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Latif confident guilty will be punished

Former Pakistan skipper Rashid Latif, who shocked the cricketing world with charges of match-fixing and betting against his own teammates, said he hoped those found guilty would be punished.

Talking to Gulf News, Latif, who is in Abu Dhabi captaining the Pakistani team in the inaugural Abu Dhabi Cup cricket tournament, said the Justice Qayyum commission, set up to look into the charges against the players, will submit its report within a fortnight.

"The whole world is waiting for the verdict and I am personally very confident that the guilty will be punished,'' he said.

Latif said there were possibilities that the guilty might get away. ''But I stand by my word and even if the accused get away, I will pursue justice by making public the documents and evidence I have placed before the commission,'' he added.

He said the Pakistani team will be back from Australia in a few days and ''I feel that within a week or two, the findings will be made public''.

According to media reports, the report has recommended that Salim Malik and Mushtaq Ahmed be banned while Inzamam-ul Haq, Saeed Anwar and Wasim Akram be served suspensions. Latif alleged that these players were involved in the scandal.

The wicketkeeper batsman also blamed some of his Test-playing colleagues for trying to keep him out of the team. ''Normally two keepers are taken but the present team, both in the just-concluded Australia tour and prior to that, had only one wicketkeeper. When I was the keeper, I was always accompanied by another. It is because of politics that a group in the current team wants me out,'' he added.

UNI