KARACHI - Pakistan Cricket Board’s former chief executive officer Arif Ali Khan Abbasi welcoming an Indian court decision overturning life ban on former Indian skipper Azharuddin for alleged match fixing said the court decision had proved that cricketers could not be punished for wrong doing just on circumstantial evidence.
He said there was no difference between the allegations levelled against the Indian cricketer and former Pakistan skipper Salim Malik as both were punished circumstantial evidence. Malik should also get the relief in the form of an apology and compensation for alleged wrongdoing on the same ground that the Indian court had cited in overturning the life ban on Azharuddin, he added.
Talking exclusively to TheNation here Friday, Abbasi said he had always been of the opinion that punishing a player without any concrete proof was legally weak reason to ban a player.
He said he had always held that opinion even when some of the Pakistani players were being hounded some years ago with match fixing charges and were punished on circumstantial evidence. “At that time, I stood alone to convince thosewho  bent upon punishing the players without concrete proof and even the best legal minds including former chief justice Haleem Ahmed had said that no person could be punished on circumstantial evidence only.”
He said when three Australians accused Malik for offering them money for throwing Karachi Test,  he had out-rightly dismissed those allegations because Pakistan lost that Test and there was no evidence of any wrongdoing. “Surprisingly, the Australian allegations came three months after the tour and former Supreme Court justice Fakhruddin G Ibrahim also came to the conclusion that the charges were frivolous.”
He said South African Hansie Cronje was rightly punished because he personally accepted that he was involved in match fixing and provided the evidence. Similarly, Salman Butt, M Asif and M Aamer were all caught allegedly with their pants down. There was overwhelming evidence against the three Pakistanis and they were punished after due process in an English court of law. There was no comparison between Malik and the three Pakistanis who were conclusively found to have allegedly taken money for fixing deliveries, Abbasi concluded.