By: Aslam Chandio from Islamabad, Pakistan
Cricketer-turned-politician and Chairman Pakistan Tehreek-e- Insaf (PTI) Imran Khan on Sunday regretted the fact that corruption and patronage have destroyed cricket in Pakistan.
In a statement, Imran Khan said, Pakistan had the most cricketing talent available in the country as compare to the other countries, but the corrupt structure of cricketing had prevented the realization of this tremendous potential.
Cricket administration in Pakistan has been rocked by months of wrangling between the courts and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) after then-Chairman PCB Zaka Ashraf was thrown out in May 2013 over his “dubious” election.
In June 2013, Najam Sethi was appointed interim chairman of the PCB – for a 90-day period – after the Islamabad High Court (IHC) suspended former PCB chairman Zaka Ashraf over questions about the legality of the elections conducted to appoint him.
The latest twist came in last week of October 2013, when the Islamabad High Court (IHC) briefly suspended caretaker Chairman PCB Najam Sethi and ordered elections for the post to be held by the end of November.
Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui of the IHC had suspended the Interim Management Committee (IMC) constituted to govern the PCB affairs of which Najam Sethi was given charge, and also restrained him and other members of the IMC from “posing themselves as members and from performing any function of the PCB.”
The court also appointed retired Justice Munir A. Sheikh as Election Commissioner to hold the PCB election by the third week of November this year.
Imran Khan strongly criticized the corrupt cricketing set up here which allowed Presidents and Prime ministers to use professional positions as a means of furthering political patronage.
He demanded that the Chairman PCB be elected rather than appointed as a political reward for services rendered to the corrupt leaders rather than on the basis of professional competency.
Traditionally in Pakistan Cricket, the nomination of the chairman has come from the president of Pakistan, and the post has rarely been filled by an ex-cricketer.
Khan said, he fails to understand, “Why we cannot have a democratically elected Chairman of PCB as happens elsewhere in the world.”
He emphasized the need to immediately have an elected Chairman for PCB. “Until the cricketing structures in Pakistan are set right and are made immune to political patronage, all our talent will go to waste,” Khan warned.
Since the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had shown its inability to hold the PCB elections, Justice Siddiqui appointed retired Justice Munir A. Sheikh as election commissioner to hold the PCB chairman election.
The IHC on Nov 1 issued a contempt notice to Najam Sethi for not complying with the court orders to restrain from functioning as acting Chairman PCB.
A single-member bench comprising Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui issued the notice while hearing a contempt plea moved by Ahmad Nawaz Khan seeking the contempt proceedings against Najam Sethi.
The same day an IHC division bench comprising Justice Riaz Ahmed Khan and Justice Noorul Haq Qureshi also took up the appeals related to the earlier order of the IHC of July 2013, in which the court had ordered the PCB to hold the elections for the position of its chairman in 90 days.
After the court proceedings, PCB counsel Tafazzal Rizvi told the media persons that the division bench had restored the IMC and Najam Sethi.
Najam Sethi tweeted the same day that the IHC two-member bench had granted stay against single-bench orders. “I remain Chairman PCB. Sorry to disappoint trolls!” he tweeted.
The order of the two-member bench was not signed on Oct 29 and the bench comprising Justice Riaz Ahmed Khan and Justice Noorul Haq Qureshi issued the written order on October 31 according to which the bench did not pass any such directions regarding reinstatement of IMC or Najam Sethi. The contempt petition against Sethi was also filed by Ahmed Nawaz Khan the same day.
Earlier in July, Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui set a deadline of October 18 for the PCB to hold fresh elections for the chairman. Sethi failed to hold those elections and instead, on October 15 just before the deadline, Prime Minister of Pakistan – the new patron of the PCB according to the court – Nawaz Sharif, dissolved the governing board of the PCB, and formed a five-member IMC, headed by Sethi, to administer cricket. Then, in last week of October, Justice Siddiqui suspended Sethi from his role as IMC head for not complying with the earlier legal order to elect a permanent PCB chairman by October 18.
Former Test legend Abdul Qadir has expressed interest in the job of Chairman PCB, after a court ordered elections for the post be held in November.
Aslam Chandio is an Islamabad based journalist. He tweets at @aslamchandio_