Zulqarnain Haider
The police of Sialkot, Pakistan revealed that they have caught hold of eight bookies who had threatened Zulqarnain Haider at some point of time. The police recovered about 250 telephone sets, ammunition, satellite transmission equipment and a number of mobile phones.
The hideout supposedly had rooms hidden behind wooden cupboards which were the place where they operated from. The superintendent of police Nasir Qureshi said that this hideout which was in the Sambrial area of the city was only the first step to a deeper picture that the bookmakers would reveal.
The SP also said that the bookies were bold enough to threaten the police of fatal consequences, as they said that they had contacts in very high places.
Haider who returned to Pakistan on Monday after a self imposed exile in the United Kingdom for about seven months has not yet returned to his hometown of Lahore due to lack of security. He said from Lahore, that he would only be travelling to his hometown once the authorities gave him clearance to do so.
Haider who had run away from Dubai, during Pakistan’s ongoing series against South Africa after the wicket-keeper batsman got death threats for not abiding by the terms of bookmakers to fix the fourth and fifth ODI matches against the Proteas, returned to Pakistan only after the Interior Minister of Pakistan had given his family and himself an assurance of security in Pakistan.
Thus reiterating his conditions of return, Haider said, “I think it is the responsibility of the Punjab government to provide me proper security in Lahore”, indicating that he would only return to Lahore once he was assured full-proof security.
Haider also said that once he returned to Lahore he would meet the PCB officials and try to explain his evasive action in Dubai. Not only so Haider shall also have to serve an explanation for not responding to the letter sent by the PCB to the former for breaking his contract all of a sudden and for misappropriate behaviour by a player while on tour. Incidentally the PCB had banned Haider for lifetime after the incident in October last year and thus Haider has to abide by the above rules to restart his domestic career as a player.
His problems not only seize there as he had claimed on a national TV channel that Kamran Akmal’s father-in-law is a bookmaker, thereby inviting a defamation case filed by the latter’s lawyer.
The lawyer of Akmal’s father-in-law said that the defamation suit served to Haider was worth 100 million rupees. Thus unless Haider can prove his statements made on television or apologise for his remarks in public he would probably have to pay a hefty sum.
Haider’s wicket-keeping counterpart, Akmal said that he was very unhappy with the allegations made as it was against a “respectable man”.
Tags: Bookies, Cricket, Dubai, Pakistan, Player, Sialkot, Zulqarnain Haider
