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 fact, Malik’s apology has now made questionable all court decisions in his favour.

According to Mr Abbasi’s assertion, Malik had been a ‘victim of conspiracy’. This is self-contradictory, because, in the same statement, he has conceded that Malik “has already paid a huge price for the match-fixing offence.” Interestingly, in the same breath, he says there has been no proof against the player. This seems to be a clumsy effort to support a person who himself has admitted being involved in fixing matches and now has apologised to the nation for it. This is a case of more loyal than the king.

It is a fact that in the Western world a convict is rehabilitated and given a fair chance to live as a law-abiding citizen after completing his sentence. But he is never given a job which requires mentoring young people, especially as a sports team coach, because of being a bad influence on youngsters and having criminal record.

Malik was no doubt an excellent middle order batsman. But every good player can’t be a good coach. Then discipline is the basic ingredient in sports. Fixing matches is a serious crime. As a matter of principle, anyone involved in match-fixing should never be allowed to enter the sport, be it Malik or anybody else.

Jamshaid Ahmad
Karachi

Published in Dawn, May 10th, 2020