PCB chairmanship a reward for fixing punctures, says Khan
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ISLAMABAD: Former Pakistan captain turned politician Imran Khan Tuesday lashed out at the country's newly reappointed cricket chief, alleging he was being rewarded for helping the ruling party commit fraud in last year's general elections.
Najam Sethi, a prominent journalist who was also appointed as interim chief minister of the Punjab province during last year's election campaign, was reinstated as Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman on Monday by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
His predecessor Zaka Ashraf was removed on charges of not running the board properly.
But Khan said that Sethi was being rewarded for helping to rig the result of the May elections, in which his Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaaf (PTI) party won 35 of the 272 seats in the national parliament.
The PTI has launched legal challenges concerning the result in hundreds of constituencies at the national and provincial levels.
“When the election tribunal rules on them we will know... who fixed the puncture and who was rewarded with the gift of the PCB chairmanship,” Khan told reporters.
“Fixing the punctures” refers to election rigging allegations.
Sethi denied the allegations.
“Whoever has been accusing me (of rigging in elections)... I will take legal actions against them,” Sethi told reporters.
Khan also questioned whether Sethi, who is best known as the editor of the liberal Friday Times weekly newspaper, had enough cricketing knowledge for the post.
Sethi's reinstatement was the latest twist in a long running legal saga that saw Ashraf brought back as chief on January 15 by the Islamabad high court, eight months after he was originally removed over dubious elections in the PCB.
Sethi was appointed the caretaker chairman in the interim period.
Meanwhile, Ashraf's sacking was challenged in the Islamabad high court by two petitioners.
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On DawnNews
Comments (54) Closed
Feb 11, 2014 07:48pm
IK is correct. What qualifies Sethi for appointment as PCB chairman?
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Feb 11, 2014 07:59pm
Tine will tell about Mr. Sethi's integrity, however, the big question is that why he is accepting politically influenced appointments? How can he be an independent analyst?
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Feb 11, 2014 08:04pm
100 percent rightly said by the one and the only great Imran Khan.
In fact, the whole world knows about the so-called cricketing credentials of Najam Sethi. They are of course, zero.
It's an irony that he has been made the chairman of PCB. The fact of the matter is that since he helped Mian brothers to illegally come into power by rigging the last elections in the "land of the pure" under his watch as the interim Chief Minister of the Punjab province, he is being rewarded with one of the most lucrative public positions in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, which according to some neutral, independent and third party analysts is even bigger and better than the current hand-picked President of Pakistan. What a joke?
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Feb 11, 2014 08:10pm
Imran Khan is 100% right, in his statement. It is reward to Sethi for fixing punctures. It was a bad intent from the very begining when PM Sharif took over PCB Patronship from President, thus becoming himself PCB Patron. O' Allah, where honest people have gone?
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Feb 11, 2014 08:17pm
Govt need to stop favring people and bring people who know knowledge for the filed
In electric Govt have Mr shabir he does not know much
Things can not be run professional way till. Each department have passionable and knowledge able people
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Feb 11, 2014 08:38pm
Lets hope that the court undue this shameful act of Shariffs
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Feb 11, 2014 08:39pm
It clearly shows that Nawaz Shareef is just interested in his power, and his dedcisions are always foolish.
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Feb 11, 2014 09:05pm
@QB:
Puncture Specialist!!
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Feb 11, 2014 09:08pm
so very correct......
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Feb 11, 2014 09:19pm
why najam sethi ? Nawaz sharif is simply returning the favor . In my opinion he is more of a propagandist than analyst. I guess nothing will ever change in this country . Nawaz sharif is as bad as zardari if not worse . shameful to say the least.
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Feb 11, 2014 09:23pm
I agree 100%. Sethi was definately involved in unfair elections. He had put pressure on Punjab police and election commission to rig elections. He made sure PTI does not win seats in Punjab. Such a hypocrite!!
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Feb 11, 2014 09:24pm
I regret that Mr Khan still does not understand the basis on which votes are cast in Punjab as well as in parts of India and continues to allege vote rigging. There votes are cast on the basis of
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Feb 11, 2014 09:36pm
Sethi was silent on 'Big Three' in ICC (since the idea was presented in ICC). May be Zaka's Return was a plan to let him represent PCB in ICC's Meeting in Singapore. Now when 'Big Three' have become the 'imperials' and Zaka was representing Pakistan in that meeting, Sethi has appointed (again).
