PCB chief, judge reading different scripts?

Karachi, May 14: The chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and the judge, who investigated the charges of match-fixing, are studying different scripts, as, the deadline set by the International Cricket Council (ICC) approaches.

The development comes after Lt-Gen Tauqir Zia told the newsmen last week that none of the players, currently in the West Indies, would be affected by the report and Justice Malik Mohammad Qayyum revealed the names of the players against whom he has recommended the penalty.

But before the PCB submits the judicial commission's report to the governing body before its annual summit on June 21 and 22 at Lord's, it has promised to make the document public authored by Justice Qayyum last November after more than two years of investigations.

According to a report published in The Telegraph on Sunday, Justice Qayyum has directly named Salim Malik as one of the players against whom he has recommended a life-long ban.

"That is correct," the judge was quoted as saying by the newspaper when he was questioned if he has suggested the ban against Salim Malik.

"I can't say, but the answer isn't no," Justice Qayyum said of the wrist spinner Mushtaq Ahmad, who is currently touring the West Indies with the Pakistan cricket team.

When questioned about former captain Wasim Akram, the judge replied: "I can't say, but he has not got scot-free."

Commenting on the statement of Gen Tauqir Zia, Justice Qayyum said: "It depends on how you look at it. He is looking from a certain angle and there can be another way of looking at it. But I don't know from what angle he is looking.

"The one thing he is right in saying is that there was no planned match-fixing by the team as a whole," the Judge told the British newspaper.

The judge revealed to the newspaper that the PCB chairman met him on Wednesday last and promised to publicize the entire report. He, however, remains mystified that why the general should be commenting on the contents of the report before it was released.

"I am surprised because they should release the report and then say these things," the judge said.

Desperate efforts were made to contact the PCB chairman on Sunday, but he was not available for comments.

However, Salim Malik, when contacted by Dawn in Lahore, expressed his surprise. "Really?" was his initial reaction.

"Where did you get the report? To whom the judge has told this?" he questioned.

Nevertheless, he later said that he would make his official comment once he goes through the report.

"How can I comment now. I haven't seen the report. You are the first one to tell me. Let me go through it (report) and after that I would say anything," the former captain said.

Canicc Suspend Pakistan?: The newspaper said if the report was changed, and Qayyum remains true to his work and exposes it as a sham, then the ramifications would be huge.

"The ICC would have no alternative but to suspend Pakistan from international cricket," The Telegraph said.

The ICC, on May 3, decided that all the countries would cooperate but in case any country did not cooperate it could face suspension from cricket.

But the PCB chairman last week emphatically said that the ICC decision could not be implemented for whatever had happened in the past.

He said it was not a new case and the inquiry had been going on for the last two years. The ICC decision has to be implemented from the day the decision was taken. Pakistan's judicial inquiry is an old case.

"Pakistan's judicial investigations doesn't come in the ICC's jurisdiction. It's entirely up to the PCB how it wants to handle the judge's report," he had said.