Senate Standing Committee Defers Meeting Due To Absence Of PCB Chairman

Senate Standing Committee Defers Meeting Due To Absence Of PCB Chairman
ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on Inter-Provincial Coordinations, in its meeting held on Wednesday, deferred discussion on matters related to Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) due to the absence of the cricket board’s chairman.

The committee decided to summon PCB Chairman Ehsan Mani for a briefing in connection to the shocking defeat of Pakistan at the hands of Sri Lanka in the T20 cricket series, and enquire as to why certain players who did not fulfill any criteria were suddenly made part of the national team.

Meanwhile, PCB officials briefed the meeting regarding the new domestic cricket structure, but after holding a little discussion, it deferred the matter till the next meeting.

The standing committee also issued directions to the cricket board officials to provide data about all players who are now unemployed due to the change in the domestic cricket structure.

The matters of quality broadcasting of local and international cricket matches by Pakistan Television (PTV) would also come under discussion in the next meeting.

The meeting was held under the chairmanship of Senator Yaqoob Khan Nasir here at the Parliament House and was attended among others by Senators Abida Muhammad Azim, Azam Khan Swati, Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, Faisal Javed, Mushahidullah Khan, Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination Dr Fehmida Mirza, Secretary Inter-Provincial Coordination Committee Akhter Durrani, PCB Domestic Cricket Director Haroon-ur-Rasheed, and officials from the relevant ministries and government departments.

The committee, while discussing the calling attention notice regarding formation and functioning of a separate secretariat of Council of common Interests (CCI), recommended to the federal government that there should be a permanent secretariat of CCI working in consultation with the ministry concerned to be able to have efficient coordination with the provinces. It also called for empowering the Ministry of Inter-Provincial Coordination for this purpose.

Matters related to problems being faced in the implementation of some of the devolved subjects by the provinces also came under discussion in the meeting. During the meeting, Inter-Provincial Coordination Committee secretary presented a compliance report on the committee’s recommendations given in the previous meeting.
Correspondent Islamabad

The author is a reporter based in Islamabad.