1. Pakistan Cricket: Caught Between Judge and
Political Flurry by Cricket today
in Sports / Extreme Sports (submitted 2014-08-08)
When sport is a pawn in the hands of powerful adversaries, there is a dangerous game at play.
One such game is being played on Pakistan turf - ironically the only play possible on Pakistan
soil in recent years. On the opposite sides of the chess board are the Pakistan government and the
judiciary. The pawns on the board represent the fate of Pakistan cricket, left hanging once more
by the seemingly frivolous but deceptively treacherous moves on both sides of the board. A hung
verdict though is not in Pakistan's interests.
At the moment it is a coin toss as to who would become the Pakistan Cricket Board chairman
and one could place a wager on how long he would last before the decision is rescinded by either
the Pakistan government or the judiciary depending on who one or the other has favoured. July
saw a fresh round of circus that ensured that Pakistan cricket cannot be taken seriously unless the
political establishment and the judiciary get their act together and work in the interests of
restoring a sense of sanity and security about the functioning of the cricket board in the country.
To emphasis the gravity of the situation further, that Najam Sethi was removed and reinstated to
the post of the PCB chairman for a third time while Jamshed Ali Shah served as the PCB
chairman for barely a few hours without a written confirmation to his post says it all. Incidentally
Sethi was elected only late last month as the fifth member and Pakistan's representative to the
newly formed International Cricket Council Executive Committee that includes permanent
members in the form of India, Australia and England and will advise on matters pertaining to
ethics, anti-corruption, constitutional matters pertaining to administration amongst other
portfolios.
It is a lamentable state of affairs really that once again news about Pakistan cricket is not
dominated by headlines about the prowess of their team or their exploits but rather of the
ongoing travail of feuding factions and powerful players off the field throwing Pakistan's cricket
administration into virtually insurmountable chaos. The churn in Pakistan's cricket
administration is appalling to say the least although it has to be said in the same breath that it is
not altogether a new phenomenon given the shenanigans of the past fifteen months. The current
circus has been meandering without meaning, making it one of the longest, most uncertain times
when an administration has struggled to put one foot in front of the other, an amicable solution
nowhere in sight.
That Pakistan cricket is in the midst of a crisis would be a gross understatement. That would also
be a statement that would not surprise many and therefore, not bring forth an air of indignation.
However, Pakistan cricket's problems have been compounded by the deepening crisis within its
administrative circles. Rarely has Pakistan cricket enjoyed calm in its domain, but the latest

2. round of drama seems to suggest that there is no immediate solution to the crisis and cricket must
suffer as a result of the deepening divide and bitter politicking between the government and the
judiciary which find themselves at loggerheads with each other on the subject of the Pakistan
Cricket Board chairman, undermining Pakistan's status at the world body level.
One would be forgiven for losing count of the number of times the position of the Pakistan
Cricket Board chairman has exchanged hands between Zaka Ashraf and Najam Sethi. That
would be precisely five times, making the former judge, Jamshed Ali Shah, the third man in the
past year and a half to occupy the chair if only for a brief period that lasted about a day.
Incidentally Shah was to hold elections in the period of one month to appoint the next official
man for the top job. On the guise of restructuring the constitution towards a more democratic
election-oriented set up, changing decrees, whims rather, from the Pakistan governments and the
judicial bodies have virtually reduced the top Pakistan cricket job to a mockery, no less.
The events of the 10th and 11th July would have brought on another dizzying spell for the faint
hearted following the functioning of the Pakistan Cricket Board. Najam Sethi found himself back
in his role as the Pakistan Cricket Board less than twenty-four hours after he was ousted by the
government of Pakistan. Sethi himself is be no stranger to controversy, finding himself removed
from his post for a third time - in October last year for failing to hold elections to find the next
chairman only to be reinstated again as has been the case - in the long standing game of musical
chairs that has become Pakistan cricket's top post.
The Supreme Court while reinstating Sethi, a former journalist, is still hearing the matter of the
removal of Zaka Ashraf as the Pakistan Cricket Board chairman and his subsequent
reinstatement by the Islamabad High Court that initially removed Ashraf that precipitated the
crisis dating back nearly a year and a half, signaling a tenuous time as Pakistan cricket has been
put through a rigmarole of floundering plans and confounding theories to back up those plans.
Sethi himself was serving Pakistan cricket in a provisional capacity as the chairman with a view
to shaping a new, more democratic constitution paving the way once more for an elected
chairman's position in collusion with the directives from the Prime Minister of the country,
Nawaz Sharif.
Sethis' predecessor, Zaka Ashraf, found himself out of favour within twenty days of his four year
appointment as the first elected Pakistan Cricket Board chairman by the Pakistan president, Asif
Ali Zardari, following amendments the ICC level to comply with government non-interference in
cricket's member boards which has since been questioned and set aside by Pakistan's version.
The Islamabad High Court rejected Ashraf's reelection as dubious on the 28th of May, 2013.
Najam Sethi was confirmed to the post of chairman after occupying the interim position between
June and October after the patronage of the Pakistan cricket board fell into the hands of the
Pakistan Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif, following amendments to the national constitution.
However, the start of 2014 and the month of May saw hectic reshuffling again between the
courts and the Pakistan government that saw Ashraf and Sethi rejected and reinstated twice
respectively. The same Islamabad High Court that once denied Ashraf the chairman's position
reinstated him ruling that it found no valid ground for the government to oust Ashraf from the

3. job. The July story was then merely an extension of the events that have troubled Pakistan for the
past fifteen months.
Notwithstanding the drama revolving around the chairman's chair, Pakistan cricket has already
had several headaches to contend with. Chief amongst these has been the fact that the home turf
has been starved of hosting rights as far as bilateral series are concerned and even missed out on
co-hosting the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2011 alongside their sub continent neighbours - India,
Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. What this has translated into has chiefly been a state of near
bankruptcy where Pakistan cricket has had to operate on the benevolence of the ICC that decided
to award Pakistan a fair share of the revenue despite being unable to host the prestigious ICC
event.
The Pakistan cricket team has had to call the United Arab Emirates their home since 2009 when
the visiting Sri Lankans faced the wrath of a terrorist attack on their tour bus on the way to the
Gaddafi stadium in Lahore. The attack was the final straw amongst international circles as Sri
Lanka were merely being neighbourly in acceding to tour Pakistan after India pulled out
following the 26/11 terrorist attacks in Mumbai. Alienated by the rest of the cricket world and
their cricketers deprived of making a decent pay package after being denied participation in the
Indian Premier League after playing only the first edition of India's premier Twenty20
tournament in 2008, Pakistan plunged in a dark hole that saw little light at the end of tu
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