LAHORE: Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Women Wing on Wednesday expressed shock and sadness at Haleema Rafiq’s death, reportedly from suicide.

In a press release, the PCB said it shared the grief of the bereaved family and prayed that the Almighty may give them the strength and courage to bear this loss.

Haleema, the young cricketer from Multan, was apparently under extreme stress after defamation notice for Rs20 million was served on her by the owner of the Multan Cricket Club, Maulvi Sultan Alam for levelling allegations of sexual harassment against him last year on a private television channel.

Other than five women cricketers, the main respondents in the suit are chief executive of the private TV channel, its anchor and reporter.

The press release further added that the PCB Women Wing had no contact with any of the five girls after it banned them for six months with effect from Oct 23, 2013 following a thorough investigation found that the allegations were false.

Of the five cricketers, Saba Ghafoor and Haleema Rafiq had not appeared before the inquiry committee.

Though the ban had expired on April 22, 2014, none of the five cricketers participated in any PCB event, including the National Championship.

Published in Dawn, July 17th, 2014