PTV stand by their decision to dismiss Qadir

Pakistan Television (PTV) is standing by its decision to dismiss Abdul Qadir, the legendary Test legspinner, after his controversial comments on a recent TV discussion show. Qadir has threatened to take legal action against the channel for what he claimed was a unilateral breach of an agreement that he had with them. But when contacted, PTV said they were not in a position to comment on the legal action yet and that his dismissal was in line with their policies.

Mansha Natt, producer of the Cricket Special programme on which Qadir was a panellist, spoke to Wisden Cricinfo and defended the decision. "We are a national network and we have certain codes of conduct on what can and cannot be said on air. By talking about ball-tampering and claiming that every successful Pakistani bowler had 'made' the ball, he was damaging national pride, and that is against our policy. So we dropped him. He is welcome to make his comments on any other forum if he likes, just not here."

At a press conference in Lahore, Qadir had denied saying anything about ball-tampering. And speaking to us a couple of days before the press conference he made the same defence: "My comments weren't about ball-tampering, but about making the ball into a certain condition through legal means. I never said tampering."

But Natt challenged this. "He said that every bowler from Sarfraz [Nawaz] to Shoaib [Akhtar] has indulged in ball-making and it has helped them take wickets. But then immediately after this, he said that because there were too many cameras for this series, there was no opportunity to 'make' the ball. So if he didn't say ball-tampering, what was the point of his second statement, where he implies that ball-making has to be hidden from the cameras? Does that not imply tampering?"

Qadir said at the press conference that he had signed a contract with PTV to comment on the current India-Pakistan series on every match-day. "I have completed 11 programmes but was told that my contract with PTV stood cancelled on April 7," Qadir revealed. "PTV were supposed to give me a package deal for the whole series and not a programme-by-programme contract."

But Natt refutes this claim as well. "There is no question of a package deal. PTV has never operated on this basis, as it is not in our policy. Abdul Qadir was hired on a programme-by-programme basis and nothing more."

As well as proceeding with legal action, Qadir has appealed to the president of Pakistan to look into the matter. The PCB has not made any official statement on the matter. PTV's programme, meanwhile, will continue with Aaqib Javed, the former Test fast bowler and the current coach of Pakistan's World Cup-winning Under-19 team, as the expert panellist.