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KARACHI: Pakistan on Sunday appointed a senior journalist as interim chairman of country's cricket board following a court order.
Najam Sethi, 65, who also worked as caretaker chief minister of central Punjab province, was appointed interim head by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif after orders this week from the Islamabad high court.
Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Zaka Ashraf was ordered to halt work last month amid a row over his election, which was criticised in some quarters as unfairly influenced by President Asif Ali Zardari, the board's patron.
Shakil Shaikh,a member of the PCB governning board, told the Associated Press Sunday that Sethi has been given the task to "restructure the PCB, its administration and review cricket board's constitution".
“I have been asked by the prime minister to fulfil limited responsiblity and I will do my best to do that,” Sethi told AFP.
Ashraf, 60, became the first-ever elected chairman of the PCB last month under a new constitution demanded by the International Cricket Council (ICC) to reduce political interference.
Ashraf's nomination was widely criticised by former players and officials who denounced it as politically motivated. Former Pakistan Army cricket coach Ahmed Nadeem Sadal challenged the appointment in court and the hearing will be held on Monday.
The court had ordered the Inter-Provincial Committee – looking after the sports affairs in the country – to appoint an interim PCB chairman until the case is decided.
Sethi said his priority will be to facilitate the selection of the team for an upcoming tour of the West Indies.
He will also attend the ICC annual general meeting later this week.
“I will be facilitating the team selection which was pending because of the suspension of the chairman and then attend the ICC meeting,” said Sethi.
The ICC meeting will be held in London from June 25-29. The chief executives of all the boards meet on the first two days followed by the Board meeting which is attended by the heads of member cricket boards.
Pakistan tours the West Indies for five one-day and two Twenty20 internationals next month.
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Comments (81) Closed
Jun 23, 2013 05:38pm
Dear Sethi Saheb, this is not your job
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Jun 23, 2013 05:55pm
Mr. Sethi, could you start with (1) arranging A-team tours to England, AUstralia and South Africa. Our up-coming talent needs an exposure to these conditions. (2) And Please reduce the first class teams to 8 so that a competetive standard can be achieved (3) Please get rid of those who have been hanging on for tens of years but have bellow par averages, that too accumulated against lowly attacks in subcontinental conditions. We all hope that you will bring in long waited new talent in to the team. Please don't be afraid to defeats if they are meant to try out players like Ahmad Shehzad, Haris Sohail and Usman Sallahudin.
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Jun 23, 2013 06:02pm
Please get rid of people like Miandad, Intekhab and Ilyas who have done nothing for cricket (other than in their playing days) but earn fortunes by occupying hot seats. Bring in some professional managers and educated ex-players. Make our first class competetive and worth producing quality crickters. Get rid of players who never perform, like Farhat, Hafeez, Malik, Kamran etc and bring in Haris Sohail, Ahmad Shehzad, Razzaq and Fawad Alam.
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Jun 23, 2013 06:08pm
A reward for the services rendered in stage managing the elections 2013 in punjab.
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Jun 23, 2013 06:05pm
Wise decision by the government. NS can restructure and can bring reform to PCB and can eliminate mafia from the board.
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Jun 23, 2013 06:14pm
positive move, high hopes from Sethi sahib that he'll deliver.
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Jun 23, 2013 06:13pm
Oh my God, here we go again. Another appointment that has nothing to do with cricket is assigned the task of restructuring! when will we ever learn
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Jun 23, 2013 06:16pm
Just a little reward for serving PMLN in the election as cartaker CM. they say they will have changed in the past 15 years, r they?
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Jun 23, 2013 06:25pm
@kamakazi:
Deliver what?
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Jun 23, 2013 06:35pm
You give us power we will reward you. Irrelevant appointment, What a jock!!
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Jun 23, 2013 06:44pm
I never see my comments back? where have they gone after "modration" ?
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Jun 23, 2013 07:16pm
Paid back .well done NS
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Jun 23, 2013 07:28pm
From a journalist to Nawaz's favourite,
the journey continues....
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Jun 23, 2013 07:58pm
@Imtiaz:
What have those, who have everything with cricket to do, done in years of their occupying management seats. What innovative ideas or specific improvements Miandad has brought being a general manager? Would you appoint a "lohar" as a CEO of steelmills or a piolet to manage PIA, Or have you played in our national team to be able to make this comment? You don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out that our first class is not competetive and tough enough to produce quality players. Players would average 60+ in our domestics but when given a chance in the national set-up, they won't even score at 30. We only need 7-8 teams to make it to a package of top players only. Then we need a lot of A-team tours to english speaking countries so that our young talent gets an exposure to nasty conditions before they do their self assesment in persuit to playing in the national team. Here you only need an honest man who has some knowledge to cricket and is analytical and innovative in nature. We need managers and educated heads to make researchs and manage accordingly.
