Run Dr. Nasim Ashraf Out
On 26th April this year, Dr. Nasim Ashraf told the Senate Commission, ‘The PCB has nothing to hide,” and referred to ‘a smear campaign against his person in a section of the press’. The truth is the PCB has a lot to hide and there has been no smear campaign against him. What people like Dr.Ashraf forget is that when you sit on top, you should be answerable, though admittedly it is not quite the fashionable thing in Pakistan. Those who critique your work are not smearing you. The irony is that it is Dr. Ashraf who has smeared himself. No one else. We are set in our ways to tolerate inept and woolly-headed ‘reformers,’ but when things cross and re-cross all limits then something has to be done. It is also reasonable to say that no single Chairman of the BCCP or PCB has managed to generate the kind of controversy that Dr. Ashraf has managed in just 18 months of mismanagement. When you look from a distance at PCB, all you see is rampant confusion and the rule of a group of people who only exhibit contempt for every known rule of responsible behavior. And because cricket resides in the bloodstream of just about most Pakistanis, the emotions run high. This is not rocket science.
Attempting any assessment of the damage that DNA – Dr. Nasim Ashraf has inflicted on the game and its finances is like walking into a Byzantine labyrinth of gigantic proportions. You reach one tunnel only to discover another hundred. Through the murky gloom of all of Dr. Ashraf’s ‘achievements’ shines, in all its tinsel glory, one man’s lust for power, perks and fame with not a second thought to ruffle his well-groomed hair over financial transparency, accountability or responsibility. DNA has swept through the echelons of this great game of cricket like a Nandrolone injected hurricane. The debris is there for all to see and when he is gone – that being now imminent, it will be a long hard and largely thankless ordeal to unravel the chaos and start the hopeless task of rebuilding Pakistan cricket from the battered condition his 18 month stint has reduced it to.
No Messiah:
Dr. Ashraf is no messiah. He is a smooth talking operator who has thrived enormously on either people’s ignorance or the camaderie that exists at the top levels where a rising tide of strong protests about the man’s damaging policies and utter contempt for any rules has only led to powerful people providing him a carte blanche cover over everything. Today, you cannot open a newspaper without some scam or the other. The stories, the details are different but through it all, there is one common strand. Dr. Nasim Ashraf. How he has managed to sail on despite open and proven evidence of incompetence and fiscal waywardness is not hard to understand in Pakistan where to have no qualification for a high slot is just the qualification you need. In fact all you need is a powerful puppet master.
Murky Beginnings with the Fund:
Long before cricket became Dr. Ashraf’s victim there was the murky business of the Pakistan Fund launched in September 2000 during the Chief Executive, Gen. Pervez Musharraf’s visit to New York. Dr. Ashraf had pledged a US$ 50m ‘commitment’ to bring this investment into his beloved Pakistan. This Fund died as quickly as it had begun. There were no pall bearers at the funeral. Shahid Javed Burki who was associated with this in its early days was to explain to General Musharraf a couple of years later that the Fund was dead, Dr. Ashraf was long gone to Pakistan heading the Human Development Task Force, and the commitments were there, but there was no money. Dr. Ashraf who had used the ruse to gain a strong foothold absolved himself saying that his job was to ‘hand over the commitments’ and ‘what happened afterwards was not his job.’ An appeal filed by the PPP on 10th March 2006 with NAB claimed that Dr. Ashraf had taken Rs. 2 billion of the Pakistani taxpayer’s money in the name of NCHD handed to him by Gen. Musharraf and the money was never accounted for subsequently. This was highlighted in the report by the Auditor General of Pakistan. The sordid story of the Pakistan Fund is on the internet for anyone who has the time and the patience to sit through it. If you go on to google.com and type Dr. Ashraf’s name, the computer has spasms and starts churning out the Doctor’s role in this financial scam – this of course is before he started jogging with the Pakistan team.
NCHD: Money for Jam:
Such were the shady transactions and large sums of money going unaccounted that the President and the former Prime Minister at one point, while on a visit to the USA, refused to be seen with Dr. Ashraf at what was looming ahead as a very hostile press conference. The Doctor had to walk that one alone and was roasted by the media, but he recovered, flimflammed his way through the barrage of accusations and survived the onslaught. It was in those crooked times that he floated the idea of NCHD, the gullible Americans bought it and the Pakistan government gave its papal blessing to it. A new scam began to unfold under the guise of bringing sunshine and smiles into the lives of those who had nothing. Mardan from where the Doctor began life was naturally the chosen one – charity begins at home and the NCHD was launched with all the fanfare that would mark a royal coronation. What it has actually done has surfaced again and again in stark detail, but the Doctor has sailed on, deftly dodging the debris he leaves behind each time. As always, he has survived on his connections with the President and even the former PM could not dislodge him.
