April 30, 2008	Wednesday	Rabi-us-Sani 23, 1429

LAHORE, April 29: The unqualified apology tendered by Shoaib Akhtar before the PCB-appointed Appellate Tribunal on Monday was pre-planned to get him acquitted from the five-year ban, but the attempt was foil because the head of the tribunal Justice (retired) Aftab Farrukh was against making a quick verdict.

Sources told Dawn that when Shoaib stunned everyone by tendering the written apology during the meeting, one of the two members of the tribunal suggested Justice Farrukh to pardon the pacer and allow him to play the Indian Premier League (IPL).

After the suggestion, the tribunal head asked both the members (Salman Taseer and Haseeb Ahsan) to see him in private as he did not want to discuss any proposal in front of the player and the lawyers.

The tribunal chief held a short meeting with Salman and Haseeb after which it was decided that it was up to the PCB chief to accept or reject Shoaib’s apology, because he was the aggrieved party.

Another proposal of starting the date of ban after one month, enabling Shoaib to feature in the IPL, did not carry weight, sources said.

Furthermore, a proposal to return back the case to the PCB after the apology was not accepted by the board’s lawyer Tafazzal Hussain, sources said.

Shoaib is facing five different charges, under which he had already been banned for five years by the PCB’s disciplinary committee. The enigmatic pace bowler had filed an appeal against the ban for which the PCB formed an independent tribunal.

Sources said a split decision is likely in Shoaib’s case.