Pakistan Interior Minister oversteps, issues warning to his own team ahead of India match

Rehman Malik's faux-pas stuns Pakistan

In a startling statement, Pakistani home minister Rehman Malik has warned Pakistani cricket team not to indulge in any sort of malpractice ahead of their all-important high-voltage semi-final clash with arch-rivals India.

"I gave a warning that there should be no match-fixing. I am keeping a close watch. If any such thing happens, we are going to take action," Malik said. He elaborated “intelligence is being gathered on the Pakistani cricketers, including "who are meeting them and the position of their telephones".

He also said that he was sure that current team is free of any corruption but in his opinion it was important to keep a close watch on the team. "This is necessary because we can't take a chance after what happened in London," he said.

The former players and politicians have strongly condemned Malik over his statement terming it a howler. Former great Imran Khan said, "I am more worried about Malik than the cricket team. For all who might not know, Malik was absconding from justice until very recently. Therefore my worry is not with the team but with him."

"The minister does not have a very good command on the English language so hence he must have meant something else. If one wants to stamp out corruption, the boards and the ICC needs to get more vigilant. Spot-fixing is difficult to pick and the only way one can identify the same is when accounts of cricketers are disclosed," Imran said.

Another former cricketer Amir Sohail said, “The timing and the way the statement comes is not right. He should have told the players personally rather than telling it out in the media. However, there are fears of match-fixing in the semifinal.”

Former legend Zaheer Abbas also rubbished Malik's statement and said, "Rather than boosting the morale of the players, the interior minister is trying to demoralize them,"

Malik is interior minister in a government which is at loggerheads with the judiciary over corruption charges. He is not very popular among Pakistanis including the Pakistani polity because of his continuous failure to provide security to his fellow citizens which actually is his primary job.

Jamat-e-Islami chief Syed Munawar Hassan has called Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rehman Malik 'an agent of India and America’, although he was not referring to the above statement.

No doubt this irresponsible statement by a senior Pakistan politician will not go well as far as team’s morale is concerned. Current team is free of corruption and is gelling well under the leadership of Shahid Afridi. The response of Pakistan board or team management is yet not known.

As they say you do not need enemies when you are blessed with “friends” like Malik.
als India.