Saqlain will be defening his position in a case in which the federation has alleged the player of criticising its Secretary Asif Bajwa in the media after being dropped from the probables list for the ongoing national training camp being held in preparation for the World Cup qualifiers.

The PHF had served Saqlain with the notice on Aug 8, after the player raised a hue and cry in the press for not being selected for camp at the pretext of his not being fully fit for the game.

Saqlain has already submitted his reply to the PHF, which will be forwarded to the disciplinary committee's chairman, Shahid Pervaiz Bhandara, and the other members before the start of the proceeding.

However, Dawn learned that Saqlain in his reply has said that as the PHF has no specific Code of Conduct for the players, therefore, it will be interesting to know under which rule his case was referred to the disciplinary committee.

Saqlain further states that the players are not under any central contract of the PHF, which guides them on what they can or cannot do.

He has also written that he did not criticise any policy of the PHF but only said that the federation's secretary was considering his selection as a personal matter.

Saying so, he has suggested being given the fitness test before a neutral panel, in which the other senior players, who have been selected, should also be appearing.