A report filed from USA on 2nd April last month, raised the question when the Pakistan government would prosecute Dr. Ashraf for his corruption. The Auditor General Pakistan’s report on NCHD made public on 27th June 2007 had shocked everyone. Irregularities, unauthorized use of funds and unaccounted for expenditures amounting to Rs.1, 289 m were unearthed. This audit for the period 2005-2006 is outdated since more hay must have been made while the sun continued to shine on NCHD, but the revelations which are outdated by about two years are nevertheless chilling.
The NCHD reportedly spent about Rs. 1,250 m from the Endowment Fund, failed to retrieve about Rs. 3.2 m from various civil society organizations (CSOs) even after cancellation of their contracts, gobbled up Rs. 22 m received from a telethon in Dubai, and unsecured advances paid to a company for supply of 24 imported vehicles of which 18 were not supplied. Initially, the government was to provide seed money for the establishment of the Endowment Fund, which it did. Thereafter the Fund was to be self-sustaining. However both PHDF and NCHD have been receiving funding from GOP on a regular basis. No proper accounts of receipts and expenditures had been maintained. The AG’s team was not provided the complete record and NCHD refused to produce records pertaining to contracts and terms it had signed or verbally agreed with NGOs/CSOs. Repeated requests were ignored. None of the CSOs were able to complete the tasks they had been funded for.
In every area, the NCHD shows up in bad light. The omissions and absence of any rules or procedures is rampant. There was non-budgetary expenditure. A large number of bank accounts were maintained without justification. Foreign aid inflows were never revealed. Advance payments were made without any security. TORs/MOUs signed without any feasibility. Accounts of support units established in districts were never produced and no documentation provided of outstanding advances and assets. A Telethon raised Rs. 66m and a net income of Rs. 59.6m but this figure drops to Rs.43.9m later. There is no clue where Rs.22 m disappeared. The Rs. 11m ‘expenses’ incurred are not explained although the event was picked up by sponsors who usually pay for all costs. In violation of Chief Executive’s orders of January 2000 no organization shall purchase any imported vehicles, the NCHD nevertheless published a tender notice three years later and paid 50% advance to a company without bank guarantee or security which after a year had not delivered 18 of the 24 vehicles. These vehicles were purchased without proper approval and no clauses inserted for late delivery penalties or a time frame. The list of misdemeanors is long. Money has simply disappeared down an unfathomable rabbit hole that the good Doctor and his buddies have dug up. Such is the brazenness of the man that even as his star wobbles on the Pakistan firmament and the Senate and now the National Assembly is baying for his blood, he has recently floated another fish line hoping to get further financing of Rs. 827 million for his very questionable NCHD. It was only the uproar in the media that saved millions from disappearing in the great black hole.
Enter PCB:
The PCB constitution, such as it was, got a permanent shelf in the deep freezer. What followed was eight years of ad-hocism. The chairmen, who are nominated by the patron of PCB, fully believed in the ‘Doctrine of Divine Rights’. Tauqir Zia’s tenure saw Pakistan bowled out for less than 60 in each innings of the pre-Test match in Sharjah and to add insult to injury the team failed to qualify for the Super-Six stage in the 2003 World Cup. The next chairman of the PCB, retired diplomat Shaharyar Mohammad Khan, surprisingly also happened to be the manager of the hapless team that had such an unceremonious exit from the 2003 World Cup – we could have saved the airfare if nothing else and sent the hockey team instead for all that it mattered. Shaharyar Khan proved to be a namby pamby administrator who looked for diplomatic solutions and joint communiqués instead of rolling up his sleeves and sorting out cricket’s enormous problems. As a result, indiscipline within the team reached alarming portions. This unprincipled chairman proved to be extravagant with the PCB’s money, treating himself and his wife together with specially invited guests to paid holidays, although allegedly traveling to see the Pakistan team play. Not that he was the only one then or now because the malaise exists.
It was the royal court of Bhopal that floated the idea of PCB starting a TV sports channel and an exclusive crème de la crème Cricket Club in Karachi, but mercifully both ideas died at childbirth. Those who tried to tell the wobbly Chairman that cricket channels were sprouting like nose hairs fell into disfavor. Shaharyar Khan was the chairman present at the famous Oval fiasco in 2006; the forfeiture of a test match making dubious history as the first of its kind in the game’s long standing. While siding with Shaharyar, the Doctor was plotting his overthrow and with alleged help from the UK High Commissioner spilt a can of worms in Islamabad and ‘briefed’ the Presidency paving the way for his takeover. At the Oval, astonishingly, the captain Inzamam ul Haq was not censured for his gross error of judgment and sacked on the spot. A bumbling Chairman, an inept Manager and a devious PCB Member – three witches cooking a poisonous stew. Dr. Ashraf forever the publicity-seeker was to raise the V sign for victory at the Oval as Pakistan’s name was blackened in the cricket books forever.
