0
LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is unlikely to meet the deadline of June 2013 set by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for all its affiliated members which binds them to have a democratic system under which an elected and not appointed chairman is acceptable.
In case of failure, the member country stands to get penalised, even to the extent of getting disaffiliated from the ICC.
“Though we have started work on the required amendments in the constitution as per the ICC instructions, we see too much problems in implementing it as the PCB feels that the president of Pakistan, in his role as the Board’s patron-in-chief, is more helpful for the organisation,” PCB’s chief operating officer Subhan Ahmed told Dawn.
Only three countries — namely Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan — were not following the democratic system when the ICC approved this amendment last year to set June 2013 as deadline for its implementation.
Since then, Sri Lanka has adopted the system while in Pakistan, Zaka Ashraf, appointed by president of Pakistan, and Bangladesh’s Mustafa Kamal, who has been appointed by Prime Minister Hasina Wajed, are still holding their respective offices.
When asked how does the PCB intend to face the situation in case the ICC decides to disaffiliate it over non-implementation of the system, Subhan frankly admitted that it could prove to be a tricky scenario for the PCB.
“We will try our best to find a best solution for this, but in case we fail to meet the deadline we will try and convince the game’s governing body about our problems in implementing this decision,” said Subhan.
While the senior official was not ready to elaborate on the kind of problems the PCB could face in implementing the democratic system, it appeared that the Board found it comfortable to tackle thorny issues relating to security, infrastructure and finances in the presence of the patron-in-chief.
Asked if the PCB would seek any guideline from its general body in this connection on April 10, Subhan clarified that the general body had no role in the constitutional matters and only the patron-in-chief could make changes in the constitution.
Interestingly, in other sports federations in Pakistan, the general body has the power to give approval to any amendment in the constitution.
