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| June 16, 2005 | Thursday | Jumadi-ul-Awwal 8, 1426 |
Senators walk out after Shaharyar’s refusal to honour promise
ISLAMABAD, June 15: A trio of senators staged a walkout from a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Sports on Wednesday after Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Mr. Shaharyar M.Khan refused to honour a promise. The protesting senators led by Muhammad Enver Baig accused PCB chief of taking the committee for a ride by not submitting the copy of a draft constitution as promised.
Events at the meeting chaired by Senator Saeed Siddiqui turned sour after Shaharyar plainly refused to submit the draft of the constitution.
This infuriated Enver who alleged that the cricket chief had deliberately been dilly-dallying on the constitution and misguiding everyone. He then stood up and walked out along with two of his compatriots Senators Murad Ali Shah and Dr. Kauser Firdaus.
Surprisingly, Shaharyar who had committed in past meetings that he would submit the constitution’s draft with the senators before sending it to President Gen Pervez Musharraf for approval, clearly failed to abide by his commitment.
“I have broken no promise,” Shaharyar was quick to remark. “I had said at the very beginning that I will present the constitution to the president first because not doing so would be a violation of protocol.”
“I had told the chairman of the committee that it will not be possible for me to submit the text of the constitution with them but I can only debrief the senators.”
But Enver told Dawn following the meeting that the reason why Shaharyar had now backtracked was that there had been massive changes in the new constitution and he did not want the committee’s members to raise any objections.
The meeting held in camera, lasted barely half an hour and ended soon after the boycott. In whatever time was available Shaharyar gave a brief outline on the constitution and said that he had recommended that the PCB have a paid chairman and a treasurer.
Enver remarked that having paid officials would give rise to corruption and reminded Shaharyar of the free ticket scam during last year’s home series with India.
The PCB constitution prepared by Justice Karamat Bindhari and his team has since been sent to Musharraf, who is the Patron of the Board.
“I think the presidency will now consult the stakeholders like the Law and Sports Ministries and others for their views on the constitution,” Shaharyar said. “My suggestion would be to make the Senate Standing Committee a stakeholder too.”
Meanwhile Enver later announcing that they were now going to move a privilege motion pointed out that Shaharyar continues to be in office despite having promised he would resign if he failed to submit the constitution by April 30. “He is still there, so how can one believe what he says.”
Enver had also expressed his anger on the eve of the meeting after an agenda item relating to the financial irregularities in the PCB was dropped.
The Senate Standing Committee which began investigating the affairs of the PCB in May last year, has held several meetings but not much seems to have been achieved because of the board’s delaying tactics on a host of matters.
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