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Pakistan on Saturday reacted cautiously to a British newspaper’s story which said Jamaican police will next week announce that Bob Woolmer’s death is no longer being treated as murder.

A Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) official said that there have been so many twists and turns in the Bob Woolmer story over the past several weeks that only an official announcement from the Jamaican Police would be taken seriously by the Board.

“The story sounds convincing but it is still a newspaper report and falls short of being an official announcement,” the official told this correspondent. “No matter how much we want to heave a sigh of relief but that still won’t happen unless the (Jamaican) Police confirms that Woolmer was not murdered,” added the official.

Woolmer, 58, was found unconscious in his hotel room in Kingston (Jamaica) on March 18 and was later pronounced dead at a local hospital. Jamaican Police later launched a murder probe on the basis of an autopsy report which said that Woolmer, Pakistan’s coach, was strangled. The announcement sent shock waves in the cricket world and was followed by countless conspiracy theories.

Pakistan, however, treated the Jamaican Police’s announcement with suspicion from the very beginning. Their officials were convinced that Woolmer, who was not keeping good health in recent times, died a natural death.

Among the people questioned over Woolmer’s death were the Pakistan team players and officials, who had to stay in Jamaica for several days to assist the investigations. They were interrogated, finger-printed and swabbed for DNA and later some of the players complained that they were treated as suspects.

“The players, officials, PCB and the whole nation went through a rough time following Woolmer’s untimely death and the Police announcement that he was murdered,” said the official. “Hopefully, the Police would soon confirm what we have been saying for a long time and make it clear that Woolmer died of natural causes. It would not ease the pain but would definitely end all the confusion that has prevailed in the past several weeks.”
Source:The News