LAHORE, Sept 28: Former Pakistan Cricket Board (then BCCP) secretary Col (retd) Rafi Nasim has demanded of the president of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari, also the patron of the board, to appoint a former Test cricketer as its new chairman as soon as possible and keep the Sports Ministry away from the affairs of national cricket.

Talking to newsmen here on Sunday, Rafi said, “Only a former Test cricketer with the abilities of carrying out strict administration can pull the board out of the current crisis — bureaucrats and diplomats have done it great damage in the past.”

Seeing how certain government officials have joined hands with the motif of taking control of the PCB, Rafi said: “The officials were taking advantage of President Zardari’s pressing political engagements.” But, he said, “The PCB was also a big national unit and a source of national unity, too, so it also deserves equal attention from the president.”

Only a technocrat, according to Rafi, can end the mess created by the non-technocrats. The former secretary was of the opinion that cricket too, under the ministry’s control would suffer like the other federations already under its control.

“For example, what was the performance of the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB), which comes under the Sports Ministry and controls all sports except cricket?” He asked.

“The country’s current standing in other sports says a lot about the performance of the Sports Ministry,” he said.

Cricket mostly remained in the hands of cricketers till 1999 as Pakistan earned different laurels through the game. But the downfall started after it fell into the hands of non-technocrats.

While pointing out that the PCB was an autonomous body working under the president of Pakistan, Rafi appealed to the patron to suspend the new constitutional committee formed by the Sports Ministry with a mandate to prepare a new constitution.

“The new chairman himself will be quite capable of making amendments in the constitution,” he concluded.