The Pakistan Cricket Board insists that it is not pursuing any personal vendetta against sacked and retired captain Shahid Afridi and has taken action against him as part of a revised process to check indiscipline among players.
"It is a wrong perception that we have any personal vendetta against Afridi. We respect his achievements as a professional player and contribution to the national team. But as far as we are concerned, no one is above discipline," PCB Chief Operating Officer Subhan Ahmed said in an interview.
"As part of our policies in administrative matters of the board, it has been decided that there will be no compromise on discipline. Shahid violated his central contract terms and the code of conduct for players by speaking on sensitive team issues in the media.
"So, as a disciplinary step he was removed as captain for the Ireland series and a disciplinary process was initiated against him for criticising the board after his retirement," Subhan explained.
He pointed out that after the spot-fixing scandal last year, the PCB had decided to get tough on disciplinary issues.
"This is also now part of our reform policies that we initiated on the advice of the ICC since last year," he said.
"Even if he announced his retirement he was bound to stick to his contractual obligations for the next 10 to 12 months and not speak in the media on sensitive issues," he said.
The PCB official said that last year Afridi had accepted the same disciplinary process that had been initiated against him at present.
"We are a bit surprised he has now challenged the process in court. Our lawyers have the right to seek the dismissal of his petition against the disciplinary process of the board," he added.
Subhan said that in the past the board had been easy on disciplinary issues.
"Many a times the board didn't even recover fines from players. But since last year that has changed and we have deducted around Rs seven million from the earnings of Shoaib Akhtar and even Rs one million from the payments due to Mohammad Asif," he said.
Subhan pointed out that the board would be going hard on wicketkeeper Zulqarnain Haider and he would have to face the same disciplinary process that Afridi and national selector Mohammad Illyas were facing.
"No leniency will be shown to anyone who is violating the Board's code of conduct intentionally."
He pointed out that the board wanted the row with Afridi to end soon but the all-rounder had himself decided to go to court.
"Even if he was not satisfied with the committee we had formed to hear his case, he had the option of seeking an independent tribunal from the governing body and even going to the appellate tribunal that is made up of former judges," he noted.