On 5th October 2006, Younis Khan in a petulant huff gave a press conference at the Gaddafi Stadium and relinquished the Pakistan Team’s captaincy. That evening Shaharyar Khan appointed Muhammad Yousaf as the Captain. . Dr Nasim Ashraf, then a member of the ad hoc committee maneuvered the situation to his own advantage. Within less than 48 hours of the incident, he was installed as the new Czar of the PCB. His first administrative move was to reinstate Younis as captain for the 2006 Champions Trophy, taking no disciplinary action at all. That act of omission set the tone for Dr. Ashraf’s administration that has been mired in controversy, intrigue and crisis ever since. Now there is no method to PCB’s madness. In the last four series played by Pakistan, four different vice captains have been appointed. This instability caused a lack of confidence and uncertainty within the team, resulting in poor performances again and again.
The team failed to qualify for the second stage of the Champions’ Trophy. Appallingly, two players tested positive for the use of a banned performance- enhancing substance that set another round of lies from the Board. Both were penalized by a duly constituted tribunal, a verdict that was well received in world cricket circles, re-affirming the PCB’s stated stance of zero tolerance for drug usage. Thereafter Dr. Ashraf interceded, vowing to have the ban removed at all costs. He achieved this through an appellate tribunal that reversed the earlier decisions on a technicality. This acquittal of the players tarnished the image of the country and outraged the ICC, bringing the matter to the attention of the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) which in turn deemed it appropriate to bring it to the attention of the Appeals Tribunal in Lausanne, Switzerland.
The Sorry Cup:
The team for the World Cup 2007 could not be finalized because Asif and Shoaib Akhtar had declared themselves unfit and were allegedly undergoing specialized treatment abroad. The fact is that these two players had tested positive in London at the PCB’s expense. Dr. Ashraf lied and insisted that the two players were genuinely ‘unfit’ with a straight face in the Senate hearing. It was widely rumored that these two players had deliberately opted out of the team as the ICC were conducting random drug tests during the World Cup, which is standard procedure in all ICC events and being caught they would be banned for life. Such was the mess that till the team boarded the aircraft this matter was subject of a nationwide debate. Eventually the team left for West Indies without them. Everyone knew the real reason but PCB had woven a huge web of lies and cover-ups. A team that was so disorganized even before the first ball had been bowled was bound to collapse and in that it didn’t disappoint.
The travesty of the Pakistan team failing to qualify for the Super-Eight, being defeated by the West Indies and cricket minnows Ireland caused an uproar in Pakistan. This unceremonious exit from World Cup 2007 and the following unsustainable criticism, prompted Ashraf to ‘resign’ from the post, but it was a scripted and staged performance for the benefit of the nation and the official record. The Patron who amazingly saw nothing wrong with this controversial and unscrupulous man, had assured him that the ‘resignation’ would be taken back once the shouting had died down. As per script, he was reappointed to the post by the Patron himself and persuaded to take his resignation back for the greater good of cricket and Pakistan.
The Games begin:
A golden opportunity now presented itself to the good doctor, enabling him to implement his own dubious agenda. In a televised press conference, he announced his plans for a new handpicked mediocre PCB team to fulfill his ‘vision’. The sound bytes were ‘corporate culture’, ‘good governance’ and’ best market practices’. He promised to conduct an evaluation survey of the PCB staff to gauge their working abilities. A report was generated costing millions of rupees but once the eyewash was over, the report was shelved. Dr. Ashraf had absolutely no intention of any good governance getting in his way. As for his much-touted ‘financial probity’ it never materialized. People like the grossly incompetent Zakir Khan who’s claim to fame is known to all, was to be sacked as per the report’s recommendations. Instead, he was promoted to a higher post – Director Cricket Operations and was rocketed into the international arena, attending meetings and making an absolute fool of himself. This was just a smoke screen for the primary objective of his ‘A’ team, which was, is and will remain as long as he is there, self-preservation, self-promotion and self-projection. In all this, throw in buckets full of money being spent like there is no tomorrow and you have a view of the whole sordid picture and the pestilence that has spread in PCB.
