Petition filed against poor performance of national team at World Cup

Petitioner wants fact-finding mission to verify news of internal grouping; demands action against selection committee

ISLAMABAD: A case against poor performance of Pakistan in the ongoing Cricket World Cup has been filed in the Islamabad High Court (IHC).

The petitioner, Bilal Alvi Advocate, said that a fact-finding commission should be formed against news of grouping within the team.

He said that the selection committee should be inquired of its selection method.

The principal secretary of the prime minister, secretary of inter- provincial ministry, selection committee and Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) were made respondents in the petition.

Alvi said that Prime Minister Imran Khan called some of the members as “ Railu Katta” which proved that the PCB and the selection committee had completely failed.

The applicant asked that why was Shoaib Malik selected in the team when he was infamous for grouping within the team.

He pleaded the court to appoint cricketers including Shoaib Akhtar, Rashid Latif and Muhammad Waseem to assist the court in the case. 

Facilitating overseas Pakistanis

The IHC has directed the lower judiciary to expedite disposal of cases of overseas Pakistanis before summer vacations.

The IHC also directed to prioritize cases relating to matters of widows, elderly and special rent control.

After the instructions, the District and Sessions Judge East, Chaudhry Mumtaz, issued a notification, mentioning the same to his junior judges while he directed to present a daily report in this regard.

Further, the District and Sessions judge West, Sohail Nasir, instructed the senior civil judge West, Muhammad Aziz Khan to meet the given target by the IHC.

The details tell that two separate courts have also been formed for serving speedy justice in around 500 cases falling under the category.

The sources said that both district and sessions courts have taken special measures to implement directions of the IHC.

The matter of long delay in such cases was brought to the notice of the Chief Justice IHC, Ather Minallah.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 23^rd, 2019.