Former Pak sports official criticizes Butt for 'surrendering' to ICC

Lahore, Aug.31 (ANI): Former Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) Director General Zakir Hussain Syed has criticised the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief Ijaz Butt for succumbing under the International Cricket Council's (ICC) pressure and ending the legal war against it regarding the 2011 World Cup hosting issue.

Syed said Butt had befooled the nation by claiming that PCB has won the legal fight against the apex cricket authority.

"The honourable PCB chairman would have us believe that he has won a big battle against the ICC, but is it actually so? First of all we landed ourselves into this situation because of the PCB's incompetence and the downright failure of our police officials. But since then the handling of this entire unfortunate situation by the PCB has left a lot to be desired," The Daily Times quoted Syed, as saying.

He also came down hard on Butt for saying that BCCI's vice-president Sharad Pawar fully backed him in his efforts to pursue the case against the ICC.

"Firstly, are a few million dollars more important than our national pride? Ijaz now says that India's Sharad Pawar fully backed him in all his efforts. But the ground reality is that the ICC Champions Trophy and World Cup hosting rights have been taken away from us and everybody knows at the international level, except out 'pious' PCB chief," Syed said.

The PCB and ICC agreed to end their dispute over the staging of the 2011 World Cup matches last week. According to the agreement the PCB would retain its hosting fee of 10.5 million dollars and also receive an additional payment for the loss of hosting rights.

Syed urged President Asif Ali Zardari, who is also PCB's patron, to take immediate action against the current PCB administration to save Pakistan from being sidelined from the international cricket community. (ANI)