Before Pakistan got official Test status in cricket, one Mian Mohammad Saeed was national team captain. In 1950, the public hurled stones at Saeed after a defeat to the Commonwealth XI and amidst in-house intrigues, head of the cricket board Justice A. R. Cornelius unceremoniously removed Saeed as captain. He handpicked Abdul Hafeez Kardar and requested him to return from England after assuring him a position of national leadership.

Saeed tried staging a coup in 1954, but Kardar being a gentleman cricketer in England, a supporter of Mohammad Ali Jinnah and an ambassador of Muslims in pre-partitioned India, had too much political clout for Saeed’s meek attempt of an overthrow. Kardar met Pakistan’s Defence Secretary, Major General Iskander Mirza who quickly resolved the matter.

Mian Mohammad never played for Pakistan again and his son Yawar Saeed was also excluded from the team even after showing all-round cricketing talent at Somerset. In time, Kardar became the father of Pakistan cricket and Yawar was never to play for Pakistan. However, Mian Mohammad’s son served Pakistan cricket in different capacities, long after Kardar’s time was over.

In 1958, in an attempt to save Pakistan from political unrest and civil disobedience (the Bengali language movement) in East Pakistan, General Mirza imposed a Martial Law. He suspended the constitution and dissolved the Pakistani Parliament. He became the head of the Board of Cricket Control Pakistan (B.C.C.P) and president of Pakistan. Twenty two days later, Field Marshal Ayub Khan usurped all powers and exiled General Mirza to London.

Cricket’s destiny in Pakistan has always been intricately intertwined with its political environment. And over fifty years on from Pakistan’s first military coup and martial law, Pakistan cricket has made little progress in operating with any autonomy from its political corridors.

Year 2008 brought yet another change in Pakistan’s power struggle. In a country vastly controlled by its armed forces and operated by its bureaucracy, democracy had returned with ‘a vengeance’.

Pakistan People’s Party swept the elections and the new President of Pakistan and patron of the Pakistan Cricket Board Asif Ali Zardari appointed Ijaz Butt as its chairman, marking the start of arguably the darkest age of Pakistan cricket.

After a complete political and administrative failure of Ijaz Butt’s tenure, President Zardari replaced him with another ally in 2011; member of the PPP’s Central Executive Committee, Zaka Ashraf.

Foreseeing the change in government, Zaka, the smart and shrewd businessman amended the PCB constitution in February 2013. Under the new system, an electoral process would nominate the PCB chairman instead of the President (and on a need be basis, the Prime Minister) of Pakistan. A board of governors unanimously voted Zaka for a four-year term as the first elected chairman of the PCB, just three days before national elections on 11th May 2013.

However, with a change in government, there was little doubt that there would be a revamp in PCB’s hierarchy. On 28th May 2013, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) ordered the suspension of Zaka Ashraf, declaring the process of his election “dubious” and “polluted”. The high profile seat of the PCB chairman was now up for grabs as the courts ordered PCB to name an interim chairman.

Najam Sethi, a senior journalist and caretaker Chief Minister of Punjab who hosted the national elections was chosen to set PCB’s house in order, appointed directly by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Sethi got the hot seat, but his powers were clipped by a high court ruling that demanded fresh set of elections.

PCB filed an appeal in court and the Inter Provincial Coordination (IPC) got involved. Nawaz Sharif dissolved the governing board and set up a five-member interim management committee, while the election commission of Pakistan and the courts were not being able to give a conclusive or a consistent decision.

In January 2014, the IHC reversed its earlier decision and reinstated Zaka as the PCB chairman. Powerful politicians in Pakistan almost always find a way to get what they aspire, usually through loopholes in the system. In February 2014, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif yet again dissolved the PCB governing body and sacked Zaka as chairman. This time an eight-member managing committee appointed Sethi back as the head of Pakistan cricket.

Now, three months later, the IHC has dismissed the order issued by Mr Prime Minister and cleared the pathway for Zaka to resume office at the PCB headquarters in Lahore for the third time, in the umpteenth reshuffling of the selection committee, managers, coaches, captains, administrative staff, right down to the office boy.

From the ousting of Mian Mohammad Saeed to the reinstatement of Zaka Ashraf, one thing seems to have remained constant in Pakistan cricket; the desire for power and personal gain. The ones who have little appetite for either of these temptations, seldom survive the system that feeds off of it. In the house of cards, ‘you either hunt, or become the hunted’, you are either a part of a pack or isolated as prey.

It is not a matter of right or wrong, but the survival of the fittest. Anyone who is in the position to exercise power does exactly that. Any opportunity of gaining ground or strength is quickly latched onto. Court orders remain inconsequential as long as they can be manipulated or bypassed.

Merit and qualifications matter little when jobs are assigned through political alliances, social associations or as a return gesture of an earlier provided personal service. Same families, same faces and the same social aristocracy continues to rule the country, one generation after another. The well being of a sport, an institution, or just the overall welfare of the nation appears to rank extremely low on the agenda of its caretakers.

Last week, Moin Khan was replaced by Mohammad Ilyas as chief selector through another court order. Some important designations have been handed out by the Sethi administration and while it might be a little pre-mature to predict changes Zaka makes in the current set-up, it is almost certain that if time permits, some reshuffling will take place as a strike back from Sethi that brings him back into power also remains on the cards. This strike will have an official seal of approval of the government which has announced today that it will appeal the IHC verdict in the Supreme Court.

How long until the International Cricket Council (ICC) steps in? The (ICC) has been taking steps to end the political interference that has long dogged the game in certain countries. It was at the governing body's insistence that the PCB ended the traditional practice in which the Pakistani president (or Prime Minister) appointed the board chairman, replacing it with an election process.

“Whichever one of them becomes chairmen, what difference does it make to us?” said one cricketer who is attending the 30-man camp with the national squad.

“Pity the nation that welcomes its new ruler with trumpeting, and farewells him with hooting, only to welcome another with trumpeting again.” – Khalil Gibran