June 21, 2008	Saturday	Jamadi-us-Sani 16, 1429

LAHORE, June 20: Former Test cricketer Salim Altaf, who was sacked recently as special projects director by Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Dr Nasim Ashraf, has written a letter to PCB’s Governing Board members demanding an inquiry into the way he was fired.

The Governing Board is to meet here on Saturday and it is likely the issue will be discussed in their meeting.

In the letter, Salim explained the whole incident and alleged that the behaviour of the chairman on the day of sacking was humiliating.

He urged the members to constitute a committee to investigate the matter.

“Termination of services without a cause should be done gracefully. The termination has to be preceded by an inquiry,” Salim pointed out in his letter.

The former PCB official said he was not among the major decision-makers for the last one year and therefore he had no sensitive news to share with the media.

Salim added there was an impression that the e-mail sent to the Pakistan team manager was leaked to the press by him.

There was no truth, said Salim, adding that a well-informed top official did that ‘dirty’ job.

He alleged that the PCB chairman had himself leaked the most sensitive information about positive doping tests of Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif in October 2006.

“This letter is written to state the facts. The honourable members may, in their wisdom, decide to institute an inquiry into the sordid state of affairs,” Salim concluded.