The PCB has been on a recruiting binge based on nepotism and cronyism which has resulted in the employment of a horde of mediocre entities into specially created jobs for which they are eminently unqualified. For example, a chief operating officer was appointed, a mediocre civil servant of questionable credentials, whose foremost aim in life is to ensure that his wife and children are provided cost free accommodation and travel, allegedly to watch cricket. For services rendered to the COO, a matriculate employee has been rewarded and made a manager. The many Directors that now adorn the rank and file of PCB, all draw upwards of Rs. 300,000 a month plus the usual perks – cars, mobiles, travel, TA/DA, etc. A General Manager of Initiatives is the latest arrival and what initiatives he will take is known to no one including the GM himself, but he is pulling in the paycheck and lolling over the goodies, so who cares? The motto of Chairman Ashraf and his team seems to be to make hay while the sun shines, when it rains or even when night falls. A Human Resource survey conducted by M.S, Ferguson Associates advocated trimming down of staff from 320 to 240, following which, in a press conference given on 31st March 2007, Dr. Ashraf announced the sacking of some 80 employees who were later reinstated due to ‘external pressure’. However, recruitment in the PCB continued unabated and the payroll costs continued to balloon astronomically. At last count, the PCB had over 700 employees and the monthly payroll is in excess of Rs.20 million, compared to 300 employees and Rs. 3.5 million in Shahryar Khan’s tenure.
Observance of rules and regulations is outlawed. An audit of the travel costs perks and allowances being paid to the senior management indicate an absence of financial control – to put it very mildly. This looting and plunder of the PCB coffers could perhaps be tolerated if the Pakistan Team’s performance was at least half satisfactory. However, that is not the case and the team has slipped drastically in the ICC’s ODI and test ranking. Beating Bangla Desh is showcased as a new look side coming into its own. Next we’ll be meeting Ireland for 5 ODIs and then Zimbabwe and soon become the number one cricket power! Domestic cricket is in a shambles and the National Cricket Academy is being run by unqualified people. It has a budget in excess of Rs. 200 million per annum but what has it produced? The employees of the PCB use the Academy as living quarters whereas these were meant for the teams visiting Lahore. The shame is that even the Pakistan team during camps and matches stays at the expensive 5-star hotels whereas those who should not be within a ten mile radius or right inside checking out fried prawns and other delicacies the 5-star chefs create. Even the Chairman has a suite, No. 10 as in Downing Street I guess. Comparing it with our own interpretation of that number would be nearer the truth. Amongst freebies enjoyed by inmates of the NCA, Ali Zia, Mudassar and Naghmi were sent to look at the biomechanics laboratory in Australia - all three had a ball. Such a machine it appears already exists in Lahore with the Punjab University. I have never understood why one needs machines to study those who chuck the ball. It is easily visible to the human eye and those who aspire to be fast bowlers and have suspect actions should be shown the door till they can improve their delivery. A proposal was also put through to buy high speed cameras for God knows how much so Mudassar Nazar could study the angle of delivery of his fast bowlers.
The Academy:
The daily cost of providing food to the academy boggles the mind and runs into the millions. The late lamented Bob Woolmer who had a house allocated but chose to stay at the Academy had over Rs 200,000 spent on renovating his bathroom. All meals served in the Chairman’s office during match days are catered from 5-star hotels no less. Suites in the Academy have the finest furnishings, the latest gadgets, fabulous air conditioning, Plasma TVs - eleven at last count. Mr. Naghmi had a Rs.150,000 dish installed during the GEO-GOP standoff because Mr. Naghmi wished to remain in touch. But these are minor matters. When Hamlet’s Ghost, the one that served Mr. Shaharyar Khan so well, Mr. Zaidi left the NCA, he made sure that the fixtures went with him. He was decent enough though to replace the expensive ones with cheap ones and returned the official car after just 18 months. Such has been the caliber and integrity of PCB’s people. Bonnie & Clyde look like boy scouts in front of this lot. What has this Academy achieved? In concrete terms not a single player has been produced since the inception of NCA. You can fashion something along Australia’s lines but if you people it with inept and undeserving persons, the results will be zilch.
The legal firm appointed for Inzamam’s defence after the Oval Test fiasco, DLA Piper was at the behest of Dr. Ashraf. Irshad Khokar is President of NCHD fund raising in UK and his son Waseem Khokhar works for DLA Piper. Their fee amounted to approx. GBP 350,000 although Inzamam was still penalized and Darryl Hair was reinstated in the Elite umpire panel eventually. In October 2006, in an in-house dope test, two players tested positive for the use of a banned performance enhancing drug. Both were penalized by a duly constituted tribunal. Mr. Shahid Hamid who headed the Tribunal, refused to take any fees. The verdict was well received in the world cricket circles reaffirming PCB’s stated stance of zero tolerance for drug usage. Dr. Ashraf vowed to have the ban removed at all costs. He achieved this through an Appellate Tribunal headed by Mr. Fakhruddin Ibrahim who charged Rs. 3 million for his efforts and revised the earlier decision on a technicality. Mr. Ibrahim also happens to be the lead counsel for Hosein & Ibrahim, a corporate law firm which has a contract with PCB. If there was a conflict of interest here, Dr. Ashraf didn’t see it. Mark Gay from DLA Pipers was the amicus curiae and charged £45,000 as his fee. The shoddy acquittal of two tainted players tarnished the image of the country having first scored well on this count. The matter came to the attention of WADA who deemed it appropriate to refer the case to the Appellate Tribunal in Lausanne, Switzerland. The costs incurred on the doping tests, the hospitals in UK where they were tested, the doctors’ fees and the players’ travels etc are not known because officially, PCB had nothing to do with it!
