LAHORE: Former Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Shaharyar M. Khan, in his reaction to the punishments given to the three Pakistan players in the spot-fixing scandal, said the sentences handed out were  not harsh at all.

The ICC anti-corruption tribunal, headed by Michael Beloff, banned former Pakistan captain Salman Butt for 10 years, Mohammad Asif for seven and Mohammad Amir for five years.

Talking to Dawn, Shaharyar Khan said the punishments were not harsh as he was expecting much stricter sanctions.

He said the tainted players should be more concerned about the charges levelled against them by the British crown prosecutor under the same scam, under which a criminal case would run against them in British courts.

The crown prosecutor had charged the cricketers on Friday with corruption and cheating.

But Shaharyar believed Beloff’s lenient attitude would have positive effect on players’ cases in the British courts.

He added that he believed the players would not be sent behind the bars in England after the decision.

He said had the PCB accepted ICC’s advice to suspend the players soon after the News of the World unearthed the spot-fixing scandal in August last year, the cricketers could have been saved from the punishments.

Asked if it would be appropriate to punish the players again in the British courts for the same crime since they had already received punishments from the ICC anti-corruption tribunal, he said the ICC treated the case as a civilian one while it would be conducted as a criminal case in the British courts.

Meanwhile, former ICC chairman Ehsan Mani of Pakistan  said the decision was not biased.

He added that the PCB chairman Ijaz Butt should resign after this announcement.

Former chief selector Iqbal Qasim  said the decision would be defame Pakistan’s name since it was the first of its kind.

He added it would give a strict warning to others cricketers not to get involved in malpractices.