Why support Malik?

Byline: Jamshaid Ahmad - Karachi

THIS is apropos the news item 'Cleared by courts, Salim Malik deserves fair chance as coach: Abbasi' (May 5). The former chief executive of Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), Arif Ali Abbasi, has thrown his weight behind the disgraced Pakistani cricketer, advising the PCB to give him a chance as a coach.

I found it nothing but hilarious because the former PCB chief has asked for giving Malik 'a fair chance', claiming there was no proof against him, while the ex-cricketer himself in a video publicly offered an unconditional apology to the nation for being involved in match-fixing. Now if Malik had not done anything wrong, what has he been apologising for?

What makes Mr Abbasi's statement more amusing is the fact that Malik's apology was carried not only by the national media, but by international media, too, the same day when the ex-PCB chief asked the board to consider the former Pakistan captain as team coach.

The former PCB official says Malik was exonerated by Justice Fakhruddin G. Ibrahim in 1995 after he was accused by Australian cricketers Shane Warne, Mark Waugh and Tim May for twice trying to bribe them to rig matches. He has lamented that later the Justice Abdul Qayyum commission banned him for life in 2000. This is not unusual. When criminals are exonerated by a court, they do get justice by another court. He was found guilty by the Qayyum commission.

Later, Malik's ban was lifted by a 'sessions court' judge in 2008. I can't say on what basis the ban was lifted, but I am sure Malik was not exonerated. In...