Chairman’s Privileges:
Salaries, travel costs, allowances and perks, being paid to senior management are unprecedented in the Board’s history. Dr. Ahsraf and spouse travel in first class and stay in the world’s best hotels. While reports and stories about his reckless spending have continued to turn up, he has blatantly carried on. In a report filed from Islamabad just a few days back, a stunned National Assembly has been told that for Dr. Ashraf’s 23 foreign trips just the daily allowances that he has pocketed are US$ 32,000. His expenses related to travel, lodging, hotel ling, etc are paid by PCB separately. He is the first Chairman who has given himself unlimited entertainment allowances and charges for all these on actual which PCB pays up. He is perhaps the only Chairman who is constantly traveling wherever the team is playing. Some may recall that he shocked the world cricket authorities by showing up at the last World Cup decked out in the Pakistan team blazer, and then insisted on posing for the world team’s official photograph. This kind of behavior makes Pakistan the butt of jokes and ridicule in cricket playing countries, but it is certainly no skin off the doctor’s immune back. So frequent was his presence at all the Pakistan team fixtures that he was often referred to as the ‘12th man.’ He has spent at least 63 days overseas on the Board’s expenses and some of these visits have been shocking. He took US$ 1800 for taping a Nadia Khan show in Dubai then grief stricken and representing the Pakistani nation, he showed up at Bob Woolmer’s funeral where he pocketed another US$ 2700 as daily allowance. He sports a gold card issued by British Airways to those travelers who are special and use the airline very frequently. The Doctor prefers this expensive airline and is seen lounging in First Class or if he is slumming it, Business Class. Someone on a flight to the USA recently said that he was saddened to see our Ambassador to the USA in Business Class whereas Dr. Ashraf was ensconced in First!! In fact so frequently does the Doctor travel that he must be recognized by all the airline staff. A cursory examination of his salary, perks, allowances and expenditures – unlike previous Chairmen who were entitled to US$ 500 per trip reveals that Dr. Ashraf has unlimited spending powers on entertainment. In front of him even Shaukat Aziz looks like a Franciscan monk.
Mr. Naghmi’s feats:
The PCB, as in the case of shamelessly covering up CEO, Mr. Naghmi’s actual salary, have also refused to divulge the gory details of what it cost the Board to pay for all the good Doctor’s expenses overseas – or for that matter within the country. That these people can take on the Senate’s probes and now the Assembly’s enquiry with contempt simply shows how power-drunk they are. Even the salaries and perks being forked out to such incompetent officials as Director Human Resource & Administration, Director Marketing and Chief Financial Officer, are kept secret. Their competence is extremely questionable and their hiring has been done at personal whim or to oblige others in power and get something back in return. Mr. Naghmi, the wonder boy at PCB, was another mediocre government official whose claim to fame was the Sheikhupura Stadium where allegedly money changed hands and the whole project was mired in controversy. Subsequently he was proceeded against. Actually Mr. Naghmi was a favorite of the much-feared DG, Intelligence Bureau, Brig ® Ijaz Shah - the good Shah Sahib is happily cooling his heels in sunny Australia these days, who in turn was a favorite of the Patron. As DCO Sheikhupura, Mr. Naghmi’s real assignment was to collar those opposing the Brigadier’s younger brother’s election campaign. Mr. Naghmi delivered and was duly rewarded by a mouth watering ripe plum ready to pick at PCB. It is to Mr. Naghmi’s credit that he has squeezed every last ounce of power and pelf from his stay at the PCB. A thorough professional one might say.
