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| June 17, 2005 | Friday | Jumadi-ul-Awwal 9, 1426 |
Senators give notice for privilege motion against PCB chief
ISLAMABAD, June 16: Following Wednesday’s walkout from the Senate Standing Committee on Sports, three senators led by Muhammad Enver Baig have given notice of their intention to move a privilege motion.
Enver, along with senators Murad Ali Shah and Dr. Kouser Firdaus, have said in the notice to the Chairman of Senate that the head of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Shaharyar M. Khan by refusing to submit a draft copy of the constitution had taken a U-turn.
“He has dishonoured the members of the committee ignoring the authority of senate which is a breach of privilege of the senators.”
They said in the notice that the matter may please be discussed on the floor of the House adjourning the normal business before referring it to the Privileges Committee.
The events at Wednesday’s meeting, one of several that have taken place since May last year, turned sour after Shaharyar refused to honour his promise of submitting the constitution before the committee.
This led to a boycott by the three senators that brought the meeting which was being chaired by Saeed Siddiqui, to a grinding halt.
Enver, who has been the most vocal of all senators in virtually all past meetings of the committee, meanwhile continued his assault on Shaharyar.
“The most shocking part is that he has been misguiding everyone on such a prestigious forum.”
He alleged that corruption was rampant in the PCB and that the chairman was going about obliging his favourites by promoting them out of turn and giving them hefty salaries.
Enver pointed out that with one stroke of pen, Shaharyar had enhanced the salary of his “friend” Abbas Zaidi, the Director Board Operations from Rs 80,000 to Rs 180,000.
The Senate Standing Committee on Sports first met in May last year to probe the reasons for Pakistan’s defeat at home to India and later also begun investigating the financial affairs of the board.
The PCB officials have been in a tight spot since but Shaharyar’s refusal on the constitution on Wednesday seems to have put the probe somewhat off track.
Our Sports Correspondent adds from Lahore: Association (LCCA) president Aamir Hayat Khan Rokari has said that the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) should have taken all the stake holders into confidence before sending the new draft of the constitution to the president of Pakistan for approval.
Talking to journalists, the LCCA president said the PCB chief should have consulted city cricket associations and incorporate their suggestion in the draft before sending it to the president.
“It is the responsibility of the PCB chairman to send the draft to the president with the consensus of the city cricket associations for which it is being formed,” said Mr Rokari.
He apprehended that the draft constitution if approved by the patron-in-chief might trigger controversy.
“Two big city cricket associations — the LCCA and the KCCA — have already expressed their concern over the new draft and now the Senate Sports Committee members are also raising hue and cry for not taking them into confidence,” the LCCA president said.
He urged President Pervez Musharraf to return the draft constitution to the PCB with the direction to make it controversy-free by taking all the stake holders into confidence.
He said that the city cricket associations were the main tier of the PCB but ironically they had been ignored.
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