ICC offers help, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 government calls Zulqarnain Haider weak
The International Cricket Council has said that it is willing to assist the Pakistan wicketkeeper Zulqarnain Haider, who left Dubai to reach the UK after death threats. According to Haider, he was asked
to fix matches during the ongoing Pakistan-South Africa series and he had refused to do so.
The ICC said that they would be more than happy to not only help the player but also the Pakistan Cricket Board to probe the circumstances in which Haider left for UK. Haider did not inform the team management
before he left and it was only at the start of the fifth ODI did the side realise that Haider had actually left for UK.
ICC chief executive http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Haroon-Lorgat-c61719 said, "Clearly, this is in the first instance a team matter for Pakistan cricket but the ICC is willing to provide assistance to PCB and the player.”
He also added: "We understand his plight, if reports are indeed true, but we can only help if he is willing to engage with us.”
However, the Pakistan government did not sing the same tune. They said that they will not support Haider to get asylum in UK and that they did not support his actions.
According to the sports minister of Pakistan, Ijaz Hussain Jakhrani, “we don't support his actions and believe he should have come to us if he was under threat from anyone. He didn't have confidence in the
national team management or the Pakistan Cricket Board."
In a scathing remark, the sports minister also called Haider "weak and scared" and termed his behaviour as unbecoming of a professional cricket player.
Jakhrani added that the ministry had asked the PCB to submit a complete report on why Haider ran away to England.
"We don't want to interfere in the internal matters of the board but we certainly want to know why this has happened as it affects the image of the country."
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