Sambrial police discloses names of eight who threatened Zulqarnain

SAMBRIAL: The Sambrial police on Wednesday disclosed the names of eight people involved in making the threatening phone calls to Pakistani wicketkeeper Zulqarnain Haider.

Earlier, these names were being kept under secret.

The accused were identified as Sikandar Hayyat, Sarfraz Sheikh, Shahid Waheed, Muhammad Rizwan Gujjar, Ghulam Fareed Mayo, Aamir Ali Malik (Sambrial) and Sagheer Ahmed Bhatti (resident of Chak No. 62 Bahawalpur).

SP Investigation Sialkot, Nasir Muneef Qureshi, told that the Sambrial police have also registered a case (No. 341/2011) under sections 13/20/65, 5/6/78, 216 and 489-B PPC against these accused.

He said that the accused belonged to an international gang of bookies and claimed that the whole Pakistani cricket team was dancing to their tunes as well.

Sialkot police had arrested the accused from a house in Sambrial city during an operation. They were found in underground secret rooms of the house located at Alleywali locality of Sambrial city.

Police also recovered as many as 250 telephone sets, several satellite phone, a huge cache of illicit weapons and of fake currency notes.

During the interrogation, the accused admitted having their strong links with international bookies.

The 25-year-old abandoned the team in Dubai last November and fled to London, saying he had received death threats from bookies who wanted him to fix a match.

Haider last week announced that he was prepared to revoke his application for asylum and return to resume his career after meeting Pakistan's Interior Minister Rehman Malik in London.

On his return Haider said he had not yet decided on his future. "I am happy to return and have got the kind of security promised to me. They have given me superb accommodation," said Haider.

The Pakistan Cricket Board said Haider had not made contact and only when he does, would a fact-finding committee take up the matter. The committee, formed last year, found no clear motive behind Haider's disappearance but termed him "mentally ill"