Influential Pak minister suppressing Lahore attack probe

September 28th, 2009 LAHORE - Pakistani pacer Mohammad Aamer is learning the nuances of international cricket fast. The way he claimed Sachin Tendulkar's wicket at the Centurion proves just that, a Pakistani cricket expert has said.

September 6th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said Sunday there were indications that the Tamil Tigers were involved in the March 3 attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Pakistan. Gilani told reporters that investigators have got indications to suggest that the Tamil Tigers had financed the attack in which a bus carrying Sri Lankan cricketers was fired at by gunmen near the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore.

September 6th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Sunday said that Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was the mastermind behind the attack on the visiting Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore on March 3. The Pakistan Prime Minister's statement was in complete contrast to what the Government had claimed before, that Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) was behind the attack.

September 4th, 2009 LAHORE - Former Pakistan captain and left hand opener Aamir Sohail has criticized Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief Ijaz Butt for misleading board patron, President Asif Ali Zardari and the public on the 2011 World Cup hosting issue. Sohail, who resigned from the National Cricket Academy's (NCA) Director post recently, flayed Butt for calling general public 'naove'.

August 29th, 2009 LAHORE - The International Cricket Council (ICC) has assured Pakistan that international cricket would return to the troubled nation as soon as it is safe to for the foreign teams to return there. ICC President David Morgan said international cricket will return to Pakistan as soon as it is 'safe' and 'secure' for the game to be played there.

August 28th, 2009 LAHORE/LONDON - Pakistan will play a 'home' Test series against Australia in England next year. It will also play a series against England.

August 1st, 2009 ISLAMABAD - The National Assembly Standing Committee on Sports has asked President Asif Ali Zardari to sack all the officials responsible for the security lapse during the terror attack on the Sri Lankan cricketers in Lahore earlier this year. Expressing discontent over the sluggish pace of the probe regarding the March 3 ambush, the committee sought the intervention of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif into the issue, and the initiation of necessary disciplinary action against all those who are found guilty.

July 31st, 2009 KARACHI - Despite the Pakistan Cricket Board's (PCB) decision to put the issue of bookmakers allegedly trying to contact the country's national players in Sri Lanka under wraps, an influential member of the board has promised to raise the issue at a meeting soon. Muhammad Ali Shah, a member of the PCB Governing Board and sports minister of the southern province of Sindh, has said it is an important issue and should be discussed thoroughly.

July 1st, 2009 ISLAMABAD - : The Pakistan government has blamed the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for the International Cricket Council' s (ICC) decision to shift 2011 World Cup matches from the country. Pointing fingers towards the PCB chief Ijaz Butt, Sports Minister Pir Aftab Jilani said those who run the matters of PCB are responsible for losing the rights of hosting World Cup 2011 matches.

June 23rd, 2009 HYDERABAD - The Andhra Pradesh government Tuesday ordered probe into allegations that suspended secretary of Andhra Cricket Association (ACA) V. Chamundeswarnath sexually exploited women cricketers.

June 17th, 2009 LAHORE - Police have arrested the mastermind of the attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team bus outside the Gaddafi Stadium, according to CCPO Lahore Pervaiz Rathore. Naik Muhammad alias Zubair is described as the mastermind behind the gruesome attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in March which led to abandonment of all international cricket in Pakistan, including the 2011 World Cup.

June 4th, 2009 LONDON/NEW DELHI - The Indian government was "not consulted" on donating the proceeds of Wednesday's T20 warm-up game with Pakistan for the Pakistani victims of a terrorist attack in Lahore, Indian officials say. According to the International Cricket Council (ICC), the money will contribute to the education of youngsters in families whose members were killed or injured in the terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore.

June 3rd, 2009 NEW DELHI - Union Sports Minister MS Gill on Wednesday said that it is good that India and Pakistan are clashing on a cricket ground today, which is better than fighting ith guns and bullets "It is good that both the countries are playing. They should play and not fight," said Gill.

May 30th, 2009 KARACHI - Pakistan Saturday hailed International Cricket Council (ICC) decision to turn Wednesday's warm-up match against India in England into a fund-raiser for the victims of the attacks on the Sri Lanka cricket team in Lahore this March. Pakistan and India will play the match at the Oval as a warm-up for the World Twenty20 that starts June 5.

May 30th, 2009 KARACHI - Pakistan's dope-tainted pacer Mohammad Asif is expected to be slapped with a hefty fine for his Dubai misadventure last summer. Sources in the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) told IANS Saturday that the probe committee appointed to investigate into Asif's 19-day detention in Dubai last June for possession of a banned substance has recommended action against the player.