Pakistan commission summons all key persons for inquiry

ISLAMABAD, OCT. 3. The Justice Karamat Bhandari World Cup inquiry commission has decided to record statements of those persons who were in key positions in the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and team when the 1999 World Cup was played.

The commission has summoned former PCB chairman Khalid Mehmood, Zafar Altaf, who was manager of the team in the World Cup and later also became chairman of PCB, former captain Javed Miandad and Majid Khan, then chief executive of PCB during the World Cup, for its next hearing on October 13 in Lahore, the news reported today quoting commission registrar Kazim Ali Malik.

Kazim Malik said the commission would like to have statements of all those persons who could help it in its inquiry to find out the truth.

The commission, which was constituted by the Pakistan Government to probe into allegations that Pakistan fixed two World Cup games against Bangladesh and India in England in 1999, has already held two hearings at the Lahore High Court in which former Test fast bowler Sarfraz Nawaz deposed in a two-hour statement that he believed the World Cup games were `fixed'.

It has also called Lt. Colonel Ifthikar, who was a senior official in the Ehtesaab (accountability) Commission during the Nawaz Sharif Government which held a match-fixing inquiry into the World Cup debacles and suspended former skipper Wasim Akram, Salim Malik and Ijaz Ahmed on match-fixing suspicions.

Sarfraz Nawaz has already claimed that Colonel Ifthikar had important documents in his possession which confirmed involvement of players in the match-fixing racket.

Kazim Malik said the commission had yet to decide on which experts to call to view the video tapes of the World Cup matches and submit their opinions to the commission as to whether they found anything wrong in the proceedings on the field.

The commission would decide tomorrow which experts to call to view the video tapes of the matches, he added.

Former managing director of the South African Cricket Union Ali Bacher, who first pointed out that Pakistan's World Cup matches against Bangladesh and India might have been fixed, has said Majid Khan passed him on the information.

However, Majid Khan later confirmed that he had given the information to Bacher, but said he had no solid evidence to back up his suspicions.

His statement before the commission should be of primary importance while that of Miandad should also be interesting, the paper added.

Miandad was removed as team coach just two weeks before the World Cup after reports that he had accused some Pakistan players of throwing games against England in a tourney at Sharjah held in April in 1999.

- UNI

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