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Jun 23, 2013 08:05pm
Better suited to become Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission
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Jun 23, 2013 08:09pm
aapas ki baat! wrong place at the wrong time...Sethi Sahab..don't know what you are doing?
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Jun 23, 2013 08:16pm
When are we going to stop political appontments ? This guy never held a bat ? What does he know about cricket ? It is just a REWARD for being faithful and yes-man to NS and PML -N. What a shame ? God bless Pakistan Cricket !!!
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Jun 23, 2013 08:18pm
Mr. Sethi, on many occasions you have analyzed and criticized patronage by previous governments. You brought up the lack of qualifications of many office holders and showed your dismay about unjust appointments; be it Ministers or other government controlled organizations. What is your take in accepting a position for which you only have academic knowledge and no experience as a professional cricketeer?
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Jun 23, 2013 08:35pm
@gulzar:
Your amazing English has something to do with it....
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Jun 23, 2013 08:36pm
@Kamal:
Why NOT ???
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Jun 23, 2013 08:41pm
Good move, Mian Sir.....
Good Luck, Sethi Sir......
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Jun 23, 2013 08:44pm
@TKhan:
Very well highlighted..
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Jun 23, 2013 08:54pm
Respected sir get out of this , please . You are great and cricket team is a bunch of uneducated and money grabbing street boys .
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Jun 23, 2013 08:57pm
This totally defeats the purpose of an elected chairman as envisaged by ICC. What has Sethi got to do with cricket and the tradition continues in Pakistan! Sethi has been rewarded by PMLN for winning Punjab for them by any and all means.
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Jun 23, 2013 09:02pm
Well there we go again, same crap started all over but this time it is PML-N term so they are going to start the loot for next 5 year and our fool citizen of pakisan are never going to learn till this country will become rawanda...........So now i understand why PCB is keep picking past failures, just like people o Pakistan keep selecting past failures..........
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Jun 23, 2013 09:17pm
Good thing because he will atleast hopefully not have favourites in farhat, malik and akmal.
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Jun 23, 2013 09:27pm
Mr. Najam Sethi is neither Umar Quershi nor Jamshad Marker in the Cricket world. He has proven to be another human being full of ambitions whether qualified or not. Anyways good luck
Mr. Sethi.
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Jun 23, 2013 09:27pm
Well done for free and fair elections in punjab.. I'm sure you will do no less to PCB.
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Jun 23, 2013 09:33pm
First things first, remove Misbah from captaincy. He owns no leadership skills. Keep him as a batsman along with one or two other two 30+ experienced middle order players. Fill in 19 world cup champions like INDIA has done. Only bring Afridi as a captain or not at all.
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Jun 23, 2013 10:11pm
@gulzar:
You probably are too rough on the establishment!
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Jun 23, 2013 10:53pm
congratulation!!!!!!sethi sahab
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Jun 23, 2013 10:52pm
For God Sake, leave our cricket immune for your incompetent politicians. Zaka Ashraf was doing a good job with the board, what was wrong with it ?
And who is NS to appoint the interim Chief ? The patron of PCB Is the president, not the PM.
There has to be an element of "what is being challenged" rather than every tom, dick and harry taking national institutions to court.
This government is miserably failing for the start and they are going to ruin cricket as well.
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Jun 23, 2013 11:11pm
@Ali Zafar:
i hope this is sarcasm.
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Jun 24, 2013 01:13am
In Pakistan: Sub Chalta Hai Bhai. Good for Mr. Sethi Sahib!
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Jun 24, 2013 02:16am
NS has got good diplomatic relations with India. This Might be strategic move by govt to make players part of IPL.. Many of Pak people are watching IPL, then they are also contributors to the AD generations.. Then why should pak players not involve in IPL, when there are coaches,umpires,commentators from pakistan why not players?? Hope they will be part in upcoming IPL.. IPL has brought many talents into light, let that help pakistan too..
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Jun 24, 2013 02:18am
Sethi Sahib getting rewards for his performance as acting CM punjab during election.Also keep him quite journalist. Let,s see
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Jun 24, 2013 03:00am
@TKhan: For this job you need to be a good administrator and the rest he can get it done through professionals.
