It is high time that Ejaz Butt, and other holders of public offices, learned that public officers have no rights
ISLAMABAD: Ejaz Butt, Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), has been quoted in your newspaper on May 21, as having said: “Changing captains is the PCB’s right and we’ve removed Afridi using our right. We don’t have to give a reason.”
It is high time that he, and other holders of public offices, learned that public officers have no rights (except as private citizens). As officials they have only duties: (a) the duty to determine what needs to be done; (b) the duty to find how best to do it; (c) the duty to explain why they believe that their way is the best, or failing that, to explain why it will damage their goal if they make their reasons public.
This attitude is a hangover from our colonial past. The PCB has steadily undermined the institution of cricket in Pakistan, as have similar boards and commissions set up, supposedly, to serve the aspirations of the people of Pakistan. The PCB chief should be made to answer for his actions.
Asghar Qadir
Published in The Express Tribune, May 23rd, 2011.
