NA body seeks PCB's dissolution

ISLAMABAD The members of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Sports unanimously announced on Monday that they would resign from the committee if Chairman Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Ijaz Butt did not quit following the match (spot) fixing scam in London. The House met here on Monday at the Parliament House with MNA Iqbal Mohammad Ali in chair. After the meeting, he told the reporters that all the members of committee were upset over the disgraceful act of the national players. He said that the meeting was called to discuss the affairs of the Athletic Federation of Pakistan and the Pakistan Billiards and Snooker Federation (PBSF). However, on the request of the members, the House discussed the cricket issue briefly. All things are clear and the head of the cricket board should go back home. Also, the team management should be called back from England before the Twenty20 and one-day series which will begin from September 5. The involved cricketers should be put behind bars, he demanded. While replying to a question, Iqbal said the players were heroes of the nation but they chose to humiliate the nation for the sake of money. They should be treated like culprits and after we get the investigation report from abroad and there should no sympathy, he viewed. The members have decided to resign from the committee if Butt did not leave the office of chairman PCB. The officials of the PCB and team managements are also involved in the scandal and Ijaz Butt should resign immediately, he alleged. The committee also directed the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) and the Ministry of Sports to provide financial assistance to PBSF for international events. The PBSF is getting just Rs1.4 millions annually from the government in the shape of annual grant and special grant for foreign trips. We spend Rs0.4 million on international competitions, Secretary PBSA Alamgir Sheikh told the committee. AFP adds: The National Assembly Committee on Sports asked the government to dissolve the Pakistan Cricket Board in the latest corruption scandal to hit the sport. Our committee has unanimously recommended to dissolve the Pakistan Cricket Board and if it is not done we will collectively resign from this committee, said Iqbal Muhammad Ali, chief of the NA committee.