Zaka Ashraf, Mustafa Ramday nominated as BoG members as race for next PCB chief begins
Cricket
Najam Sethi has pulled himself out of the race
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has nominated former Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Zaka Ashraf and Supreme Court advocate Mustafa Ramday for the PCB's Board of Governors as process to search new board chairman has begun.
The premier has picked the two names while exercising his authority as the Patron of the PCB. The development comes a day after Najam Sethi pulled himself out of the race for the next PCB chairman.
Mr Sethi made the announcement on Twitter, stating: “I don’t want to be a bone of contention between Asif Zardari and Shehbaz Sharif. Such instability and uncertainty is not good for PCB. Under the circumstances I am not a candidate for Chairmanship of PCB. Good luck to all stakeholders”.
Sethi was heading an interim management committee that had been running the board since last December but whose tenure was due to end on June 21.
Until recently it had seemed that Sethi would carry on after the interim set-up ended and be appointed chairman of the board proper. But speculation had grown over the last couple of weeks on the return of Zaka Ashraf. Ashraf, a former board chairman himself, returning is not yet official but that Sethi will not carry on now is.
Sethi's tweet was referencing the political tension over the chairman's seat. Traditionally in Pakistan cricket, it is the PM's appointment to the PCB board of governors who usually becomes the board chairman. Ordinarily, the PCB chairman would be a pick of Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz (PML-N) party. But over the last couple of weeks, the PPP has insisted that as they are the ones in charge of Pakistan sports, through the ministry for inter-provincial coordination (IPC) it maintained the right to nominate a candidate of their choosing.
Mr Ashraf is the overwhelming favourite to be elected, with the election process usually a formality.
