LAHORE, June 12 Former chief selector Abdul Qadir claimed on Friday that he quit the PCB post because he was not given a free-hand in selection affairs, as was originally mentioned in his contract.

“I was not given room to work with honour and justice and though as my elder I have respect for Ijaz Butt, he did not give me free hand in selection,” alleged Qadir at a crowded press conference on Friday, his first since resigning from the post last Monday.

“I will not accept any offer to come back to the PCB even if they offer me millions of rupees as I am not a Javed Miandad,” he said.

Speaking about the various problems he faced during selection of the national team, Qadir said “If I had had a free hand, paceman Shoaib Akhtar would have been selected for the ongoing World Twenty20 while both Younis Khan and Shoaib Malik would never have made the squad on merit,” he said.

“Shoaib was fully fit for the last National Twenty20 Cup but head coach Intikhab Alam and manager Yawar Saeed were just not ready to take him for the T20 World Cup,” he disclosed.

“Tell me, in the presence of spinner Saeed Ajmal, does the team need Shoaib Malik in World T20?”

Qadir claimed that Shoaib Akhtar was ready to play in the National Twenty20 Cup to prove his fitness, but both Intikhab and Yawar made a plan under which, PCB's Chief Operating Officer (COO) Saleem Altaf and Chief Financial Advisor Mohammad Naeem (a close relative of Ijaz Butt), secretly went to Islamabad to request one Mr Shakil Shaikh, a member of the Governing Board, to convince Shoaib not to compete in the national event.

“Both Intikhab and Yawar are senior officials and should think about their activities and how they conduct themselves,” he said angrily.

Qadir went on to add that the decision of dropping Shoaib Akhtar from the World T20 team and inducting Rao Iftikhar in his place was also taken by Intikhab and Yawar and he was not consulted at all on the matter.

Qadir said he was ready to tender his resignation after all this interference in the affairs of the selection, but delayed it with an aim to select 'A' team for the Australian tour just to give rights to the deserving players.

He said he had no personal conflict with captain Younis, but he had noted a tussle between him (Younis) and former

skipper Shoaib Malik during the series against Australia in Abu Dhabi and Dubai and believed it was ruining the team spirit.

He said the PCB sent him show cause notices on May 11 and 12 which were based on the press statements which he had not given to any media. “It was followed by a series of show cause notices and one day I received a letter that chairman wanted a briefing about the selection of 'A' team. The chairman had also invited Wasim Bari, Sultan Rana, Mohammad Ilyas, Aamir Sohail and others in that meeting to which I objected with the plea I could brief the chairman separately later,” revealed Qadir.

“But the chairman did not agree with me and I was insulted and disgraced before those officials. After that meeting I made up the mind about quitting the PCB post which I did,” he elaborated. “My hands are clean as I am not involved in any kind of corruption during my tenure and if any one has any proof of it, they can hang me in public.”

The former leg-spinner added that while the selectors were authorized to finalise the playing XI for the international matches at home, it was not implemented at any stage.

“If the selectors have to consult with captain and coach to select even 15 or 16 players, then what is the job of the selection committee?,” he contended.

Qadir lamented that the coach and manager were even involved in giving the central contracts to the players which was not a good practice. “When I selected Imran Nazir, Abdul Razzaq and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan in the preliminary list of 30 probables for the World Cup, subject to the approval of the ICC, the PCB dropped them. But now the PCB itself has recalled Yousuf and Razzaq without even informing me.”

Qadir claimed that he tried his best to give opportunities to poor but talented cricketers and that was his only 'fault' which did not augur well with the management.

“I was the first chief selector who always went to the grounds and watched all the matches personally in order to assess the performance of the boys. I am not one who sits in the air conditioned rooms and neglect my job.”