#NajamSethi pulls out of race to be #PCB chairman
LAHORE (MNP) – #NajamSethi has effectively stepped down as head of the #PCB, after pulling himself out of the race to become the next board #chairman. #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 #ZakaAshraf. Ashraf, a former board chairman himself, returning is not yet official but that Sethi will not carry on now is.
“I don’t want to be a bone of contention between Asif Zardari and Shehbaz Sharif,” Sethi tweeted. “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’s tweet was referencing the political horsetrading over the chairman’s seat. Shehbaz Sharif is the current Prime Minister of Pakistan and the PCB patron. Asif Ali Zardari, a former Pakistan president with the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), is a prominent coalition partner in the current government and Ashraf is thought to be his party’s man for the post.
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.
