If Aamir is Confessing against Butt and Asif, It Cannot be Good for Pakistan

By Sreelata S. Yellamrazu

       What Mohammad Aamer has to tell anyone about his brush with spot fixing is not surprising because this scenario was contemplated from the very start. But if Aamer is, in reality, confessing to the crime, it cannot be good for Pakistan because it will only prove Pakistan’s lies and damned lies.
       Aamer was influenced by his more senior peers. Salman Butt, as the Pakistan captain, was fully aware of the spot fixing deal. How else could Mazhar Majeed, the player agent / bookie, know which over Aamer would bowl and be able to execute on those plans? Mohammad Asif has walked the tight rope too long and also, knows to what extent the Pakistan Cricket Board will go to ensure that Pakistan cricket is not brought into disrepute, even if it means protecting one of their own black sheep. Salman Butt has been criticized by several Pakistan cricketers from the past and they were not convinced he was the ideal choice as captain. All of these have been spoken about, analyzed and theorized about.

        However, if what has emanated from the Pakistan Cricket Board, unofficially of course, is true, it would mean that not only is Aamer come to terms with the gravity of the situation and the possible outcome that could severely damage his prospects from the game but also, it will put anyone and everyone who has anything to do with Pakistan cricket in the dock.

        The most obvious of reaction in such a scenario would be to claim to have been misled by the players. But this will not cut the ice in this particular instance, because if proved, it would mean that some of the Pakistan cricketers have been indulging in the sin that is match fixing for too long under the watchful eyes of too many people who could have merely turned a blind eye to the suspicions, unless they themselves had something to do with it.

          Aamir’s single confession of being coerced by a senior lobby alone will not absolve him. Irrespective of the knowledge that players come into the game with, it is hard to believe that unless he was threatened, blackmailed into believing his place was at stake, Aamer would have not known the nature of his misdeeds, unless and caught up in the same lure, namely, greed, that has brought shame upon fellow cricketers in the past.

        Aamer’s position is now damaging either way for Pakistan cricket. If he stays mum, he stands to earn the same amount of wrath being heaped upon the board, the cricketers and the administration. If he decides to come clean – under lure of an incentive or otherwise – it is still going to tarnish those associated with Pakistan cricket – although some would question what was left to tarnish when the allegations have done the job rather efficiently.

        But while Aamer’s age alone might be consideration, it then makes every other senior member that makes Pakistan cricket what it is come across as rather imbecile because while it would be within the nature of any body to back their players and teams under extenuating circumstances, the manner in which the Pakistan Cricket Board has gone about matters, it has not only defied logic but also, inadvertently raised question marks on the integrity of the body itself and made accomplices of the board members including the PCB chairman, Ijaz Butt, the astounding Pakistan Commissioner to Britian, Wajid Shamshul Hasan, Yawar Saeed, the Pakistan manager, and Asif Ali Zardari, the Pakistan president himself for allowing the status quo to continue for how long it has even when it seemed rather obvious that while one could not nail the Pakistan team or the Pakistan cricketers, certainly not everything about the team was above board.

           The interesting question now is whether Aamer’s confession will snowball into a widespread cleansing of everything that is wrong with Pakistan cricket or whether a scapegoat has been found for more personal vengeance which is what some of the punishments, bans, and punitive measures against some of the Pakistan cricketers in the past have been. What though would be worse for Pakistan cricket – even when the general surmise is that it could not get any worse – is that once again, the rest of the cricket world will once again be hoodwinked into believing the law has been laid only when it has been inconvenienced to shove the crime under the carpet.

           What will be very interesting is that in the event that the ICC has taken the decision away from the PCB whose inaction forced the ICC to impose suspension on the three players in question, who is going to lay down the law and will the people and the parties involved will take the punishment lying down?

           What a murky drama. Who needs reality television? 

©Sreelata S. Yellamrazu for ©www.mindspacecricket.com