05 January 2004	Monday	12 Ziqa'ad 1424

PESHAWAR, Jan 4: Peshawar District Cricket Association has slammed Pakistan Cricket Board chief's decision to suspend the selection of Pakistan squad for the Under-17 Asia Cup and has termed it a conspiracy hatched by other provinces to restrain the entry of NWFP-based players to mainstream cricket.

Responding to the suspension of the team by PCB chief Shaharyar M. Khan on Saturday that had been announced by chief selector Aamir Sohail on Friday to visit India, Abdul Aziz Khan, secretary of the Peshawar District Cricket Association (PDCA), alleged that the PCB's chief had acted at the behest ofthe cricket associations of Karachi and Lahore.

"It's nothing but petty mindedness of the big provinces against the smaller ones, because they see the NWFP players as their hard rivals for selection in the cricket team," Aziz lashed out.

"The PCB chief suspended the selection of the team under pressure from the cricket managers of the big cities," he countered when told that the decision had been made by the PCB and not by the Karachi or Lahore-based cricket associations.

The team has been selected purely on merit, because Aamir Sohail is an honest and professional person, Aziz said. According to him, Yasir Arafat, Hidayatulah Khan, Fahad Zaman and Nasir Ahmed, who were part of the selected team, had already visited Malaysia last year.

He dispelled the impression being createdbythe PCB chief that the reason for suspension was on the grounds of nepotism. "These four players had also visited India last year that emerged victorious in the Under-15 World Cup. All ofthem had performed better there, especially, Yasir Arafat and Nasir Ahmed, as both of them had grabbed Man-of-the-Match awards on more thanone occasion," he said.

One of these players told Dawn that politics had creptinto the game."When Junaid Zia was selected, there wasno hue and cry, nor the selection had been cancelled, but the son of FarrukhZaman, a member of the selection committee, hadhaunted the PCB's boss," the player said.

He said that the NWFP-based players are being sidelined at the cost of other provinces and urged the PCB boss to accord equal opportunities to the players of all province in the best interest of the game.