Sethi's integrity was guttered the time he accepted the acting chairmanship. It has been stamped now.
Mr Khan's point has a validity and PTI should take it to legal levels.
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Feb 11, 2014 09:43pm
@QB:
same way imran is qualified for politics..........someone who has no experience running an institution, organization or enterprise, being a member of a city council, or begin a mayor, chairman district, provincial minister or federal minister...........but a team of 11 cricketers only........and yet he wants to be a prime minister and nothing less.......hilarious.
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Feb 11, 2014 09:52pm
Aqle kul
The reason behind his appointment is that PM considers him as "Aqle kul".
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Feb 11, 2014 09:59pm
There is no mention in the article of the wikileaks source in which agencies have intercepted calls btw sethi and shahbaz sharif...for fixing punctures.
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Feb 11, 2014 10:02pm
@QB: And what qualifies Ashraf for the post of Chairman?
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Feb 11, 2014 10:02pm
@QB: And what qualifies Ashraf for the post of Chairman?
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Feb 11, 2014 10:13pm
Sethi once said after serving as CM of Punjab it would be below his station to work as PCB Chairman. However, for a conniving and scheming person like him anything is possible as far as if brings in money and power.
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Feb 11, 2014 10:18pm
Love live the great Khan!!!! May Allah help you do next election with biometric and the world will know the TRUTH and why pakistanis want you as PM!!!
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Feb 11, 2014 10:24pm
Take legal action Mr Sethi. So that IK can produce the tape as evidence of the conversation that took place.
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Feb 11, 2014 10:33pm
Mr. SETHI has no experience in the cricket. If he was honest enough to himself he would never have taken this position.
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Feb 11, 2014 10:47pm
I feel sorry for those readers who press the 'unlike' button without thoroughly analyzing the comment.
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Feb 11, 2014 11:40pm
It seems to me that a lot thumbs down against Imran Khan's statement are politically motivated. No one is writing why Najam Sethi is a good selection, only giving thumbs down.
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Feb 11, 2014 11:53pm
very apt. Najam Sethi is being rewarded by the Sharif establishment
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Feb 11, 2014 11:59pm
One new and notorious chapter added to the already scandal-ridden cricket history of Pakistan. We bow our head in gratitude to our Prime Minister for this excellent addition.
Does this country need enemies?
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Feb 12, 2014 12:00am
I don't think that there is any other country which has as much political interference as in Pakistan. In the end this is extremely detrimental to cricket, Imran Khan being a past cricket captain should know this. This may cause a lot of stress on the cricketers and who can blame them if they are not successful?
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Feb 12, 2014 12:07am
I am no longer a big fan of IK. However, I agree with him on this topic.
Najam Sethi, whose program I have ben watching with some interest, has only hurst his credibility by accepting this controversial posting.
Najam is rich and famous enough that he should care more about preserving his credibility- he failed miserably.
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Feb 12, 2014 12:18am
Whatever good reputation Sehti had earned as a journalist, he lost it by accepting this position..
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Feb 12, 2014 01:03am
@Rogers Evans:
A new Iqbal must come from every locality... but not from my home. People mostly point fingers at others... Where are honest people?... A TRUE "Roger Evans" is asking... O! Allah SWT, he is asking where are they?
Dear charity begins at home..
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Feb 12, 2014 01:14am
Really disappointment from Sethi, if he was honest he would have rejected this post. But as once rightly said by Washington congressmen that "Pakistani will sell anything for money including their mothers" very true but sad at the same time.
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Feb 12, 2014 03:37am
@Rogers Evans:
Just make a list of Nawaz Sharif appointees in his government and various authorities, you will hardly find anyone who is not a relative, relative's relative, friend or friend's friend of Nawaz. Pakistan is now a private company of Nawaz and Shhbaz Sharif.
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Feb 12, 2014 03:40am
@TKhan:
First thing he should do is to leave the show "Apas Ki Baat", because up til now the impression he gave is that he is independent, which is not the case any more.
