Committee formed to curtail PCB chairman constitutional powers

ISLAMABAD - Federal Sports Ministry has constituted a 15-member committee to review the constitution of the Pakistan Cricket Board and make necessary amendments. Addressing a press conference after a seminar on cricket, Sports Ministry Najamuddin Khan said that the Federal Minister for Law Farooq Naik would be the head of the committee while he himself would be the co-chairman. The committee has been given 15 to 20 days to complete its task, he added. "If the President of Pakistan nominates the new PCB chairman, the committee would still then continue working on the constitution to make it flawless," he said. Muhammad Ashraf Khan (secretary sports), Aftab Ahmed Shah Jilani (MNA), Syed Muhammad Ali Shah (president Sindh Cricket Association), Tariq Balouch (Regional Head of Bolachistan), Main Munir Ahmed (Regional Head of Multan), Shafqat Mehmood Nagmi (Chief Operating Officer PCB), Shakil Sheikh (President Islamabad Cricket Association), Aamir Nawab (Abbtaabad Cricket Association), Akawanzada Chatan (MNA from FATA), Majid Khan (former test player), Zaheer Abbas (former test player), Shoaib Malik (captain national team) and Misbah-ul-Haq (vice captain national team) will be the member of committee. Federal Minister further said that there are some flaws in the PCB's constitution and the committee would has been asked to get the suggestions, views and proposals from all stakeholders before finalising the constitution. "At present, the all powers are in the hands the chairman only and these powers of the chairman should be reduced. We need to shares the powers among all the regions and want a full representation of all the four provinces, FATA, Northern Areas, Azad Jammu and Kashmir in the governor board, which run the cricket affairs," he added. To a question, Najamuddin repeatedly said that the ministry had power to make amendments in the constitution of the PCB. "We do not want to intervene in the affairs of the board, however, we wish to run this organization democratically. The federal government established all the sports boards for the promotion of games in the country. We have to see the PCB because nobody had powers the chairman has in his absence," he maintained. Earlier, Federal Minister for Law Farooq Naik said in the meeting that the Ministry of Sports should make a request to President for the appointment of new chairman of the PCB. "Also, a committee should be formed to review the constitution of the board for compiling the recommendations in 15 days in consultation with the stakeholders," he added. He said the ad hoc was not the solution. "Although a tension between the ministry of sports and PCB has been going on for a long time. However, there is a need to demark the role of both the organizations. There is a need to strengthen the game at club level. The suggestion from the members of the Senate Standing Committee on Sports should also be taken because they did a lot of work regarding the PCB's constitution," he said. Former test cricketers Majid Khan, Zaheer Abbas, Ali Zia, Moshin Hasan Khan and Shafqat Rana also gave their suggestion to the house. Majid said that there was a need to line-up the cricket a domestic level. "We had a good domestic cricket system but that had been demolished without any solid reason which was functioning smoothly for the last 40 similar to Australia and England," he pointed out. "The local associations and club cricket should be strengthen and the PCB should provide financial support to run the club cricket. All the heads of cricket regions should be the member of the governing board. The school cricket and club cricket should not be the issue of the board," he observed.   Moshin Khan said that the PCB should not compromise on discipline at any cast. "Some players damaged the image of Pakistan but the PCB showed leniency and a minister played central role to forgive the player. However, to build a strong cricket team the domestic cricket should be stronger. We should prepare replacements of each players," he added. Federal Minister for Law, Federal Minister for Sports, Secretary Sports Muhammad Ashraf Khan, Joint Secretary Muhammad Anwar Khan, Chief Operating Officer PCB Shafqat Nagmi, Director General Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) Ameer Hamza Gilai, Director Media PCB Mansoor Suhail and representatives of the local cricket associations and media association also attended the meeting.

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