Dr. Ashraf’s gall can be gauged by his statement on 24th April where he has gone on record and claimed righteously that no financial irregularity has been committed in PCB and everything is done by the book in a responsible and fiscally transparent manner. In the face of such blatant cover up, only a thorough overhaul from an independent body will prove where the truth lies. The ‘claim’ that seemed to impress our Senate so much that PCB assets have doubled since Dr. Ashraf took over is the kind of fudging that would evoke a smile of great appreciation from Mr. Shaukat Aziz and Mr. Salman Shah – the latter recently said that he had ‘gifted a robust economy to the people’. The truth is that the assets have not doubled. The assets of the cricket stadiums taken over by PCB have been conveniently bracketed under PCB’s assets, the implication being made that because of the great policies of the Chairman, the PCB’s assets have shown an amazing growth. It is chocolate fudge at best. While Dr. Ashraf has promised ‘a probe’ to determine who supplied the false figures regarding Mr. Naghmi’s salary (Rs. 38,000 versus Rs. 500,000 – some say Rs. 700,000), you can rest assured this is another smoke screen to cover misappropriation and reckless waste of funds. Some low-level moron will get the chop, a transfer or something akin and some cock and bull story will be fed to a dubious public about how it was a miscalculation. Anything is possible when the Doctor is directing the farce
There is no fiscal control of any kind and the policy on money is easy come, easy go. The PCB at the time Shaharyar Khan was evicted had Rs. 3.8 billion in deposits and many people pleaded with Dr. Ashraf to let that money lie and spend from what he and his team were able to do. When last count was taken on 31st January 2008, over a billion rupees had been frittered away. PCB’s bank balances are in constant decline because of reckless spending. In just two months between 30th November 2007 and 31st January 2008, they have fallen by 7%. On top of it, against all fiscal advice recommended by the Finance Sub-Committee to limit the accounts to 5 or 6 large banks, one of which may be foreign, the PCB accounts are now spread over 20 banks at random locations in Lahore. Highly rated banks like NBP, MCB are absent and HBL, UBL are being phased out replaced by the likes of My Bank, Bank of Khyber, Atlas, Habib Metropolitan, NIB, and Soneri! The total PCB banks are almost the same number as Dr. Ashraf built up in NCHD’s case. Why this has been done, what benefit this brings to PCB are questions which PCB is not even pushed to answer. As the runners up in the 20-20 tournament, each player was given
Rs. 2.5 million – where can one find a parallel example of such waywardness? A team is richly rewarded for losing the final? The mind reels. Another Rs. 1.5 million was handed out as a bonus for each of the team staff – for what? Doing their job? There are so many people in PCB that you can’t find parking anymore and rooms are choked with various loafers. Among others are Dr. Ashraf’s hit teams from NCHD who are on deputation here and have been lording it over for months with no one to question them.
The Doctor’s famous U-turns:
Under Dr. Ashraf, PCB has continued to make u-turns because when expedience and playing favorites is the core philosophy, this is what comes with it. Mushtaq Ahmed was sacked as assistant coach soon after Dr. Ashraf arrived citing his links with match fixing in the Justice Qayyum report only to re-hire him soon after for the ill fated World Cup.
80 PCB staff, sacked soon after Dr. Ashraf took charge was, then promptly re-hired at twice the speed. The Dope Tribunal that banned Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif banned after being found guilty of using steroids was sidelined and the decision overturned within a month, despite both players admitting to doping.
The Constitution, that mysterious document that has undergone so many changes, revisions, additions and deletions that no one really knows what it actually contains was promised by Dr. Ashraf within a month of his appointment. He was to change the date thrice and kept on extending matters until it was finally ready in January 2008, some 14 months after its promised date. Changes were made and remade as Dr. Ashraf wanted absolute powers. He ‘resigned’ during the World Cup 2007 but as per approved script, promptly withdrew it about a week later.
’No foreign coach,’ thundered Dr. Ashraf at a press conference after Pakistan’s embarrassing appearance and disappearance in the World Cup. A few months later, he had appointed Geoff Lawson of Australia who even before his appointment began with fulsome praise for the PCB, its marvelous leadership and the great team that was just waiting to conquer the world. His performance has been poor to put it kindly but because this Board hired him, he wastes no time in praising it. His salary and perks? Just as well we don’t know exactly what these are although there are credible reports that the figure is in excess of US$ 250,000 per month and that does not include the perks, the holidays and the privileges. Has he re-built this team after Woolmer? Take a look at the track record. Under Mr. Lawson, a so so player himself, we have successfully lost the tests and ODIs against South Africa and India and the 20-20 final. However the nation can rejoice because we beat Bangla Desh hollow and of the 8 serious playing nations, are happily placed at No. 5. Thank you PCB and Mr. Lawson.
