PCB ad hoc system to be abolished

The ad hoc system under which the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) operates will be abolished as soon as possible, reiterated Nasim Ashraf, chairman PCB.

Speaking to the daily Dawn after a meeting with the Patron of the board, President Pervez Musharraf, Ashraf said that the current system will be done away with as soon as the federal law department approves the draft of the new constitution.

"The president is very much interested in implementing the constitution and the President's Secretariat is in touch with the federal law department on this issue," the chairman said.

"I know critics are blaming the board on the delay in implementing the constitution, but I really do not know how to assure them about my keenness to put an end to the ad hoc ystem," he added. The board has been run on ad hoc basis since 1999.

Ashraf admitted that it was likely that the current judiciary crisis which has gripped the country is in need of more urgent attention, but hoped the final approval would be given soon.

Ashraf has come under increasing criticism for not implementing the constitution despite publicly announcing that it would be in place by January 31, 2007, when he first took over in October last year. He isn't, at least, alone; former chairmen Tauqir Zia and Shaharyar Khan both promised the constitution during their tenures without ultimately delivering it.