Pakistani committee head resigns over cricket crisis

Iqbal Muhammad Ali, head of parliamentary committee on sports, resigns in frustration at state of affairs in cricket.

KARACHI: The head of an influential Pakistani parliamentary committee on sports has resigned in frustration at the state of affairs in national cricket.

"The state of cricket affairs is before everyone, it is in poor shape and yet nothing is being done to change the tide," Iqbal Muhammad Ali, who headed the National Assembly standing committee on sports, told a news conference on Saturday.

"I am resigning because the government has not bothered to implement any of the recommendations by this committee for improvement and betterment of sports in the country," Iqbal added.

The national assembly committee has frequently summoned officials from the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to appear before it, most recently on the spot-fixing allegations against three players, and has publicly called for PCB Chairman Ijaz Butt to resign.