Younis Khan is another weird person who told someone not to push him as he is ‘a ticking time bomb waiting to go off.’ Hello? Is this a test player? After he turned down the captaincy, Nasim Ashraf said he would never be given any position of responsibility again and would not be made captain. Yet for Pakistan's tour to India in November-December 2007, Nasim Ashraf personally appointed Younis Khan Vice-captain - and he later became captain as Shoaib Malik got injured, a temporary arrangement that has since become permanent. It is amazing that a junior player and no great shakes at that, throws a 20/20 ABN AMRO tournament match deliberately, is caught and the offence made public, yet takes over the country’s captaincy. What is the message to the youngsters? Cheat and prosper? Malik should feel lucky his playing days are not over and under a more ethical and upright PCB head, Malik would have been history. Now Younis Khan is out of the side and all manner of theories are floating. His bookie-connections are being probed, the PCB has ditched him midway and Khan has gone home to Mardan. What is going on will soon become public.
The ICL Saga:
In the case of Indian Cricket League (ICL), he announced that no Pakistani player joining the ICL would be allowed to play any domestic cricket and would be ineligible to play for Pakistan, yet Inzamam was allowed to play a one-off test and given a Rs. 10 million cash golden handshake. Interestingly, the same day a bank payment receipt of Rs.10.5 million is debited as advance for the purchase of cable for the Multan lights! Hello? At one of the rare Board of Governors meeting at Karachi, this payment was denied by a Board official. Allegedly the original receipt signed by Inzamam in October 2007, had gone missing from the finance department of the PCB. However, embarrassingly, copies of this receipt are apparently available but PCB has none. How can a corporate body pay such massive amounts in cash?
In the ICL it was decided that Rana Naveedul Hasan and Mushtaq Ahmed would not be given NOCs by the PCB to play county cricket in England because they were playing in the ICL (county teams require an NOC from the home board of the player). Yet both were given one soon after, one board official acknowledging that the letter they had sent to the ECB was so poorly written that it came out as an NOC when apparently it was meant to be the opposite! In the case of Mohammad Yousuf, Dr.Ashraf had promised Yousuf that he would play in the IPL, having paid him (cash again?) to come out of his ICL contract. Now that IPL has dumped Yousaf, he has changed tack and is threatening to re-join ICL again. Here is this convert, a man of great character, who plays only and only for himself. Role model for the next generation? Sure. Currently the matter is stuck in legal limbo and there is little chance that Yousuf will play in the IPL this season.
Now the Chairman has done a U-turn on Shoaib Akhtar and at the behest of Rahman Malik (has Malik Sahib no better things to attend to?) given Shoaib a reprieve to make a living! What kind of chicanery is this? What kind of manipulation is this? You hand out a 5 year ban then allow a 30 day ‘window’ so that Shoaib can play in an ongoing tournament? A player banned is a player banned. He cannot play till his name is cleared. Principles sacrificed at the altar of convenience and winning support in Islamabad. That’s what it is.
In any event, the Chairman has also now withdrawn the Rs. 220 million suit and done an about turn the same way he did with the fiery Senator, Enver Beg, who had called Dr. Ashraf, ‘incompetent and dishonest.’ The Doctor’s penchant for filing law suites may be a hobby but who is paying the lawyers’ bills for these litigation outings? It would shock us all were we told that he is paying for it personally.
There are dozens of dimly lit streets and alleys in the PCB. At every turn, rules have been broken, laws flouted, procedures abandoned. Spending recklessly and without due procedures is a respected tradition now at PCB. In March 2007, PCB hired a law firm in Islamabad to take care of a case filed against it at a fee of Rs. 1.5 million and Rs. 50,000 per hearing. An assistant was also paid Rs. 350,000 and Rs. 25,000 per hearing. Another advocate is hired at Rs. 30,000 per month plus actual expenses incurred. This is really great generosity of spirit shown by the PCB. In spite of a huge number of ‘professionals’ well versed with cricket and the media, a journalist was nevertheless hired for Rs. 100,000 a month plus perks adding up to at least Rs. 15,000 per month. PCB offered a stipend of US$ 700 per person to cover the Abu Dhabi Series and a Sports Journalists Association picked up Rs. 500,000 for a fund they were floating and another similar amount for E-ticketing expenses South Africa in Pakistan series.
There is the free tickets business. Although some of us will recall that there was a time when the PCB clearly stated that the days of freebies were over and everyone would purchase the tickets themselves, such has not been the case. To quote just a few, PCB employees are given free tickets for home series but even here, new additions are in. In Sep-Oct 2007, PCB purchased tickets worth Rs. 1.8 million. For Lahore’s 1st ODI, tickets cost Rs. 255,500, Rs. 45,000 for the 2nd ODI at Lahore and Rs. 55,000 for the Multan ODI. The PCB CFO spent Rs. 125,000 for the first ODI at Lahore and Rs. 87,500 for the 2nd.
