Sports

Accused trio unlikely to face charges

Officials close to HC have confirmed that the trio will not face charges to avoid deterioration of UK-Pakistan ties.

Faras Ghani September 03, 2010

KARACHI: While Salman Butt, Mohammed Asif and Mohammed Aamir were ‘dropped’ from Pakistan’s squad for the remainder of the tour, officials close to the High Commission have confirmed to The Express Tribune that the trio will not face any charges in order to avoid a deterioration of the UK-Pakistan ties.

The trio’s omission, reported to have come courtesy pressure from the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) as well as the International Cricket Council (ICC) and also seen as a compromise between all parties, came yesterday morning when the Pakistani players visited London.

“Mazhar Majeed’s release on bail without any charge was quite surprising given the way he was arrested and then re-arrested,” the official told The Express Tribune. “The trio’s omission from the limited-overs squad is a compromise reached between the two boards and the three cricketers will walk away free too.”

The trio travelled down to London from Taunton for discussions and meetings with the PCB chairman as well as the Pakistan’s high commissioner to the UK, Wajid Shamsul Hasan. While the players or the board refrained from making comments, Hasan declared them innocent – before questionning the authenticity of the video – the first time they have been backed by the quarters since the allegations surfaced late Saturday evening.

Players ‘extremely disturbed’

“They are extremely disturbed with what has happened in the past one week, especially with regard to their alleged involvement in the crime,” said Hasan. “They have mentioned that they are innocent of the whole episode and shall defend their innocence as such.

“They maintain that on account of the mental torture that has deeply affected them, they’re not in the right frame of mind to play, therefore they have requested the PCB not to consider them until their names are cleared.”

Lack of communication

In what seems to be yet another episode of lack of communication among various Pakistan team quarters, team manager Yawar Saeed said the trio had been dropped and replacements will be considered. However, Hasan’s words echoed the notion that Salman, Asif and Aamir had opted out of the series due to the strain they were put under by the spot-fixing allegations.

“The three players are innocent until proven guilty. They are under interrogation so they have to defend themselves. They are bright young men, one of them has just broken a world record, and we will go to a court of law to defend them.”

Asked whether he believed the players may have been framed, he replied, “Yes, I would say that.”

UNEASY

Former Pakistan captain Asif Iqbal

“The players would definitely not have felt good about this investigation while playing which is the reason why they have been omitted.”

PATIENCE

Former PCB chairman Tauqir Zia

“I think the PCB should have waited for the police inquiry to be completed before taking this decision of dropping the players.”

Published in The Express Tribune, September 3^rd, 2010.

COMMENTS (12)

Hafeez | 14 years ago | Reply Gentlemen, its nice to see your candid coments on this bizarre incident. I have no second opinion about it that in case found guilty, they must be punished. Its important to root out this menace from the lovely game of cricket. Players, who may ever they be, are not bigger than the game. I have just one observation, whenever a team of Sub Continent visits England, they are embroiled into some kind of controversies. If the team starts wining the controversy is even stronger. A tabloid whoes credibility is doubtful even in UK, has created a situation unwaranted to the spirit of the game. Imagine a news channel of Sub Continent exposing an English team during their visit, the spirit of treating the guests well, may result in a negative impression about the channel from within the country???? Think about it!!!

Assad | 14 years ago | Reply I think a lot of people are merely venting there anger and frustration at the teams poor performance and hence want the trio of asif, amir and butt lynched. On the other side, those who are talking about a conspiracy and India being involved to 'defame' Pakistan, are also subjectively looking at the matter. As far as things stand now, what is painfully obvious is that Amir bowled a no ball on purpose. Not once but twice. Everything else is just speculation. It may very well turn out to be correct, but at this stage its just speculation. And yes, the board is corrupt and inefficient. No doubt.

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fAISAL | 14 years ago | Reply Well this all is a needless debate. First of all Pakistani players should not have intermingled with a bookie. This itself is a disgrace. A dignified person meets dignified people and not a bookie. Playing for your country is the biggest honour but these kind of extra caricullar activities can really damage players careers. We Pakistanis simply cannot claim that the trio were truly innocent. In the past we have not implemented judgements and reports to truly ban cricketers and now we see this impasse. Please accept that there are mistakes on PCB side wherein extremely pathetic people are at the helm of affairs. See Imran Farhat is constantly selected ahead of Taufeeq Omer and Hafeez because his father in law is selector (in the past he threatened an honest selector Sallahuddin Sallu on phone when Imran Farhat was dropped). The natures revenge comes that way. Look Asif is great performer but has a chequred past. How such indiscipline be tolerated. Please learn to accept mistakes.

Saif | 14 years ago | Reply The reader comments (Bilal, Adeel) are absolutely hillarious. Denial and conspiracy theories will never cease to exist in Pakistan. And yes, I am as Pakistani as any of you except I do not blindly accuse others of the mistakes of our or nation, or our nationals. For the person asking someone to grow up for not realising the conspiracy here, one day you will realize that you cannot conspire for someone to accept cash to follow their command. Just like the politicians that are bought and sold in Pakistan, these cricketers must accept responsibility for accepting money and selling themselves, regardless of who paid them (whether they were Indian, Arab, African or Pakistani), THEY sold themselves. But of course to some, everything that has ever happened to Pakistan is a conspiracy (including the mistreatment in and seperation of East Pakistan, the exploitation of and pending liberation movement in Balochistan, the rampant corruption amongst our politicians, the dismal state of our police, tax collection agency, national education or rather, illiteracy, health, law and order, economy), the list of things OTHERS do to us goes on and on. My question to the RAW/Mossad/CIA blaming patriots then is, what part of our nation do we actually control ourselves?

