PCB chief faces media criticism

Karachi, Nov 11 : Just weeks after taking over as the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), Ijaz Butt has already started to face media criticism over alleged nepotism.

A leading Urdu daily said in a report Tuesday that Butt, a former Pakistan Test batsman, is rewarding people close to him by appointing them in key positions in the Board.

The Daily Express also alleged that the Board chief has a soft corner for people, who were the biggest critics of the PCB when Nasim Ashraf was its chairman.

The paper went on to add that the PCB, under Butt, is openly flouting its own rules by appointing senior officials without advertising for the positions according to PCB's policy.

The paper said that the PCB appointed former Pakistan captain and opener Aamer Sohail as Director of the National Cricket Academy (NCA) and another former Test cricketer Wasim Bari, as PCB's Director Human Resource, without advertising for the positions. Both Sohail and Bari were among the chief critics of the Ashraf regime.

The report alleged that Saleem Altaf, a former Pakistan Test pacer, was appointed as the Board's chief operating officer because of his close ties with Butt.

Recently, former Pakistan Test batsman Zaheer Abbas criticized Butt's policies, saying that the new Board chief is only appointing officials in key PCB positions from just one province - the Punjab. Abbas said that Butt should take everybody along from all over the country instead of focusing on the province from where he himself belongs.

A whispering campaign in the national cricket circles has already begun against the policies of Butt, who only took over as the PCB chief in September.

Butt, 71, is generally regarded as a hard taskmaster but so far he is yet to take any substantial steps in his bid to take Pakistan cricket out of the prevailing crisis.

--IANS