'Players guilty of match fixing should be banished'

Wajid Shamsul Hasan said that if the three players are found guilty, they should be dealt with severely.

Pakistan's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom has said that if any of the Pakistani players are found guilty of match fixing, they should be 'banished' from cricket.

According to a Guardian report, Wajid Shamsul Hasan has said that if any of the allegations against the three players proved to be true, they should be dealt with severely.

Speaking to BBC Radio 5 live's Sportsweek programme, he said that the ICC was the proper authority of taking action against the players, but if found guilty the players should be tried in a court of law, adding that proper sentences should be handed down in order to make an example and discourage match fixing activities.

The statement comes after the High Commissioner said that the players were 'innocent until proven guilty' and that he believed they were innocent. The High Commissioner also called the decision to suspend the players 'unhelpful and premature.'

Pakistan mounted a covert diplomatic offensive on August 3, over the mistreatment of its cricketing stars as Scotland Yard investigators quizzed Test captain Salman Butt and pacemen Muhammad Asif and Muhammad Amir in connection with spot-fixing charges.

Diplomatic sources in Islamabad and London told The Express Tribune that Pakistan had conveyed its strong reservations to the British government for blowing the issue out of proportion. “The high commissioner in London met the British government officials to record our protest,” a Foreign Office official disclosed while requesting anonymity.