Anoop | 14 years ago | Reply Ya I can understand that the 3 not being charged. But, a deal must be made with that guy Majeed. Give all the info about match-fixing and there will be lesser punishment like done in the US. But, the charges WHEN proved should result in life bans. For every single one of the cheaters. As Micheal Vaughn said,"I dont see how they can get out of this one". On another note, it seems RAW has orchestrated this whole episode to embarrass Pakistan and its players by playing on their weak minds through their Indian-origin wives! http://pakobserver.net/detailnews.asp?id=50422

faiz | 14 years ago | Reply Well, which part of 'innocent Until proven guilty' do people not understand. I think one should not comment on any thing other than this particular issue as there are others forums to talk about politics etc.

Daubic | 14 years ago | Reply Mr. Bilal, I am an Proud Indian Muslim. Please don't bring religion in between everything like our scientists, our military leaders, our players being Muslim were scrutinized. This is very insane claim. Let me give you a fact. You must be heard about our ex-President of India, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam who is a Muslim, when he went to US, he was scrutinized in the airports. Believe me, for presidents and ex-presidents there is no need for scrutiny in airports. But being such a highly regarded personnel, he gave his full support to the US authorities who were doing their duties. He did not even claim that he was the ex-president of India and never created a scene out of it. Believe me, US and other western countries consider their citizens life to be of high value and they believe that the leaders are responsible for even a single death or uncalled for incident happened to their citizens. Hence they are having this scrutiny process in place. This is purely done to safe guard the citizens from people whose ideologies are corrupted. If you feel, being Muslim is the only reason for scrutiny, I would deny that. If the TSA or any authorities believe some body is a threat to their citizens, they always verify 10 times before even considering any claims. Because the value of human life is of ultimate worth in those countries when compared to Pakistan (Sorry to say this, but this truth. All that would happen in pakistan is they would form a Inquiry Comitte and in few days everything would be forgotten) and hence they push for harder rules. Second please don't see conspiracy in everything. When you close your eyes and fly around the world, the world would look black to you, and its not the problem of the world but you who closed your eyes. Please be open to ideas and this is what could help you to overcome your problems.

Daubic | 14 years ago | Reply Mr. Adeel Ahmed, truth is always bitter to swallow. Trapped? You feel players are trapped? Could you ask yourself this question. Why do a pakistani player is trapped everywhere and everytime. Be it in Dubai, Australia, England, India where ever it be. Oh is it the conspiracy of the western and eastern powers? I had not hatred feeling for the pakistani sentiments but was just saying the hard facts. By the way I am a Proud Indian.

Bilal | 14 years ago | Reply @Mr. Daubic...the way you have criticized is hillarious..but the taunting you have done against Pakistan clearly proves that you are an Indian brain (don't say that whatever happens, we blame Indians, because YES Indians are doing this)..anyhow yes..our Players are Alhamodlillah innocent..to make you happy let us say that our players are culprits and allegation (so far) as true, in past we have seen the likes of Azharuddin, Sanjay Manjrekar, Hansie Cronje, Shane Warne, Mark Waugh etc. involved in Match fixing and not just spot fixing..what steps ICC took against them...duh..gimme a break.. ! and yes..our Nuclear Scientists, Sportsmen, Intelligence Agencies and business people are very honest and dedicated...but they are being scrutinized because of the religion and country they belong to. what you call conspiracies are no more conspiracies, these are the truest facts in this world. Black marks on our foreheads are those people like of Azhar Majeed (The bookie) who are from Pakistani origin and playing in the hands of our enemies. lets take a deep breath and think about it...

yasir | 14 years ago | Reply @Daubic: Nice comments. They always give us such stupid reasons like these.Nothing will ever change until everyone starts accepting their mistakes.....

Adeel Ahmed | 14 years ago | Reply @ Daubic... It has already been proven that the players were trapped. Why are you so anti-Pakistan? Taliban in Afghanistan ARE freedom fighters. Pakistani leaders are the most corrupt politicians. Pakistan IS very dignified and well respected (as proven by our army time and again... dont expect much from our sold-out politicians), Pakistan does have a black market, just like EVERY economy in the world. Just say it as it is... No need to give your non-sensical attempt on sarcasm. Keep your two-cents to yourself.

Daubic | 14 years ago | Reply The players are innocent. The talibans are freedom fighters. Pakistani leaders are the most honest politicians in the world. Pakistan is the most respected and dignified and sovereign country in the world. Pakistan is the only country which does not differentiate the caste within Islam and give all the people equal rights. Pakistan is the only country whose key persons in all departments be it politics, nuclear scientists, sportsmanship, intelligence agencies, business people were all honest and does not have a black mark against the name. World , why are you laughing? I am not joking and I am very serious about it. I think the world is planning to malign the great pakistan and I see a conspiracy behind these malicious intentions of the world to isolate pakistan. May be it could be the conspiracy of RAW/MOSSAD/CIA/Black Water be it any thing but certainly not the mistakes of our leader or our foreign policies or our strategic assets or our ideologies.

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