August 24, 2007	Friday	Sha’aban 10, 1428

LAHORE, Aug 23: None of the top Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) officials are likely to attend the meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Sports, scheduled to be held in Islamabad on Saturday.

The meeting has been called to discuss various important issues including the non-implementation of the new PCB constitution, the salary packages of the newly-appointed board officials besides other things.

However, the PCB Chairman Dr Nasim Ashraf is out of country and is likely to reach Pakistan on Sunday.

In his absence, the PCB Chief Operating Officer Shafqat Naghmi was supposed to attend the meeting but he, along with NCA director Mudassar Nazar and assistant director Ali Zia, are set to visit Australia from Saturday in connection with the purchase of equipment for biomechanics labs at the National Cricket Academy (NCA).

Moreover, the PCB Director Cricket Operations Zakir Khan is scheduled to leave for Kenya on Friday to observe the playing facilities there before Pakistan team’s tour for a four-nation warm-up event from Sept 1 to 4, ahead of the Twenty20 World Championship in South Africa starting on Sept 11.

The PCB’s Director Media, Dr Ahsan Hameed Malik told Dawn that the visit of the officials had been planned much earlier and it was not an attempt to avoid the Senate meeting.

He said PCB Chief Financial Officer Hasan Khan would attend the Senate meeting.