LAHORE, Aug 29: Ijaz Butt, the former secretary of the then BCCP and ex-president Punjab Cricket Association (PCA), expressed his astonishment over the statement of Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman, Shaharyar M. Khan, that the board broke the locks on the PCA offices after getting legal opinion.

In a rejoinder, Ijaz issued a written statement on Monday which stated: “The chairman, PCB’s statement of breaking the PCA locks is very interesting. He (the chairman) is of the opinion that if the legal advisor advises him he can break the locks, then if my legal advisor advises me, I can also go and break the locks.”

It further stated: “We have written several letters to the PCB, but without any acknowledgement. It was only recently that PCB’s director operations Abbas Zaidi acknowledged for the first time the breaking of locks and receiving our letter dated 18.4.2004 after more than a year.

“We were advised by our legal advisor to lodge a criminal case with the SHO for breaking the locks and taking possession of all our furniture, papers and funds. We took a lenient view because we thought that some of the officials of the board were gentlemen and they would sort out the matter. We were wrong,” Ijaz said.

The PCB had dissolved all the four provincial cricket association in 2004. Later, the PCB broke the locks on the PCA offices, unilaterally, situated inside the Qadhafi Stadium.

The PCB chief admitted that he took the action on legal advice.