having the facilities for the sports like, cricket, hockey, squash, tennis, swimming etc. The committee expressed its discontentment over the poor patronage of sports in Pakistan.

The committee also reviewed the composition of the Council of Pakistan Cricket Board and was unanimous in its recommendation that the provinces of Balochistan and NWFP be represented in PCB Council through their separate members.

The Committee also discussed the issue of the affiliation of the Pakistan Women Cricket Association with PCB and decided tohold separate meeting with a one-item agenda on Aug 31 to undertake in-depth study on the issue.

The representatives of the three parallel women associations have been asked to attend the meeting presenting their documents. The committee directed PCB to present the report of the Scrutiny Committee, headed by Lt. Gen. (Rtd) Safdar Ali, in the next meeting.

Besides, the chairman Senate Standing Committee the meeting was attended by senators Zahid Khan, Syed Aqil Shah, Syed Iqbal Haider, Haji Gul Afridi and secretary of the committee Syed Fayyaz Hussain. Federal Secretary Sports, Culture, Tourism and Youth Affairs Syed Roshen Zamir, Director General Pakistan Sports Board Javed Ali Khan, PCB Chief Executive Majid Khan, secretaryPCB Waqar Hassan and various other ministry officials.

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