April 27, 2008	Sunday	Rabi-us-Sani 20, 1429

ISLAMABAD, April 26: Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Dr Nasim Ashraf on Saturday said he had the highest respect for the Parliament, the National Assembly and the Senate and will do everything in his capacity to satisfy their queries regarding the working of the board.

Giving an hour-long comprehensive briefing to the Senate Standing Committee on Sports over PCB’s performance since October 2006 along with the board’s short and long term plans, Dr Ashraf emphasised that the entire working of the PCB was a transparent process and neither he nor the board had anything to hide from anyone since his conscience was clear.

The Senate Committee advised the PCB to improve its strategy for upgrading the international cricket ranking of Pakistan team.

The committee met here on Saturday which reviewed the performance of the PCB, under the chairmanship of Senator Abdul Rahim Mandokhel, Pakistan’s one-day and Test rankings since the inception of Dr Ashraf.

Answering a question regarding the confusion over the salaries of senior PCB officials, which has come under a lot of debate in the Senate as well as in the media recently, the PCB chief said an unfortunate miscommunication on part of the accounts department had resulted in a confusion over the salary of Mr Shafqat Naghmi, the Chief Operating Officer, which is deeply regretted.

He pointed out that if the PCB could provide complete details of its employees and accounts to the Senate Committee in August 2007, there is no reason why things could not be furnished in their true form now.

Dr Ashraf proudly stated that the PCB coffers have only swelled during his tenure and the board had around Rs4.8 billion in its kitty compared to Rs2 billion at the time of him assuming the post in October 2006.

Reacting to what he termed ‘a smear campaign against his person in a section of media’, Dr Ashraf said that he will not hesitate in taking the irresponsible elements to court for spreading unsubstantiated stories regarding misuse of funds and other alleged irregularities.

He reiterated that while the PCB had no reservations whatsoever on providing the required details to a responsible forum such as the Senate Committee, there was solid proof with the board that a lot of confidential information was being leaked out to the press by a certain Senator, which was extremely disturbing.

Naghmi also gave a presentation of board’s development projects in various regions of the country. He informed the committee that a state-of-the-art cricket stadium will be constructed in Islamabad.

Meanwhile, Senator Sadia Abbasi also attended the meeting on special invitation by the committee. She requested that through a requisition the committee would like to call upon the PCB officials to speak about the board’s financial issues and the salaries of the officials.

Senator Tahir Mashhadi said that the fact remains the fact that winning against teams like Zimbabwe and Bangladesh is not a big achievement of the board.

Agencies add: The PCB officials said that development of about 100 cricket grounds at tge district level, establishment of 11 regional cricket academies and up-gradation of cricket stadiums all over Pakistan will be the hallmark of PCB development plans.

The Senate Committee was informed that Pakistan were the runners-up in the Twenty20 World Championship in South Africa last year and recorded 11 consecutive victories in One-day Internationals.

The PCB officials also said that the board has now given a defined pathway towards cricket development, starting from club and school cricket to district, under-19 grade ‘A’ cricket, first-class cricket including regions and institutions and the national team.

While concluding the performance, objectives and achievements of Pakistan cricket since October 2006, the PCB chief said the board was keen to ensure that a winning combination for the 2011 World Cup is achieved by Pakistan and create a large talent pool of young players who should serve Pakistan cricket for years to come.