Guilty National heroes should be treated with an iron hand

Salman Butt

By MOHAMMAD KHAN SIAL
Karachi

Our three cricket national heroes, Salmaan Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamir have been proved guilty of corruption with heavy punishments resulting in debarring them from cricket for the next 10 years, seven years and five years respectively. Nonetheless, they have immensely defamed the country internationally for their own vested interests. Such an act is no less than treachery. 

Mohammad Asif

Mohammad Amir

I believe that such cases should be treated with an iron hand without any leniency. It was an act of treachery and should be referred to the courts of law. Nevertheless, some influential people will always, for one reason or the other, protect these people who are determined to defame the country worldwide, which is why such cases always resurface.

Chief Justice approached for taking note of PCB irregularities

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

The Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhary, has been approached for taking suo motto action against the former officials of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) having been found guilty of massive financial irregularities by the Auditor General of Pakistan.

Razaullah Khan, the longest serving council member of the PCB, who has been known and feared for calling a spade a spade, has once more taken the initiative of bringing to book the people having been engaged in malpractices of the highest order.

“Yes I have submitted a request to the Chief Justice for taking a suo motto action against Dr Nasim Ashraf, Shafqat Naghmi and others who have been found involved in the embezzlement of funds to the tune of Rupees seven billion,” Razaullah Khan remarked in an interview recently.

“Alongwith my application to the Chief Justice I have submitted a copy of the report of the Auditor General of Pakistan that details the corrupt practices of the PCB officials. I have also brought the matter to the notice of Chaudhary Nisar Ali, Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly and Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, by sending him a copy of the same report,” he added.

Razaullah Khan, who has been associated with the game of cricket in various capacities for nearly half a century now, did not mince words in stating that he has had to approach the Chief Justice after having failed to get any response from the government agencies.

“I have communicated to the Chief Justice that I have approached him after having knocked at the various doors without any response. The people in the government have their own reasons of not initiating action against the former PCB officials even though the report of the Auditor General of Pakistan has found them guilty,” Razaullah Khan said.

“The Auditor General of Pakistan has compiled the report after they had been assigned the task by the President of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari, who is also the Patron of the Pakistan Cricket Board,” the former PCB Council member revealed.

“Now when the report has come out and it has been very clearly pointed out that the former officials of the PCB were guilty of financial embezzlement there is no reason why they should not taken to task. I have appealed to the Chief Justice to take suo motto action and register a case against them,” Razaullah Khan stated.
“Exemplary punishment must be given to the PCB officials for having misused the public money and having derived huge personal benefits besides having obliged their near and dear ones,” he pleaded.

“It was a common belief that Dr Nasim Ashraf and Shafqat Naghmi were running the affairs of the PCB at their whims. The recent report by the Auditor General of Pakistan has only confirmed that they have deprived the nation of billions of rupees,” Razaullah Khan believed.

He didn’t expect the present officials of the PCB to move against their predecessors because in his opinion there still were quite a few employees in the Board having sympathy with their former masters.

Surprise dope test of Shahid Afridi

LONDON: The officials of International Cricket Council (ICC) conducted surprise dope test of Shahid Afridi at the end of T20 World Cup. The test is a part of ICC routine and any player could be call for the test. This time Shahid Afridi was called for the test. Afridi had an ankle injury and will return home after treatment.

Pakistan Attack Puts 2011 Cricket World Cup Matches in Jeopardy

March 3 (Bloomberg) -- Cricket’s run of near misses with terrorists ended today when gunmen injured Sri Lanka players and killed at least five policemen in Pakistan, casting doubt over future matches in the region including the 2011 World Cup.

“This is the first time that cricketers have been attacked,” said N. Srinivasan, secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, in an interview.

Two players received gunshot wounds as 12 terrorists carrying rocket launchers and grenades targeted a team bus 500 yards from the Qaddafi stadium in Lahore, where Sri Lanka was due to face Pakistan today. None of the players was seriously injured, team officials said.

Sri Lanka was only playing after India scrapped a visit because of security fears following the Mumbai attacks in November. Terrorists then targeted foreigners, including a hotel used by England’s team weeks earlier. The 2011 World Cup is scheduled for India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

“That tournament is now in jeopardy,” said Ramachandra Guha, a cricket historian, in a telephone interview from Bangalore. “No one will agree to go to Pakistan. That will be a massive blow to cricket in the entire subcontinent.”

Sri Lanka canceled its tour after today’s attack and President Mahinda Rajapaksa berated a “cowardly” act on “goodwill ambassadors.” Nations including Australia have refused to play in Pakistan in recent years and the International Cricket Council first postponed and then took away its Champions Trophy from Pakistan originally scheduled for last September.

‘Death of Cricket’

“It’s the death of cricket in Pakistan,” said Shaukat Qadir, a security analyst and retired Pakistani army brigadier general, in an interview. “Only Sri Lanka had the courage to come and play here.”

Sri Lanka was contesting the first Test series to take place in Pakistan since South Africa’s visit in October 2007. New Zealand quit a 2002 series after a bomb near the team hotel in Karachi killed 11 people.

ICC Chief Executive Officer Haroon Lorgat told the BBC no World Cup games will take place in Pakistan without “dramatic changes” in security. He will hold a news conference in London.

“There obviously have been breaches and the security has not been good enough,” Lorgat told Times Now.

The next team scheduled to visit Pakistan is New Zealand, in December, while England is due to travel to the Asian nation in February 2010. Pakistan was awarded one of the semifinals at the Cricket World Cup in two years’ time.

‘Saddest Day’

“This is the saddest day for all sportsmen,” former Pakistani cricket captain Javed Miandad told GEO TV. “The future of cricket in Pakistan doesn’t look good.”

The attack won’t alter plans to hold the Indian Premier League from next month, Srinivasan said. During last year’s event, players sought assurances after bombs in the northern Indian city of Jaipur killed as many as 60 people in a market frequented by cricketers.

England’s cricket team flew home from India immediately after the November attacks in Mumbai before later returning. The inaugural Champions League Twenty20 competition was postponed because of those attacks.

“Every part of the world has to learn to deal with terrorism,” Srinivasan said. “We had concerns about safety (in Pakistan) and also it was after the Bombay attacks so we decided to scrap the tour.”

Pakistan won’t host international teams for at least a year, said cricket historian Guha, while former Australia player Brendon Julian predicted an impasse lasting two years when speaking on Fox Sports today.

‘Rebuild Confidence’

“It is a big dent,” Pakistan’s Sports Minister Pir Aftab Shah Jilani said in an interview. “It will take a coordinated effort to rebuild confidence.”

India and Pakistan used cricket to improve relations when they resumed playing each other in 2004 in the so-called Friendship Series, two years after being on the brink of war. Further matches look unlikely any time soon, former Pakistan cricket captain Asif Iqbal said.

India blamed terrorist “elements” from Pakistan for the Mumbai assault that killed 164 people. It presented a dossier on its evidence to Pakistan in January. After studying the document, the government in Islamabad asked India to answer 30 questions on the findings.

“Nobody can give any assurances when people are prepared to go to these extremes,” Asif said on NDTV from London.