ISLAMABAD, March 5: Pakistan People’s Party has demanded of the government to form an independent commission, headed by a Supreme Court judge, to probe into the poor performance of both the players and the management of the Pakistan Cricket Board.

As the inquiry begins, the chairman of the board must resign, the PPP further demanded.

The spokesman for the PPP, Farhatullah Babar, in a statement on Wednesday, said the inquiry committee appointed by the Pakistan Cricket Board chairman to review the poor performance of the national cricket team in the ICC World Cup 2003 was designed to skirt the issue and protect those responsible for the debacle, as it was not charged to address the total spectrum of environment, which led to the abysmally poor performance of the national team.

“It is the chairman of the board, more than the team players, whose performance needs to be probed,” he said, adding it was strange that the chairman, who should have offered himself for a probe had instead decided to inquire into the performance of the players and excluded himself from it.

“It was the Board chairman himself, who had formed the selection committee, which selected the team players. Again, it was he who also appointed the captain of the team for the World Cup. How can the chairman in all fairness absolve himself of the probe and appoint a committee to inquire into the performance of team members?”

“The General-chairman has been running the affairs of the Board without the hindrance of the Constitution or the nuisance of the council, as his other fellow Generals have been running the country without the Constitution. Having wrested absolute powers to run the Board it is the Chairman and not the players who should be held accountable for the debacle”, the spokesman concluded.

Meanwhile, the secretary information of Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), Siddiqul Farooq, has also demanded constitution of a parliamentary committee to determine the causes of cricket team‘s poor performance, fix the responsibility and suggest punishment accordingly so that these incidents may not recur in future.

Commenting on the national cricket team‘s performance in the World Cup, he alleged that Army generals, like in politics, remain flopped even in the field of sports and brought a bad name to the institution of Armed Forces. Referring to the investigation committee headed by a retired colonel, constituted by Gen Tauqir, he said this exercise was no more than a ruse. “It is an attempt by Gen Tauqir to get the report of his own choice and push under the carpet his failures”, he said.