Haider’s contract suspended

PCB forms three-man committee to investigate keeper’s disappearance.

KARACHI: Taking its first action against Zulqarnain Haider, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) suspended the wicket-keeper’s stipend contract and formed a three-member committee to probe his disappearance from the team hotel in Dubai.

He was found guilty of breaching PCB’s code of conduct and as an initial punishment, the board suspended his contract through which he was earning Rs 50,000 per month.

“The PCB has suspended his contract for violating its terms and conditions,” said a PCB statement. “A fact-finding committee has been formulated to establish the facts surrounding the incident of Haider’s disappearance,” it added.

The committee comprises Subhan Ahmed, the board’s acting director of administration and human resources, team manager Intikhab Alam and the team’s security manager Khawaja Najam.

The statement added that the board failed to contact Haider who has only been in contact with a Pakistani news channel.

Meanwhile, a PCB official said that the board’s legal adviser Tafazzul Rizvi will assist the committee in its investigation. “All the committee members who are presently in Dubai have already met to finalise the initial plan of the probe. The board lawyer Rizvi will assist the committee,” the official told The Express Tribune.

‘Haider made a big mistake’

All-rounder Abdul Razzaq felt Haider made a big mistake by fleeing without informing the team management. “I don’t think it was an intelligent move. He made a big mistake,” Razzaq told reporters in Lahore on his return from Dubai. “He should’ve discussed it with the team management if he had any issues,” he said before adding that Haider’s absence would not have an adverse affect on the team for their future assignments. “He is young and promising but his absence would not be a big loss for Pakistan in the future.”

Published in The Express Tribune, November 11^th, 2010.