Samiul Hasan: Crucial PCB meeting on Sohail issue today (14 May 1997)

14 May 1997

Crucial PCB meeting on Sohail issue today

By Samiul Hasan

KARACHI, May 13: The Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), Syed Zulfiqar Ali Shah Bokhari, has arrived in Islamabad and is scheduled to meet President Farooq Ahmad Khan Leghari on Wednesday morning. According to well informed sources, Chairman Bukhari will call on the PCB patron at 10:00 a.m. with only one major item on the agenda÷to seek his guidance/approval on Aamir Sohail's ban for which the Executive Council reassembles on Wednesday afternoon. Wednesday morning's crucial meeting will also be attended by Javed Burki, Adviser to the President on cricket.

Syed Zulfiqar Ali Shah Bokhari, after his meeting with President Leghari, will return to Lahore and during the Executive Council meeting, later in the afternoon, will inform the Councillors of President Leghari's decision/desire regarding Aamir Sohail, knowledgeable sources said. "It is precisely why the Council meeting had been put back from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.," sources revealed.

Mr Mushahid Husain, Prime Minister's adviser on sports, has not been invited to attend the meeting, although he had submitted a compromise formula to resolve the controversial issue in accord with the wishes of the large majority of cricket fans.

The PCB Council is set to reverse its earlier decision on Wednesday. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), it is assumed, is seeking the help of President Leghari to counter the intervention of Mr Mushahid Husain who, according to sources, had stepped in on the directive of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. According to well informed sources who also happen to be close to the cricket board officials, Syed Zulfiqar Bokhari has succeeded in securing an appointment with President Leghari on the advice of Majid Khan, Chief Executive of the PCB.

Majid Khan has repeatedly said in his recent interviews that "anyone involved in indiscipline will not be left scot-free" and "there is no pressure on the cricket board to reverse the decision on Aamir Sohail". Majid has also stated: "There are more speculations than stories based on facts. Nothing of that sort (reversal of decision) will happen." However, there is a feeling among cricket circles that the advice given by the Prime Minister's Adviser can hardly be spurned.

There is also reportedly a split in the Executive Council with no less than five Councillors out of 12 against the two-year ban on Sohail for making betting and match-fixing allegations against some of his team-mates. One of the five Councillors, who requested not to be identified, said: "The Council never endorsed the two-year ban in the last meeting. We just gave status quo ante after Majid Khan failed to provide us the documents we had asked for. Aamir Sohail's ban was not even put on the agenda until one of the members spoke on the issue. If it was so necessary for the Council to endorse the decision of the Council, why the matter was not put on the agenda in the first place. Secondly, why the PCB has not sought our approval on the two-year ban on Under-19 cricketer Zeeshan Pervaiz. We have doubts if Aamir Sohail was provided with a proper opportunity to prove his accusations. If the evidences have been provided to the government, another copy of those could have been made available to the cricket board. This shows the trust and the confidence the player has on its parent organisation. It would be better if we try to find out our own faults on penalising a player who broke the Code of Conduct after continuous torture he received from the authorities."

An upcountry Councillor stated that he was never in favour of banning Aamir Sohail for two years. "We argued that the coming season (1997-98) is very hectic as it comprises six Tests (against South Africa and the West Indies) besides the prestigious quadrangular event. It was proposed that Sohail should be disqualified from further selection till the start of the next season (1997-98) but the suggestion was turned down." Another Councillors commented: "If discipline is the top priority of the board, then, the players who preferred the County Championship to Pakistan's commitments and those who went to Sri Lanka as unfit, should also be penalised. All should be treated equally and there should not be different rules for different set of cricketers." There were other Councillors who threw their weight behind the decision of the PCB with almost all the three speaking the same language used by the Chief Executive last month.

"Why didn't Aamir Sohail speak of betting and match-fixing when he was in the Pakistan cricket team. He suddenly made a move to clean the mess by making allegations after he was unlikely to be selected for the Sri Lanka and India tours after a disappointing show in Australia," one Councillor remarked.

"If Qasim Umar can be banned for seven years, Aamir Sohail should consider himself lucky to be left with just a couple of years ban. I don't see any difference between the two accusations - both remain unproved so far," another member of the Council, who has toured with the cricket team as manager, said. The Government, on the contrary, is on record as having told the two houses of elected members that the Aamir Sohail issue and match-fixing charges should be delinked. This clearly shows that an inquiry on the latter subject may be launched later. "The past record of Aamir Sohail shows that he is one of the most undisciplined characters of the cricket team. Had stern disciplinary actions been taken by the former officials, he would now have started to behave," stated another Councillor.

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