Samiul Hasan: PCB gets Sohail's plea: Council to meet (9 May 1997)

09 May 1997

PCB gets Sohail's plea: Council to meet

By Samiul Hasan

KARACHI, May 8: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) will be summoning the Executive Council next week after Aamir Sohail submitted an appeal on Thursday against the two-year ban imposed on him last month.

The Executive Council can be called in three days time for an emergency meeting which is the case here. The Chairman of the PCB, Syed Zulfiqar Ali Shah Bokhari, is the competent authority to call the Councillors and request them to reconsider their endorsement about the ban on Aamir Sohail. It is expected that the Executive Council will reverse the Disciplinary Committee's decision and pardon Aamir Sohail `in the larger interest of the sport and the country'.

Sohail, it may be recalled, was suspended for failing to prove his betting and match-fixing allegations against some of his team-mates. Aamir Sohail is likely to resume his cricket activity as the federal government intervened in this sensitive and national issue and also submitted a compromise formula through Mr Mushahid Husain, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Sports, on Sunday. The PCB Press release issued by board's PRO, Col (Retd) Rafi Nasim, on Thursday, said: "A letter of an unconditional apology, tendered by Aamir Sohail, has been received by the board. A special meeting of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is being called very soon to consider the matter."

According to well informed sources who are close to the Pakistan Cricket Board, Aamir Sohail, in his appeal, has requested the cricket board to reconsider the two-year ban so that he could resume his professional career as a cricketer. However, the PCB preferred to use the word `unconditional apology' instead of `appeal' in the background that Aamir Sohail has also written in his appeal that he sincerely regrets if his interview has hurt the feelings of anyone. "I submit an appeal in the greater interest of the sport and the country," Aamir Sohail has written in his eight-line letter, according to reliable sources. "The Disciplinary Committee and the Executive Council are requested to lift the ban so that I can resume my career as a professional cricketer," Sohail has reportedly said in his letter.

According to a senior government official in Islamabad requesting not be to quoted, the PCB applied the word `unconditional apology' because they didn't want to leave an impression on the followers of the game that they were forced by the government to reverse the decision. "If you recall, Mr Mushahid Husain, in his compromise formula, had said that Aamir Sohail will submit an appeal and the PCB, in return, will pardon him. Mr Husain never said Aamir Sohail will submit an apology. Syed Zulfiqar Ali Shah Bokhari, Chairman, PCB, is a witness to it and, in fact, agreed in principle that if Sohail submits an appeal, he will be exonerated of all charges," said the official. The official also stated that the draft of Sohail's appeal was prepared in Islamabad and the cricketer only signed it. "Each word of the appeal was written and typed in Islamabad on Wednesday while the only job of Aamir Sohail was to sign it and submit it to the board office," added the official.

While Aamir Sohail is all set to be acquitted of all charges and start playing cricket, there is no guarantee that he will be sent to India as a member of the squad with one player coming back. With no domestic cricket on cards before October this year, Sohail's major hope for a comeback depends chiefly on the performance of the Pakistan cricket team in the Independence Cup in India starting on Friday. Between this month and September, Pakistan has a packed international schedule including the Asia Cup in Sri Lanka, Sahara Cup in Canada and a five-match one-day international series against India here in September.

The sources in the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) admitted that some of the senior cricketers had expressed their displeasure on the proposal of reversal of the decision with some even saying that they would not be available for selection if Aamir Sohail was included. This, however, could not be confirmed to the mediamen from any selected player. "But this is not a big issue. In 1995, Rashid Latif and Basit Ali levelled similar allegations against Salim Malik, Ijaz Ahmad and Intikhab Alam but all made a good combination when they toured Australia later that year for a three-Test series. Salim, Ijaz and Rashid even toured England last year and helped Pakistan win the Test series 2-0."

TAIL-PIECE: Aamir Sohail's allegations against his team-mates still exist as he has not apologised for making accusations he can't prove. Instead, he still maintains that he can prove them and Mr Mushahid Husain spoke of an internal probe in the Senate on Thursday.

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Meeting next week: Majid

By Dawn Sports Reporter

LAHORE, May 8: Chief Executive Majid Khan has said that the date of an emergent meeting of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Council will be finalised within a couple of days after necessary consultations. The meeting was expected to be held next week.

Majid Khan said that neither he nor the PCB chairman Syed Zulfiqar Ali Bokhari was authorised to set aside the ban. "The PCB Council is an executive body which has the powers to decrease the period of a ban imposed on a player, convert it into a monetary punishment or totally rescind it. I will like to consult almost all the Council members about their availability before fixing a date for the meeting. For that reason the date of the meeting is not being released to the media", emphasised the former Test cricketer, who now heads the PCB as its Chief Executive. While replying to a question, Majid Khan said that it was unfortunate that some "elements" were making intrigues against the Pakistan cricket team for their "ulterior motives", because it was fast moulding into a strong combination after a long time.

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