ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Inter-provincial Coordination has once again asked the Pakistan Cricket Board interim management committee to refrain from making high-level appointments while giving a three-month extension to the Zaka Ashraf-led body.

During its previous four-month tenure, the management committee led by former PCB chief Zaka had hired over 60 officials on hefty packages despite its mandate being to run day-to-day affairs and hold elections of the country’s cricket governing body.

In the new notification for extension, the IPC ministry reiterated that the interim management committee “shall perform day to day affairs of PCB only and shall not make any policy decisions or high level appointments.”

It added: “The Management Committee shall perform primary task for finalizing the Board of Governors and conduct elections of Chairman PCB at the earliest.”

The PCB has been run on an ad-hoc basis since December 2022 when chairman Ramiz Raja was removed with Najam Sethi being named the chief of the first interim committee before it was replaced with the one led by Zaka in June.

The lack of an elected body has hampered Pakistan’s interests in world cricket, notably with the interim committee first proposing a “hybrid model” to host the Asia Cup, which saw the majority of the matches of the tournament being played in Sri Lanka instead of Pakistan, the original hosts.

The Zaka-led committee has subsequently failed in its attempts to pressure the International Cricket Council into ensuring visas for the country’s fans and journalists to travel to India for the ongoing World Cup.

Published in Dawn, November 6th, 2023