KARACHI The Pakistan Cricket Board said on Wednesday that the International Cricket Council did not have the power to force it to suspend any of its players linked to a match-fixing scandal.
PCB Chairman Tauqir Zia told a news conference that the game's governing body might not agree with the findings of a Pakistan government probe, headed by justice Malik Qayyum, but argued it could not overrule its findings.
"The ICC ... will remain the recommending authority but not the implementing authority. The job of implementing the recommendations of the judge remains the prerogative of the PCB," Zia said.
Former Pakistan captain Salim Malik and paceman Ata-ur-Rehman were banned for life in May, while six others, including Wasim Akram, were censored and fined on the recommendations of Qayyum, whose inquiry lasted nearly two years.
The ICC has just concluded a two-day executive board meeting in Nairobi and asked for more information on the cases against Akram and his colleagues following the Qayyum report.
Zia added: "The ICC is nobody to tell the PCB that these (six) boys cannot play. My stand is very clear that our boys are under our control. If we want them to play, they will play.
"I am not defying or confronting the ICC, I am saying whatever they are saying is wrong." Zia said there was not enough evidence to prove the charges against Akram. "The fact of the matter is that no concrete evidence was submitted to prove his involvement in match-fixing," he said.
The ICC on Wednesday ordered international cricket players, umpires and officials to declare if they had ever taken part, or been approached to take part, in match-fixing by the end of November.
Zia also said that the PCB been prompt in calling for an inquiry into allegations of match-fixing in last year's World Cup matches against Bangladesh and India.
"I want to be very sure in my mind that this (allegation of match-fixing) has finished.
It was an unfinished agenda which I think has to conclude," he said.
(Reuter)