The recently cancelled Australian tour is another can of worms. The tour was in jeopardy all along because of security concerns that were visible as far away as the Sydney Harbor and finally ACB cancelled it. The PCB Chairman had in January 2008 announced that he had insured the tour for Rs. 750 million but wasn’t sure if it covered a tour cancellation on security grounds. Dr. Ashraf, as is his style, did not think it necessary at all to clear the matter with the Board of Governors before shelling out the premium that runs into Rs. 44 million. No one seems to have seen this document and no one knows where matters stand. There seems no shortage of lurid stories concerning the waywardness that is the hallmark of PCB.
NCHD & PCB: The same DNA!
The interesting thing is that if one closely examines the style of governance that was and is the hallmark of NCHD, one finds an uncanny similarity to the handling of cricket by Dr. Ashraf. The same disregard for rules, the same flouting and amending of procedures, the shifting of goal posts, the lack of accountability and refusal to allow any thing or any one to step in his way. Understand NCHD and you understand PCB. Dr. Ashraf appears to be a man on a mission – in a hurry – certainly not to promote cricket. Indeed, the PCB’s plundered cash reserves have sharply depleted as pointed out by an internal auditor. The situation is so grave that a former Pakistan captain remarked on a live TV programmed, that it would be a Herculean task for the next PCB chairman to clean up the mess left by the present incumbent. Shades of Shaukat Aziz and the can of worms he has left for Ishaq Dar.
Consider for a moment how deeply Dr. Ashraf respects and adheres to the PCB Constitution. 6 technocrats and 2 chosen former test players are nominated by the Chairman and approved by the Patron. You can be sure that these gents are chosen by Dr. Ashraf carefully. Nothing better than a compliant board of governors. Of the 11 regions, only 5 are members of the board on a 2 year Rota basis and one individual represents the institutions on the board. Most often the Chairman does not bother to consult the board anyway and instead concentrates on keeping them happy so that any harebrained ideas he has, are duly put through. With such sweeping powers assigned by the Chairman to himself, the board is reduced to a rubber stamp. At least 4 members are on record that the PCB continues to finalize decisions with far reaching effects without so much as informing the members. The Board of Governors, some reports suggest, has just held two meetings. During this time it has not contacted the members for any opinion.
Mr. Naghmi, Mr. Lashari and a few other PCB officials were in Dubai recently to meet one of the sponsors for a mega stadium in Islamabad but the PCB Board has no inkling of this. This project is worth billions and merits discussion but Dr. Ashraf is not used to opinion by consensus. Rentals from this venture may run as high as Rs. 500 million per month and PCB & CDA share of this should have been duly scrutinized by the BOG. Even a sponsor earmarked has been done without floating any tenders. Renovation of Rawalpindi Stadium has begun costing upwards of Rs. 240 million (as opposed to Rs.80 million spent on Bugti Stadium, Quetta in 2003), but again no one has been consulted. There are reports that this work is a scam in the making as those awarded the work do not exist in reality. No tenders it seems were floated. The CFO is being appointed without taking the BOG into consideration. Other appointments – Ijaz Ahmed fielding coach and Mushtaq Ahmad as spinning coach – Intikhab Alam a board member has also been hired as a leg spinning coach for NCA are made without consulting the board - (they might as well also have a 12th man coach), and on the whims of the PCB chief.
This composition and control must change if the board is to play a proper role. In fact the stories that were doing the rounds during the formation of the Constitution which got delayed again and again were that Dr. Ashraf was ensuring he could set the field as he wished to. After all, his NCHD is a living testimony to that overriding desire for 100% control.
Close of Play:
The question is where does Pakistan cricket stand after Dr. Ashraf’s 18 month stint? The answer is it stands nowhere. The team is fragmented, its performance shoddy, its managers, coaches and administrators sub-standard. Too many people doing too little. At the top, no vision, no clear master plan. Cricket has always made news in Pakistan – its team just as much as its administrators but it cries today for administrators who have absolutely no other agenda than to put the top among the top three, yet all that the game gets is mavericks and false prophets. Stop a dozen people on the street and ask them who plays for Pakistan and before long, people wear puzzled looks and scratch their heads. At any given time no one can really tell. The PCB has suffered under Dr. Ashraf because of lack of real cricket knowledge, organizational policy and its implementation and lack of vision in spite of the sermons from the pulpit. Dr. Ashraf who lords over this kingdom has little affinity with transparency and is far too involved with his own persona. He is a man who must occupy centre stage at all times – many short stature people suffer from this, and he has to be seen all the time and hold forth on all things all the time. Dr. Ashraf is not the kind of man who would prefer to quietly work behind the scenes and truly set the house of cricket in order. On the contrary he loves the floodlights, the neon-lit stage, the publicity, the interviews, the media glare and the entity around which the world revolves.
Cricket Pakistan could not have a worse leader than it does now.