PCB incompetent: Justice Malik Mohammad Qayyum

Justice Malik Mohammad Qayyum, who had conducted an exhaustive inquiry into the match-fixing scandal in Pakistan a decade ago, blamed the country’s cricket body for the current fiasco. He also termed the Pakistan Cricket Board officials ‘incompetent’.

Speaking to DNA from his Karachi residence, justice Qayyum said, “There are some incompetent people in PCB. I’m disappointed,” the retired Lahore high court judge said. He said he had suggested many measures to prevent the recurrence of these things. “I had suggested many things in my report as to how to prevent such things. If they had implemented those measures, this situation may not have arisen. I hold the PCB entirely responsible for this.”

The 65-year-old judge said where the Pakistan board failed was in educating the players on the dangers of involving in such activities. “Look at Mohammad Aamer. He has fallen prey to the lure of money. He was not educated enough, counselled enough.
He should have been properly guided,” he said and went on to add: “The PCB management is very weak. The selectors say something and the chairman says something else. The security officer of the PCB should have prevented this. The PCB’s incompetence adds to the problems.”

He felt the cause of the problem is greed and it runs across the world and is not confined to Pakistani players alone.

“The cause of this corruption is greed. This is common with all things involved in the world and not just confined to Pakistan. There were reports that the Oval Test was fixed. That means the English team is also involved. Why no inquiry has been conducted?” he asks.

Qayyum sees an international bias against Pakistan. “The world seems to be biased against Pakistan cricketers. Pakistan is one small country and the international cricketers have stopped coming here. The PCB is not as influential as the Indian board is. It does not have influence. And compounding the problems is the incompetence of the PCB management.”

The judge, who interviewed over 50 people in his inquiry, said ICC should not have suspended the players. “It is a serious matter. Without revealing the evidence, how can you arrest the players. It is unfair to Pakistan players. They are holding an inquiry and in one or two days (in fact, Sunday) there is a match. They should have waited till the completion of inquiry.”

Qayyum, who had recommended a life ban for former skipper Salim Malik, admitted that he was a huge fan of Wasim Akram but that did not influence his decisions. “I agree I was a fan of Akram. I also agree I gave a benefit of doubt to him. But my favouritism did not influence my decision. As I have my favourites. I’m a huge fan of Sachin Tendulkar too,” he says.