Pak. inquiry: video evidence sought

By Rizwan Ehsan Ali

ISLAMABAD, SEPT. 22. Justice Karamat Nazir Bhandari has asked the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to provide video cassettes of two 1999 World Cup matches within one week.

The one-man commission of the Lahore High Court was appointed to investigate Pakistan's defeats against Bangladesh and India during the 1999 World Cup in England.

Justice Bhandari has also asked the PCB to provide the list of Pakistan players, who participated in both the matches. It is likely that the commission will watch the video of the matches in the presence of senior cricketers on September 29, the next date of hearing.

The registrar of the court Kazim Malik informed the court that public response was zero despite the fact that the court had advertised in leading newspapers and asked the public if they had any evidence of match-fixing with them.

The commission also summoned three private witnesses - Yousaf Wattoo (a correspondent of Daily Khabrain in Bahawalnagar), Mohammad Ilyas of Gujrat and Ghazan Iqbal, who was associated with the Cricketers Benefit Fund Series (CBFS) in Sharjah until last year. They all approached the commission to appear before it as witnesses.

The Registrar of the Commission informed the court that the notices were not served to the witnesses so far and so they could not appear. However, he also directed to ensure the compliance of the commission order.

It was also learnt that the court has so far no solid evidence of match-fixing against any Pakistan players. Current captain Waqar Younis played in only one World Cup match - against Bangladesh.

In another development, the court rejected PCB's legal advisor Asghar Haider's appeal to summon the South African cricket board's Managing Director, Dr. Ali Bacher.

Dr. Bacher has alleged that Pakistani umpire Javed Akhtar was approached by a bookmaker during a Test between England and South Africa in 1999.

However, Haider requested the court to summon former Test cricketers Imran Khan and Zaheer Abbas for assistance in the case.

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Section  : Sport
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