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Feb 12, 2014 03:43am
Exactly. The head of any field should be an expert of that field or at least have some solid knowledge of that field, in this case it's cricket. How is Najam Sethi suitable for the position? How? He may be a brilliant political analyst and writer but that does not, in any way, mean that he is an expert on cricket. It is like asking Waqar Younis or Shahid Afridi to write weekly articles on Islamic history just because of their popularity in a completely different field of expertise.
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Feb 12, 2014 05:06am
Najam sethi should give explanation of 35 punctures thingy and well, every action that govt does is to prevent election rechecking from happening, like changing nadra chief and not listening to supreme court command, this all goes against najam sethi himself and it does look like that he really did fix 35 punctures!
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Feb 12, 2014 05:54am
@Rogers Evans:
Only honest, ethical individual Pakistan has produced was Mr. Jinnah and he died on September 11, 1948. He was born in British India.
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Feb 12, 2014 06:55am
One should not blame anybody unless it is proven in the court of law. Also, management skills are required to run an institution like PCB and not the cricket knowledge (which is quite good of any Pakistani citizen).
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Feb 12, 2014 07:02am
Nawaz sharif is an honorable man. He kept his words and put Najam back as PCB chief.
You scratch my back, I scratch yours....-:)
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Feb 12, 2014 07:28am
IK - Who will fix all the problems. Seems everyone talking. PML-N continues to do what ever they want, appoint their buddies. Pretty soon we will be left with nothing when they are done with selling Pakistani assets and buying it cheap.
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Feb 12, 2014 09:45am
I agree with Imran Khan Mr.Sethi was among those who helped Nawaz shariff in winning election by illegal means as he was the acting CM of of Punjab at that time now his integrity is doubtful .
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Feb 12, 2014 10:05am
Very well said IK. What happened to promises of "pure merit" by Sharif brothers?
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Feb 12, 2014 12:34pm
It is about time some punctures are really fixed in a true sense by IK and his PTI too. The carnage of innocent people being killed almost daily in Peshawar is deplorable. IK please bring some sense back to the people who do these horrible things.
Long back Sethi was in the bad books of the Shariff's I believe and he did spend some time in jail as well. So is he now their buddy?
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Feb 12, 2014 12:44pm
Honestly , Thanks a Zillion my good gracious Lord that IK hasn't got majority in Punjab, on the other hand Mr. Sethi should leave PCB acting Chairmanship ASAP for his credibility
Cheers
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Feb 12, 2014 02:01pm
1000% right.IK is the best person to rule pakistan at present and also should become chairman of PCB
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Feb 12, 2014 02:48pm
How low can one get. I too thank God that he IK has lost the election. We would be in a bigger mess than ever. He just needs to accept the reality and correct his EGO.
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Feb 12, 2014 06:17pm
Rightly said by the one and the only great Imran Khan.
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Feb 13, 2014 12:17am
One should not blame anybody unless it is proven in the court of law. Also, management skills are required to run an institution like PCB and not so much of cricket knowledge.
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Feb 13, 2014 02:37am
Absolutely True
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Feb 13, 2014 04:01am
@Adnan:
So what management skills does Mr. Sethi have to his credit? Fixing 35 punctures does not a manager make.
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Feb 13, 2014 08:10am
@Idealist:
Not only for his credibility but also becuase he has zero cricketing knowledge. I do not know if the elections were rigged or not but I do know that Sethi has been rewarded for some service he has performed fr Nawaz Sharif and definitely not for his cricketing knowledge. I would hate to see someone like him representing Pak cricket in International forums!!!!
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Feb 13, 2014 08:14am
@Adnan:
Management skills with out technical skills is useless. Can you lead a team of doctors with out having medical knowledge? Or a team of lawyers without having knowledge of law? Or head a team of engineers designing a brdige?
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Feb 13, 2014 10:19am
@Rahim:
You need to accept the fact that elections of May 11 were neither free nor transparent.I have ample evidence to proof this fact.If some one is in denial phase than its a different storey altogether
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Feb 13, 2014 09:23pm
imran should provide evidence or go to courts before making accusations on anyone. he really disgusts me with such periodic statements.
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Feb 14, 2014 11:21am
It is not fair on part of the Nawaz Government to appoint an Ex-Caretaker Chief Minister, as Chairman PCB. Najm Sathi should be ashamed of accepting such a dubious seat only for some monetary benefits.
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