Pakistani cricketers, Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir were handed down sentences at the Southwark Crown Court in London today.
Salman Butt is to get 30 months of prison time as the judge holds him responsible for ‘corrupting Amir’ while Mohammad Asif has been handed a one-year sentence and Amir will be detained for six months at the Young Offenders Institution.
In your opinion, is this a fair verdict?
More importantly, will this discourage players from indulging in corrupt practices in cricket?
Dawn.com invites its readers to give their views and suggestions.
These greedy players not only let Pakistan and numerous cricket fans down but brought huge disrepute to the very game of cricket. They do not deserve any sympathy and nobody should feel saddened for their sentences. In my opinion they should have been awarded more harsher punishment. Pakistan Cricket Board should also initiate actions against these trio.
This is an eye opener report at BBC. Who were these senior players?
Mr Mehmood is not willing to share details, but he alleges this and many other decisions were taken at a meeting of a number of senior players in the World Cup squad weeks ahead of the tournament to draw up the team’s strategy.
“All junior players at the time – such as Shoaib Akhtar and Shahid Afridi – were sitting outside, sulking, while the representative of a known underworld don who was blamed for the 1993 bombings in Mumbai, was inside, in the meeting,” he says.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-15576065
If our cricket heros (now Zeros) were doing this for greed and they knew it exactly what they were doing. This punishment is not enough to teach them and others a lession not to even think about it to do so for rest of their lives. Hang em upside-down until they stop breathing and that goes to our greedy Politians & Rulers as well. PCB’ Ijaz Butt must be hold accountable too. As they say , always people do get what that they deserve. Thanks Dawn for proving people the opportunity to express their opinions.
during the trial, all three came to the court in designer suits and luxury cars, feeling like celebrities who are above the law. one thing they forgot was that it was british court and not justice qayyum’s court in pakistan that had tried waseem akram and cronies in 90s. i feel sympathy for salman whose wife gave birth to their second child 2-3 days ago.
Its a sad situation. I think everyone of them should have been handed equal sentences. Making Salman Butt a scapegoat was very low of Amir and Asif. I’m sure they all had an equal hand in this. I hope more evidence comes to surface and all their sentences become equal (doesn’t matter if its more or less, as long as its equal)
These cricketers betrayed their nation and they should also be trailed and convicted in Pakistan.Main thing is that Pakistan corrupt administration did not take notice of this incident and let them trailed in London.instead they should be first trailed in homeland.corruption is thy name of Pakistan.
We couldn’t bring into power the people with best character. Here is just a typical teenager of our society with few more years to have a fully developed brain and thus lesser ability to resists impulses of greed etc. I am not justifying their crime. They have paid the price, albeit pretty heavy. Could we also do some soul searching as a people. We can ‘t just blame them and walk off. After all they are our children…. we raised them.
Punishment fits the crime, however, being a father I prefer to punish my children by my self, I will not allow anybody to humiliate my children.
In this case I am afraid, the rightful owners of this bunch refused to deal with their own blood and color, once again it had to be done by an outsider.
It hurts me more to see that justice is severed by colonialist, and so called infidel. This trophy of shame handed down by the white man is a true image of our country. Our nation is nothing but a very large orphanage, many fact cats but no one take the responsibility. Why PCB and its governing body is still out there at large?
I have read here and on Cricinfo the comments that they were framed… They were mislead etc.. etc.. etc….. LOOK All.. Its very simple …. If somebody comes to you and asks you do to anything that is Illegal — Wrong by moral and ethical standards.. Then it is WRONG!!! Why not report … why continue the discussion… why listen and have meetings…. Why ????
End of story…. They are corrupt cricketers and got what they bargained for…
They deserve all they have got. They are a disgrace to themselves, their families and to Pakistan. They should have been banned for life. I hope they never represent Pakistan again. Feel sad for Amir but youngsters have to learn not to be lead by fools and cheats.
Crooks need to be punished, and the good need to be rewarded.
Justice has been served.
