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Members of the Senate’s Standing Committee on Sports were left fuming on Saturday after top officials of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) ‘avoided’ a meeting requisitioned in Islamabad to discuss the state of cricket in the country.

It was sheer disappointment for some members of the committee who were looking forward to grilling top PCB officials over matters ranging from the salaries of the Board’s employees to the delay in the implementation of a new constitution.

They were expecting to have a face-to-face meeting with PCB chairman Nasim Ashraf and the Board’s CEO Shafqat Naghmi but neither of them was present to attend the meeting. Instead the PCB was represented by Hassan Ahmed (finance) and Nadeem Akram (human resource).

Senator Enver Baig, a committee member, was furious at the absence of top PCB officials from the meeting.

“The committee took strong note of the absence of top officials including Nasim Ashraf, Shafqat Naghmi and Zakir Khan (PCB’s Director of Cricket Operations),” said Baig.

“They conveniently avoided the meeting by going abroad. It is clear from their decision to stay away from the meeting that they (PCB officials) are not taking this committee very seriously and that is unacceptable to us,” he added.

Baig said that the committee has decided to have another meeting with PCB officials between September 15-20, adding that Ashraf and company will face dire consequences if they did not attend it this time.

Meanwhile, during the meeting the committee received information from the PCB regarding its salary structure. According to information provided by the Board, Naghmi, a Grade-20 government officer receives a monthly package of Rs450,00 from the Board. Surprisingly his basic salary is just Rs38,000 but he receives allowances worth Rs412,000. Baig said that the list of 352 employees submitted by the Board does not include the names of Aamir Bilal (media consultant) and Jahanzeb Afzal.

“I have appointment letters of both these gentlemen but the PCB list does not carry their names,” he said.

The committee also criticised the Board over its failure to implement its new constitution. During the meeting it was revealed that the Attorney General’s office has refuted the Board’s claims the implementation of the new constitution was delayed because the Attorney General had raised objections over some of the clauses.

“I talked to the Attorney General yesterday and he has made it clear that his office has nothing to do with the PCB’s new constitution,” said Baig.

The meeting was attended by senators Syed Tahir Hussain Mashhadi (acting chairman), Tariq Azim Khan, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting, Mrs. Razina Alam Khan, Haroon Khan, Dr.Kausar Firdaus and Enver Baig.

Source:Cricket News

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