LAHORE, April 30 While former Pakistan captain Younis Khan demanded that the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) one-man arbitrator panel of Justice (retd.) Irfan Qadir hear his case of indefinite ban in the presence of the media, two other cricketers sought confidentiality in the hearing of their appeals.
This was said by Justice Irfan Qadir, who is to hear the appeals of six cricketers allegedly involved in acts of indiscipline during the last winless tour of Australia and facing heavy bans and fines, after conducting the first hearing at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) here on Friday.
Shoaib Malik (one-year ban and fine of Rs2 million), Rana Navid-ul-Hasan (one-year ban and Rs2 million fine), Pakistan skipper Shahid Afridi (Rs3 million fine), Umar Akmal (Rs2 million fine) and Kamran Akmal (Rs3 million fine) are the five other cricketers punished by the PCB.
Mohammad Yousuf, also facing an indefinite ban like that of Younis, has meanwhile preferred to announce his retirement instead of appealing against the punishment.
While Younis appeared with his lawyer, the advocates of two other cricketers -- Shoaib Malik and Rana Navid-ul-Hasan -- appeared for their clients, who are currently out of the country. Shoaib is in India with his new bride, the Indian tennis star Sania Mirza, while Rana is playing county cricket in England.
“Younis, besides wanting an immediate hearing for his appeal, also wants media presence in his hearing,” Justice Irfan told reporters.“I have instructed the PCB to provide the relative records to the lawyers of three cricketers and have fixed May 8 as Younis's hearing date. May 22 has been set as the date for Shoaib Malik and Rana Navid-ul-Hasan's hearings,” he informed.
While the arbitrator did not disclose the names of the two cricketers who wanted preferred confidentiality in the hearing of their appeals, he said that the cases of Afridi, Umar and Kamran, who did not hire the services of any lawyer, would probably be heard in the last week of May after their appearance in the ongoing World Twenty20 Championship, that started in the West Indies from Friday.
Though Justice Irfan did not divulge whether the media would be present during the hearing, especially in Younis Khan's case, he assured that the media would be briefed after the holding of all the meetings.
However, he added that he had asked Younis's lawyer to first examine the relative record and then decide whether to allow the media to witness the proceedings or not.
Meanwhile, PCB's lawyer Tafazzul Haider Rizvi clarified that the one-man tribunal was the arbitrator panel and not the appellant tribunal, under clause No 35 of the PCB's constitution.
He said Justice Irfan was a fully empowered and independent arbitrator.
Tafazzul was included in the PCB's inquiry committee which recommended different penalties for all the seven cricketers after holding meetings that were chaired by PCB's Chief Operating Officer (COO) Wasim Bari. Zakir Khan, Yawar Saeed and Wazir Ali Khoja are also members of the inquiry committee besides them.
Before the arbitrator's arriving on the scene, a senior advocate of the Supreme Court, Talib Hussain Rizvi, who also happens to be the father of PCB's lawyer Tafazzul, appeared as PCB's defendant.
The senior advocate, who in fact will be defending his son's committee recommendations, said that the PCB would consider national interest as a top priority in the hearing of the appeals.
Sources in the PCB, however, said it would not be easy to allow the media to witness the hearing of any cricketer, since the demand for confidentiality was also in “national interest”.