Zain Syed
VA, USA
The best part of this whole fiasco is coming generations will think twice before fixing. I am glad this happened and brought the results that we were hoping to see in the past incidents. Since Pakistan is playing all of its cricket in foreign locations, where law and order is mostly in-effect, our cricketers will not try to throw the matches away. Let’s be honest, people behave in front of any authority, and if there is no authority in a country, like Pakistan, there is always a chance of moral faltering.
better late then never, this type of sentence is over due to guilty and obnoxious players of this gentlemans game.it is not out of place to mention that pcb should make equally accountable because without its involvement and carelessness match fixing is not possible ,both players and board held responsible.
I feel very sad and embarrased at the sentences awarded to these players. Both bowlers are extremely talented in all forms of cricket. Now the PCB should try to bring these cricketers back to game after conclusion of these terms. They have already suffered 14 months of ban till now. Icc should be persued not to ban players for 5 and 7 years .
Justice has been done although i think Butt and Asif were lucky. I do remember back in the tour of Australia when Pakistan lost matches from positions where they should of won matches. One can only remember Mohammed Yousaf calling Butt ‘Lazy’ after the third test in Australia as Butt refused to run and stated he only played for himself. I am so glad they got what they deserve as i am sure they have thrown many matches. I only hope for a very serious investigation by the ICC and PCB against others named by Majeed such as the Akmal brothers and also Wahab Riaz. Not enough is done in regards to the other players named and i feel the Pakistan media should turn their attention to some of the other individuals in the side.
The sentence is unjust and have scapegoated the three. They did wrong and should be punished but not this way. I bet if it was another country’s players involved the sentence would be different. PCB should have protected the players’ interest, for its their responsibility to monitor the players and provide guidance, especially to the younger ones. Lets hope PCB and the senior players learn from this tragedy.
.Feel sorry for Amer, but I am relieved that this is over. We have a young talented cricket side and is playing good cricket for the last one year. In the scheme of things no one is indespensible, playing for your country should come first and rest should be secondary. Our cricket board has to be completely over hauled and new honest leadership should emerge, which can take pakistan cricket out of this mess. Why is the president of pakistan it’s chief patron. PCB chairman should not be appointed, rather selected by board of governors of PCB. It shoild be an independant body free of any political or government intervention….I CAN ONLY DREAM!!!!!!!
The punishment given to the cricketers is justified because of their heinous activities and destroying country’s reputation worldwide. PCB must also gather the courage and ban them from reentering into any form of cricket after the punishment is over.
One might say that a jail term is a lot for bowling two no balls but lets not forget that was only one incident in which they were proven guilty.
there should be a separate trial held in Pakistan where they should be tried for treason. they were representing Pakistan in an official capacity and should be charged for breaking that trust. This should be taken as an opportunity to root out al the corruption in Pakistani cricket and for that matter, other countries too.
Guess whats the punishment for treason.
Justice is only served as this crime took place in England. Had this fiasco happend in Pakistan all of these cheats would have walked free (like there seniors in 90s). One good sign is that majority of people in Pakistan is not buying any of the conspiracy theories. It is still not too late for Salman and Asif to step up and apologise to the whole nation unconditionally. These cricketers have ashamed the whole nation of Pakistan. PCB is also to be blamed for not having any cotrol over the matter. It is a sad day for Pakistan. Let us hope it never happens again.
All the three cheaters should be banned for life from cricket with out any mercy. If not then these things will come back as the youngsters watching this will feel … finally the money was worth it.
wahab and akmal brothers should be checked out as well as these surely are involved.
What a shame!
I am glad that the culprits have been caught and punished. I have no sympathy for any of these crooks. They deserve every bit of what they got. Let’s hope other cricketers from Pakistan and other countries will learn a lesson from it.
i was surprised for quiet a long time where is the killing instinct of pakistan cricket……..
now its clear it was sold for few dollars..
While I hail the sentences and bans on Salman and Asif, I am extremely sorry for the young lad Amir. He is a precocious talent and world cricket will miss him badly…
Yes, this is a fair verdict. Further, the Govt. should impose a life ban for them on playing cricket for the National Team.
The above measures as well as a stern warning to all the present and future players representing the National Team will discourage the players from indulging in corrupt practices. Moreover, whenever an international game is scheduled, the players should be strictly monitored even when they communicate with their near and dear ones! Strong commitment by the players of the National Team as well as strict monitoring of the players will be the key!