After consultation with Law Ministry and legal experts, at last the President House issued the notification of the appointment of Chaudhary Zaka Ashraf as Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Friday.
However, Zaka’s tenure has not been mentioned in the notification, which was issued on Thursday night after three days. President Asif Zardari, who is also Chief Patron of PCB, appointed Zaka Ashraf Chairman of the board on October 11 in place of Ijaz Butt whose three years tenure was completed on October 8. The source said that the legal experts advised Presidency that Zaka Ashraf would quit his responsibilities as President of ZTBL before assuming the charge of his new office.
The reason for not issuing the notification so far was that an officer of Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL) had filed a writ petition in the court against Zaka Ashraf alleging that he had embezzled bank funds which should be recovered before any new appointment. The sources were quoted as saying that the tenure of Zaka Ashraf as ZTBL President ended on September 3 this year, however, the Finance Ministry issued a notification on September 28 in which he was asked to continue his services.
President House spokesman Farhatullah Babar has also confirmed that the notification of Zaka Ashraf’s appointment as the PCB Chairman has been issued. He said that Zaka Ashraf would assume the offices from the day he leaves the ZTBL post. Ashraf will continue as chairman of PCB “until further order,” said the president’s spokesman Farhatullah Babar. The 59-year-old Ashraf will resign as president of Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited. The President, who is also patron of the cricket board, enjoys the sole constitutional power to appoint the PCB chairman.
Earlier this year, the International Cricket Council recommended that the PCB introduce elections in order to remove government interference in the sport’s administration by June 2013. But the PCB appears to have rejected the proposals and Pakistan cricket continues to be run on an ad-hoc basis. It is believed that perhaps because of the ICC’s proposed deadline for reform, Ashraf has been appointed for an unspecified time period. Ashraf, who is also one of Pakistan’s top sugar businessman, described his new posting as a big challenge. “But I have always accepted challenges in my life,” he said.
Foreign teams have not traveled to play in Pakistan since gunmen attacked the Sri Lanka team’s bus at Lahore in March 2009 – just five months after Butt took over as chairman. Since then Pakistan have been forced to organise their home series in the United Arab Emirates. They also played a ‘home’ series against Australia in England last year. Spot-fixing, player disputes and the appointment of a new head coach are the key areas that need Ashraf’s immediate attention.
Three Pakistan players were found guilty of spot-fixing for bowling deliberate no-balls in a Test match against England last year and were later banned by the ICC for a minimum of five years each. A separate criminal case against Salman Butt, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif is currently being heard by a London court. Outgoing chairman Butt told private television channel that the spot-fixing scandal was his biggest regret. “If you say regrets than the spot-fixing scandal that led to the ban on three of our top players was very disappointing and hurts (me) even now,” he concluded.