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Jun 24, 2013 03:07am
He is an interm chairman meaning just for time being there are a few tasks that needed to be taken care of by the PCB once they are taken care of ia am sure Mr Sethi will step aside what's wrong with that so just chill people and afterwards hopefully the right selected person will start to put some attention on domestic structure
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Jun 24, 2013 03:50am
It is going to be the most unfortunate thing for our cricket if Najam Sethi says that he is not going to change anything but only do the usual administration as a care-taker. If this is the mind-set then you have at least one more year before someone comes in to change this mess. Pakistan Cricket needs some urgent changes and thats needed now.
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Jun 24, 2013 04:15am
@saylani:
What u think about Sethi,an upright person?what a poor observation.
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Jun 24, 2013 04:20am
@Nadeem Mirza:
These sort of people r shame prove.
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Jun 24, 2013 05:06am
The charade continues
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Jun 24, 2013 05:47am
Congratulations, Sethi Sab. Two clear tasks before you. Persuade foreign teams to play in Pakistan and get Pakistani cricketers to play in IPL
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Jun 24, 2013 06:20am
Sethi is an interim Chief. They were probabaly looking for an articualte educated person to represent Pakistan in upcoming ICC meeting. There have always been unusual PCB appointments for PCB chief...from a diplomat, a General to a corporate Ceo. Its less strange than deemed. Give him a chance.
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Jun 24, 2013 06:46am
@Bilal:
Yes totally agree .He will be a great loyallist to Nawaz than cricket.
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Jun 24, 2013 07:45am
I hope Mr Sethi has the guts and power to cleanup the PCB and the Selection Committee. unless swift cleanup is done, future of this game is in jeopardy.
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Jun 24, 2013 08:19am
I have listened to his views on Indo-Pak relations and he is one of the most sensible guys in Pakistan. Good move for Pakistan cricket.
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Jun 24, 2013 08:29am
What a reward for giving his services to PMLN. Must be happy with this reward. Things are now becoming very clear. If still someone thinks that elections in Punjab were fair and free then he lives a in a fool's paradise.
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Jun 24, 2013 08:34am
Congratulations! Mr. Sethi! Did you ever play cricket in the past twenty-five years? If you did, then did you play with a 'right handed or a left handed cricket bat?' Mr. Sethi, for the sake of cricket and its relevance to the country, please do not continue to function indefinitely on an interim or ad hoc basis, because Pakistan cricket, even after sixty-five years, has not found its bearings and remains politically leveraged. Salams
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Jun 24, 2013 09:00am
@Oz:
What's that which Zaka Ashraf was doing all right? He was nothing but custodian of status quo. Did he send a lot of A-teams to Australia, South Africa and England so that up-coming talent can get some exposure to those conditions? Did he fix our low grade first class system? Did he make some new academies? Did he get rid of people like Ilyas, Miandad and Intekhab who are sitting on top posts but doing nothing? Did he stop favouritism in team selections? Did he get us any test series as we play the least of all big nations?
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Jun 24, 2013 09:04am
For each and every seat which Mr. Sethi won for MLN, he deserves to get one month of PCB chairmanship. 30 seats means 30 months of chairmanship and 30 million in salary alone.
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Jun 24, 2013 09:45am
Neither Sethi nor I know anything about cricket and its management. That makes me equally qualified to become the next PCB Chairman - I am sending in my CV for the job too!
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Jun 24, 2013 09:59am
i will be happy if Pakistan is barred from playing cricket till the government influence is not over, no country should play Pakistan. what is the difference between Zardari & Nawaz Sharif the cricket in Pakistan is run completely by these thugs they have destroyed the country & cricket in Pakistan the result was the recent Champions Trophy.
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Jun 24, 2013 10:16am
Bravo, Mr Sethi got an early reward for his for manipulation in favor of PML-N during his caretaker Chief Minster tenor of Panjub
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Jun 24, 2013 10:18am
Well, This is called lottery !!! Why not hire Munib as head of selection committee ????
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Jun 24, 2013 10:24am
Ya Ba Da Ba Dooooooo....
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Jun 24, 2013 10:41am
Only Imran bhai can uplift Pak cricket. Myself and many Indian youngsters grown admiring him of his leadership skills, cricketing skills, the way he speaks and many more. I know this is not going to happen, but lets hope some miracle takes place.
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Jun 24, 2013 11:01am
I am an Indian but I am happy mr. Sethi is a honest person
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Jun 24, 2013 11:42am
nonsense!
