May 31, 2008	Saturday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 25, 1429

LAHORE, May 30: Punjab governor Salman Taseer has resigned as member of the Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) Appellate Tribunal (AT), which had been formed to hear fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar’s appeal against the five-year ban imposed on him by the board’s disciplinary committee.

Salman was one of the members of the three-man AT headed by retired Justice Aftab Farrukh with former Test cricketer Haseeb Ahsan as the third member.

Salman had been appointed the governor of Punjab a couple of weeks back but on Friday he decided to quit the AT due to his other pressing assignments.

A PCB spokesman said that Salman had tendered the resignation to the AT head and the PCB chairman would now be nominating another member to replace him before the next hearing of the AT scheduled for June 8.

The PCB disciplinary committee headed by retired Lt Gen Muneer Hafeez had imposed the ban on Shoaib on April 1 for breaching the player’s code of conduct when he had been found publicly criticising the board’s policy. Shoaib, while apologising for his behaviour, had moved an appeal against the ban but the AT continued with its proceedings before halting last month just to allow the bowler to go to India and take part in the ongoing league there.