ISLAMABAD - Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Governing Board member Shakil Ahmed Sheikh has announced his resignation from the board.
Shakil announced his decision in a hurriedly called press conference here at Diamond Cricket Ground on late Sunday night. Shakil leveled serious financial embezzlement charges and termed Zaka Ashraf as non-cricketer, illiterate and a serious threat to Pakistan cricket.
Shakil requested Prime Minister, who is also the patron of PCB, to immediately take action against Zaka without any further delays. “If Zaka remained at the helm of affairs there is every possibility ICC might suspend Pakistan's membership. We would suffer a great deal. Najam Sethi had taken some drastic decisions for the revival of international cricket in Pakistan and let me assure you all, international cricket was all set to resume in Pakistan this September after gap of more than five years, but all our efforts were destroyed.”
He further said the restoration of Zaka is death knell for the PCB as he has committed serious financial irregularities which even the audit reports have also highlighted. He also drained the funds of the PCB by giving employment to his cronies based on nepotism.
“The PCB has become dysfunctional as majority of the members of the Governing Board have already completed their tenure and due to this fact there is no Governing Board and the Patron is requested to intervene and save the PCB. Under the PCB Constitution the affairs of PCB are to manage by a Board of Governors consisting of 10 voting members out of which tenure of only 2 members is valid. The quorum of a meeting of BOG is of 3 members. Under paragraph 3 of the PCB constitution the PCB consists of (a) Chairman (b) Board of Governors (c) General Body. Therefore the PCB is dysfunctional and an immediate intervention by Patron, Prime Minister of Pakistan, is sought.”
He said there was serious apprehension that the PCB being dysfunctional will default on its international cricket commitments which will be resulted in suspension of the PCB membership from ICC.
The Governing Board of Pakistan Cricket Board has become dysfunctional and it cannot perform its function because of lack of quorum, he added. Article 10 (2) of the PCB Constitution says: "The quorum of the meeting (BOG) shall be twenty-five per cent of total voting membership of the BOG.”
Presently, no such quorum or 25% of the total voting membership of the BOG is in existence, thus, the PCB and its Board have become totally dysfunctional. The 10-member PCB BOG are: Regional representatives, Shakil Ahmed Sheikh, Islamabad, Qaiser Khan Jamali, Dera Murad Jamali, M Rafiq Bhugio, Larkana, Noor-ul-HAq Baloch, Fata, while departmental representatives are: Aziz Siddiqui, HBL, Masood Anwar Hamid, ZTBL, M. Haroon Rashid, SBP, M. Iqbal Qasim, NBP and Yousaf NAsim Khokar, Wapda.