Wary of the spot-fixing scandal that maligned the image of Pakistan cricket, the PCB officials are confident that with the establishment of a security and vigilance wing will be able to check any such design in the future. Recently the trio of Salman Butt, Mohammed Amir and Mohammed Asif were found guilty of spot-fixing by the London court earlier this year and were subsequently put behind the bars.
“The governing board members were unanimous that Pakistan cricket could not afford the shame and embarrassment of another spot-fixing scandal and steps need to be taken to handle the issues of corruption and security with an iron fist,” a senior official of the board said. The PCB governing board during a 10-hour long meeting two days back approved the setting up of the security and vigilance wing which will be headed by either by a retired army official or a police officer. “The process for selection of the person to head the wing and its members will begin soon as the board has said this wing must be set up on priority basis,” COO, Subhan Ahmad was reported to have said. He informed the wing will not only be responsible for implementing anti-corruption measures in domestic cricket and in the national teams, but will also coordinate and supervise security arrangements for visiting teams. “The new PCB Chairman is focused on trying to bring back international cricket to Pakistan and this could happen in 2012, so we want to be prepared for the scenario,” he said.
Subhan said the new wing would coordinate with the ICC and other national and international security experts to convince foreign teams to tour Pakistan again.
“We are in the process of trying to convince teams like Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and even India to support us by playing matches in Pakistan. “We understand their concerns but we have not given up hope. We are hopeful things will change for the better soon,” he said. Foreign teams refused to tour Pakistan after March, 2009 when militants attacked the Sri Lankan team in Lahore killing six Pakistani policemen and a van driver. Five Sri Lankan players were also injured in the attack.
The incident also cost Pakistan its share of World Cup matches. Subhan said the officials of the security and vigilance wing would also travel with the team on foreign tours to ensure the players were aware of the anti-corruption regulations and to keep an eye on them. He said the governing board was informed by the Chairman, Zaka Ashraf about his recent meetings with officials of the ICC and other boards in Dubai. “The chairman informed the governing board members that he had formally invited Bangladesh to tour Pakistan in the mid of 2012 for a Test series that is part of the FTP.”
