LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) issued a statement on Tuesday that the suspended trio need to show respect to the International Cricket Council (ICC) Code of Conduct.
An official of the Board stated that the parent body with consultation of its members suspended the cricketers and the players should follow the rules laid out by them.
Respect should be shown towards the ICC as they are operating within the rules. The PCB’s response came a day after former captain Salman Butt reacted sharply at the decision of upholding his suspension. Furious Salman said that it is not just the ICC but also the PCB that are to be blamed for miss-handling the issue of spot fixing.
He lashed out that he was “declared guilty without any evidence”. Butt went on air on several television channels shortly after returning from Dubai after attending the ICC’s tribunal hearing, which rejected his and Muhammad Aamir’s appeal against their suspensions.
“I have no choice now but to plead my case like this. Initially we didn’t say anything because we didn’t have any direct interaction with the ICC as the PCB was handling things on our behalf. Also, we were bound by the code of conduct we had signed with the PCB.
But now after having observing the way the ICC is handling our cases, I am disappointed,” he said. Butt said he was a bit disappointed by the attitude of the PCB as well.
“I don’t know why they are doing this but no one from the PCB has even bothered to give us a call or find out what is happening with us. We have no choice but to plead our cases ourselves and let the people know what is happening,” he said.
Butt said he was surprised at the tribunal’s decision because the ICC’s anti-corruption unit had shown no other evidence except the video and reports of the British tabloid News of the World. “They have shown us no evidence at all and yet they rejected our appeals without giving any reason why they were doing it.
This is a biased decision and they are trying to corner Pakistan cricket through us,” he said. Butt said he got a feeling there was a conspiracy against Pakistan cricket. “You can see what is happening with Pakistanis all over the world now.
It is the same in our case. It is strange that someone is supposed to be considered innocent unless proven guilty. But in our case we have been declared guilty without any evidence and are now being told to prove ourselves innocent,” he said.
“If anyone has any evidence that shows we were indeed involved in corruption, they should bring it forth.” Amir insisted that the ICC had made up its mind even before the hearing in Dubai. “To me it appeared as if this is a conspiracy to defame Pakistan cricket. I am hurt because we want the truth to come out,” Amir said.
“I am disappointed because they didn’t even tell us the reason for rejecting our appeals. It appeared to be as if the decision of the hearing had been made beforehand,” he added. But a PCB official said that there are procedures to be followed in every matter and ICC is handling the. “It’s their fight and the players have to fight themselves.
It does not mean we have abandoned them. We are following every bit of the case and would intervene according to the code that has been laid down,” he said.
