Afridi Withdrawn The Court Petition Against PCB

Former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi has withdrawn his court petition against the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). The former skipper had filed the petition demanding that sanctions imposed on him by the PCB be overturned.

Earlier the former captain had met PCB chairman Ijaz Butt and both sides had agreed to resolve their differences. According to the sources, important government officials were also present in the meeting. Afridi agreed to withdraw the case against the PCB and also to appear before the disciplinary committee of the board.

The PCB in return agreed to issue the NOC for Afridi after he appeared before the committee. After getting the required permission Afridi will be able to play for Hampshire County in a T20 tournament in England and Sri Lanka Premier League.

 

Afridi Resolved Conflicts with PCB

According to sources, former captain of Pakistan team Shahid Afridi met with chairman of Pakistan Cricket Board and made out of court settlement.

According to the sources, important government officials were also present in the meeting. Former skipper agreed to withdraw the case against the PCB and also to appear before the disciplinary committee of the board.

The PCB will issue the NOC for Afridi after he appears before the committee. After getting the required permission Afridi will be able to play for Hampshire County in a T20 tournament in England and Sri Lanka Premier League.

 

Misbah Expressed His Satisfaction Over Ireland Trip

Pakistan team captain Misbhul Haq said that he was satisfied with the performance of the team in Ireland series of match. While talking to media he said that the performance of the young players would increase with passage of time.

He said that West Indies and Ireland tour was a nice blend of mutual understanding between the team and team management. According to Misbah, the management has been very supportive during the twin tour of West Indies and Ireland.

When he was questioned about captaincy, he replied that captaincy was an honour for me and it was up to the cricket board for how much time they would rely on me. He declined to comment on asking question about ongoing conflict between former caption Shahid Afridi and PCB.

 

International Beach Kabaddi Tournament in Islamabad

Pakistan Kabaddi Federation organized International Beach Kabaddi Tournament here at the Pakistan Sports Complex from Monday.

Secretary Sports complex said that 11 teams comprising Iran, Afghanistan, Punjab, Sindh, Baluchistan, KPK, Wapda, Pakistan Air Force, Navy, Army and Police are participating in the international tournament.

He told that the Sri Lankan team had also been contacted to participate in the International Beach Kabaddi Tournament but they were unable to tour Pakistan due to commitments at home.

Sarwar said Director General, Pakistan Sports Board, Syed Amir Hamza Gilani will be inaugurating the three-day international tournament on Monday at 5pm.

Sarwar said Chairman CDA Imtiaz Inayat Elahi will be the chief guest on June 14 for the event while on June 15, PML-Q leader and senior federal minister Ch. Pervaiz Elahi will be the guest of honor.

 

Sanath Jayasuriya Retires From International Cricket

Sri Lanka’s opening batsman Sanath Jayasuriya will retire from all forms of international cricket after the first one-day match of their England this month.

He is the second highest scorer and the ninth highest wicket-taker in the limited-over game. He has scored 6,973 runs in 110 Test matches, and captured 98 wickets. He is the one who helped Sri Lanka to their only World Cup triumph in 1996, remains the island nation’s highest run scorer in one-day internationals with 13,428 runs from 444 matches.

Jayasuriya told that he will continue to play league matches and domestic cricket. He said that he will serve people in his electorate in future and will also work for the betterment of cricket.

Nawaz Sharif support to Shahid Afridi

Nawaz Sharif, former prime minister and head of Pakistan Muslim League-N, has become a helping hand for Shahid Afridi when he said that PCB is not treated fairly with him. Talking to reporters at the Bagh-i-Jinnah Gymkhana ground here on Tuesday, Nawaz Sharif said under Afridi’s captaincy Pakistan had reached the semi-final of the last World Cup in India and as a bowler his performance was also impressive in that mega event.

Nawaz said that in the past some Pakistani cricketers had defamed the country and had the PCB taken timely action, the ICC would have stayed away. The PCB, he said, should be held accountable for its negligence.

Former Prime Minister has assured Afridi that he is not alone in this matter and PML-N will raise the voice for injustice with superstars.

 

Afridi refused to appear before PCB disciplinary committee

Syed Ali Zafar, Lawyer of Shahid Afridi told media that Afridi will not appear as summoned before a PCB disciplinary committee on June 8 to face charges of violating a code of conduct.

He said that “The process followed by the PCB does not conform with the law as even under Pakistan’s constitution there is a right given to everyone to be heard before a case is decided,”

The PCB said Afridi violated the players’ code of conduct in announcing his retirement and suspended his central contract and revoked all no-objection certificates (NOCs) that would have allowed him to play abroad.

Zafar said the PCB had taken strict steps without giving Afridi a chance to tell his side of the story. Afridi also disagreed with the process of the disciplinary action.

Afridi said “I have never cared about the captaincy. I have played under a number of players. A lot of other senior players also feel humiliated by treatment from the PCB but they can’t stand and fight because of the central contract and many other things, but for me personal honour comes first”.

 

Supreme Court ordered PEMRA to issue License to GEO Super

Geo news reported that a three-member bench of the Supreme Court (SC) headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry today ordered Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) to issue a broadcasting licence to Geo Super immediately and submit the compliance report in three days.

The Chief Justice during the hearing inquired as to what it was about the channel that still remained to be given a security clearance and how the other channels of Geo were running. Bench member Justice Tariq Pervez in his remarks said that security issues are more concerned with news channels but it is not understood that why it is considered security risk for sports channel.

Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry said the SHC had decided the case against PEMRA, but PEMRA was defying the decision. “Defying the court verdicts seems to have become a fashion these days,” he remarked.

On this, Abdul Jabbar said he, being an acting chairman of PEMRA, was not authorized to issue a license.

The Chief Justice, in reply, said: “Then you better go home and let the regular chairman take care of the affairs of PEMRA.”

Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry warned PEMRA that it could be fined Rs500,000 per day for failing to issue the license.

 

Former Pakistan cricketer Mansoor Akhtar charged with corruption

Former Pakistan Test batsman Mansoor Akhtar has been forced to step down from his senior position in a leading bank after being charged in a corruption case.

Mansoor Akhtar who appeared in 19 Tests and 41 one-day matches in a career spanning from 1980 to 1990 who had to step down as head of the United Bank Limited (UBL) Sports Complex after being charged with committing fraud and corruption.

According to sources Mansoor was accused of depositing cheques directly into his own account, which were given by departments, banks and organisations as rental for the complex ground. He is also accused of keeping salaries of ‘ghost’ employees at the complex.

UBL conducted a departmental inquiry against Mansoor. During the course of the inquiry, the evidence against Mansoor appeared to be strong that he had committed fraud and corruption and cheated the bank out of millions of rupees.

 

PCB summoned former skipper Shahid Afridi

PCB summoned Shahid Afridi to appear before disciplinary committee for breaching the code of conduct. Three members committee has been formed having Shafiq Ahmed, Sultan Rana and Usman Wahla and Shahid Afridi is asked to appear before them on 8 June.

The proceedings will be conducted in closed session and no outsiders will be allowed to attend, the PCB said. The administrator’s chief operating officer Subhan Ahmed said that Shahid is a good player and he has many contributions to Pakistan cricket but it is painful process to call him for disciplinary issues and people need to understand that breaching the code of conduct is not acceptable. He also said that Shahid will be given a full chance to defend himself and to express his views.