June 21, 2007	Thursday	Jamadi-us-Sani 05, 1428

LAHORE, June 20: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has banned the entry of former Test cricketer Mohammad Ilyas into its offices at the Gaddafi Stadium.

Ilyas told Dawn on Wednesday that after receiving the news from someone about his ban he rang up the PCB’s Chief Operating Officer (COO) Shafqat Naghmi to verify the report.

“Naghmi confirmed the ban had been imposed on me, but he did not give any reason for it. I also asked Naghmi to give me the PCB’s decision in writing, but he refused. I said the Gaddafi Stadium is cricketers’ property but Naghmi said it is the PCB’s property,” Ilyas said.

Ilyas declared that he would address a press conference against the PCB’s (ban) ruling, adding he would also disclose many of its wrongdoings.

When contacted by Dawn, Naghmi said the decision regarding prohibiting Ilyas’s entry into the Gaddafi Stadium had already been taken earlier when Ilyas allegedly threatened the national selection committee by saying “the war is on”.

Though the PCB had taken the decision two months ago it did not make it public.

Ilyas, who is an old friend of chief selector Salahuddin Ahmed and one of his members Shafqat Rana, showed his resentment when his son-in-law Imran Farhat was not selected for the three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka in Abu Dhabi in April. Ilyas went into the room of Salahuddin and complained for not selecting his son-in-law.

“To safeguard our staff we have to take some measures after the threat, so we did it in the best interest of the board,” Naghmi stated.

Asked whether the PCB was expecting Ilyas would use weapons against the selectors, Naghmi denied he said that, however, added that taking appropriate measures was the board’s right to avoid any untoward situation.

But when asked whether a warning (to Ilyas) was not unnecessary, before banning him, Naghmi replied the PCB took the decision on merit, however, he added, if Ilyas felt himself wrong he could apologise for his act to get the ban lifted.