Pakistan police have revealed that some arrested bookmakers have confessed to making life threatening calls to former Pakistan wicketkeeper Zulqarnain Haider.
The lanky wicketkeeper fled to England before the fifth One Day International of the series against South Africa in Dubai in 2010. Upon his arrival in England, he disclosed that he received life threatening calls from bookies, who wanted him to throw the match.
Haider then filed an asylum seeking application in the UK, but later withdrew it after receiving assurances from the Government of Pakistan about his security.
While talking to the media, local police official, Nasir Qureshi said, “We have arrested eight bookies and some of them have revealed they were behind threats to Haider”.
He stated that the police have seized their data containing all the international contacts. However, their investigation is still underway, he added.
Qureshi said, “We have found a number of satellite telephones and diaries which have international contacts and we hope to get further details in the next 24 hours”.
Haider, who has returned to Pakistan last week, had announced that he has withdrawn his appeal from Britain’s asylum.
Haider also stated that he had a meeting with the Interior Minister of Pakistan, Rehman Malik, in London, after which he decided to return to Pakistan to resume his cricket.
Upon his arrival in Pakistan, the Punjab born player expressed his happiness and gratitude to the Government of Pakistan for providing him with foolproof security and protection. He said that he was anxiously waiting to return to his homeland and family.
The runaway wicketkeeper went on to say that he had never even thought of escaping from his country and team. However, the circumstances and life threats forced him to fly to Britain.
While talking about the former Pakistani keeper, Interior Minister, Malik, stated that he had a long conversation with Haider, in which the player has revealed many secrets and important information. Nevertheless, he refused to share details with the media.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has confirmed that Haider has not informed the board about his whereabouts. But whenever he does, the case will be directly sent to the fact-finding committee, which last year termed Haider ‘mentally ill’ after his escape from Dubai.
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