BLOG: Is Irfan’s suspension too harsh?

The Pakistan Cricket Board on Wednesday suspended Mohammad Irfan for one year, of which six months would remain conditionally suspended after the fast bowler confessed to having violated PCB’s anti-corruption code on two occasions.

Irfan was charged for violation of PCB’s anti-corruption code 2.4.4, which bounds every player to report all the approaches with the anti-corruption and security unit of the PCB.

Two other players Khalid Latif and Sharjeel Khan have challenged the PCB’s charge sheet, while the third player Shahzeb Hassan has yet to reply on the charge sheet handed over to him by the PCB on March 17th this year.

The on-going scandal of spot-fixing hit Pakistan cricket at the start of the second edition of Pakistan Super League in Dubai when PCB sent two cricketers Khalid Latif and Sharjeel Khan back to home after the initial inquiry into an alleged attempt by an international syndicate to corrupt the PSL.

While the PCBV’s inquiry into the matter was continued, the federal government also took the action and the interior minister Chaudhry Nisar spoke publicly on the issue saying that fixers will have to go to jail if they’re proven guilty.

The players were also summoned by Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency, saying that PCB had requested them to investigate the matter. However, PCB clarified that it only requested the FIA to help them by conducting a forensic examination on mobile phones it confiscated from cricketers.

Many believe that Irfan’s punishment was unnecessary as he didn’t commit any fixing and penalty for not reporting any corrupt approaches shouldn’t be harsh as of being suspended from cricket for a longer period.

I disagree with them, humbly. These players are signatory of a code of conduct which makes them bound to inform these approaches to PCB and if a player fails to report the approach, he is guilty. Period.

Many raises question on such laws which bound players to report approaches, but in absence of any proper legislations in the country to curb fixing in sports, what else is there one can do?

Players are encouraged to report these approaches so that anti-corruption officials can identify unwanted people and can warn other players to stay away from such elements.

There have been incidents in past where players reported the approach which helped the authorities to identify an unwanted element and it, presumably, helped them to stop such elements from establishing further contacts in the game.

The PSL scandal of spot-fixing is not new in Pakistan cricket. Fans have been hearing about fixing for more than two decades now. Several inquiry commissions were formed, countless recommendations were made, but yet the ghost of fixing continues to haunt cricket fans in Pakistan.

This may be an eye opener for us if we are willing to learn. High time for authorities to concentrate on sports and keeping sports clean from all the corrupt practices.

Fixing or playing a scripted match is not different from cheating, and at sometimes it is not less than compromising on national interest. Players involved in corrupt practices should be, without any doubt, considered as criminals for cheating millions of cricket fans in the country.

For Pakistan, sports – probably cricket - is the only unifying factor for the nation and the relevant authorities must not ignore the obvious problems of sports in Pakistan, which is due to the absence of proper legislations.

Legislators in the country always present different bills in assemblies on regular basis, time for them to think about this one unifying factor in the country and present a bill to streamline things, which will also help in improving governance of difference sports in the country.

One proper legislation is needed to make fixing a crime under PPC and to officially make fixers “persona non grata” or to send them to jail. Without any such legislations, all the statements would remain statements and we will continue to hear such stories in future as well.