PCB chief Butt jeered on return to Pakistan

KARACHI, (Reuters) – Pakistan Cricket Board chairman  Ijaz Butt was jeered at Lahore Airport yesterday on his  return home from London for the first time since the spot-fixing  scandal engulfed the Pakistan team.

Butt’s emergence from the terminal was met with cries of  ‘shame, shame’ from protesters who waved placards lambasting  Butt and the three Pakistan players caught up in the scandal.

Test captain Salman Butt and pace bowlers Mohammad Amir and  Mohammad Asif have been suspended from all cricket by the  International Cricket Council under its anti-corruption code  after an investigation into reports in the News of the World  newspaper that they had manipulated incidents in the fourth test  against England.

“The accusations against them still have to be proven but if  any player is found guilty, the board will take the most severe  action,” Butt told a large media contingent.

“The fact is until now the accusations have not been proven,  neither has the ICC or Scotland Yard charged them even after  nine hours of interrogation,” Butt added.

Butt confirmed that the PCB had filed detailed replies to  the charge-sheets issued to the players by the ICC but the ICC  had said it wanted the players to respond themselves.
“We had filed a detailed reply but the ICC says the players  must respond,” he said.