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Jun 24, 2013 12:27pm
@khan:
Relations between the two countries are not conducive to that proposition.
Also,it wont be safe for Pakistani players in India.
Pakistan can set up its own league and stop the indians from playing
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Jun 24, 2013 01:20pm
This is unfair, Sethi saabh enjoys incredible goodwill in India, he could bring about a resumption of Indo-Pak tours. I fear that once that happens it will open the flood gates to other renewed contacts with Pak, and the world will forget the Mumbai dead among other injustices we have had to suffer at the hands of Pak army. I hope he turns down this offer, we are not ready for peace yet.
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Jun 24, 2013 01:52pm
Dear Sir,
I am extremely glad to see the news that Mr. Nazab Sethi. is appointed the officiating Chairman of P.B.C. He is a great thinker, analyst person, humble and an honest. Nobody can say that what would be happen in coming years but it is sure that if PBC members is alongwith Mr. Nazab Sethi then a new Pakistani team should be built in the world. I salute my most favorite person of the world. He deserve to be a General Secretary of U.N.O. Please convey my SALAM to Mr. Sethi.
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Jun 24, 2013 02:19pm
Same role for Najam Sethi. From 'election fixer' to 'match fixer'. In 'His Majesty's Service' and well paid for it.
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Jun 24, 2013 02:22pm
In Pakistan every thing is possible. Another old man just like Fakhro Bahi now he is going to run PCB, may Allah help Pakistan cricket.
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Jun 24, 2013 02:22pm
@Osman:
Did you manipulate the elections in favor of NS? No! That's what I thought. Hence, you are not qualified. Don't bother sending your CV.
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Jun 24, 2013 02:57pm
@Adeel:
not a lottery, but a proof that from inside they all are one, and before public they are opponents. poor and simple public, keep watching and electing.
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Jun 24, 2013 03:07pm
@Osman:
The Qualification for the post is that you should have strong relations with the head of the ruling party.
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Jun 24, 2013 03:13pm
@nitish:
"what a close look". after all you are a neighbour
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Jun 24, 2013 03:20pm
@nitish: "I am an Indian but I am happy mr. Sethi is a honest person"
Ofcourse you do, after all he Pakistani Mir Jaffer
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Jun 24, 2013 03:26pm
@NK Ali: "Mr. Sethi, for the sake of cricket and its relevance to the country..."
Are you really asking Sethi to step back for the sake of country and sport?
Sorry Bro! you are so naive.
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Jun 24, 2013 03:27pm
@Vairamuthu:
He has taken a much bigger task of fixing ills in the political landscape of the country.
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Jun 24, 2013 03:47pm
Another non cricketer become Chief at base of relationship. God bless Pakistan & Pak Cricket. very soon Pak will need to play to qualify for World-cup ...
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Jun 24, 2013 03:59pm
Mr Sethi played a 'good inning' and took care of Punjab and 'delivered' and now it is time of for reward for him and message for others. Mian Sahiban are generous and pay back if you stay loyal.
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Jun 24, 2013 03:59pm
nazam sethi is journalist not a cricketer, i dont know why the called him as chief, best of luck paksitan team.
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Jun 24, 2013 04:16pm
It is about time Paki team players should stop thinking selfishly and perform their best for the country. I hope the new leadership in the PCB would promote this concept.
We as a nation have the skill and talent to compete and win any trophy, it is the arrogance, ego and selfish behavior that we as a team has to tackle.
Goodluck doing that Sethi saab.
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Jun 24, 2013 04:57pm
why we always have a chairman who has nothing to do with cricket and everything with PM and President I guess that itself is undemocratic and should be constitutionally changed so that political figures who come and go - wont be able to DICTATE appointment but rather should just be able to have say in the process which should put conditions on who can participate in running for the post..
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Jun 24, 2013 05:01pm
I Love this man and he surely could do something good for disgraced PCB. But I am missing his show "Appas Ki Baat".
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Jun 24, 2013 07:02pm
@Adeel:
Basically this is REWARD for holding FREE and FAIR elections :)
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Jun 25, 2013 02:45am
@Vikki, Pul Bangash, Dilli:
Please keep in mind that Neurologist can't perform the task of biologist.
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Jun 25, 2013 02:56am
@Sanjeev Mishra:
Absolutely misfit for this task. Perhaps, this is the final exit route for Sethi saheb
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Jun 25, 2013 03:59pm
Etu sethi.now its ur turn.is it true you have been rewarded for your electioneering job .so be it .God bless Pakistan and PCB.
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