Rameez Raja Quits As Pcb Chief Executive

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After confronting the criticism by the media head-on regarding his dual and at times contradictory roles as the PCB chief executive and television commentator, Pakistan’s former Test skipper Rameez Raja has finally decided to relinquish his post as the chief executive. The 41-year old Rameez Raja came in for scathing condemnation by most including many former international cricketers for concurrently wearing multiple hats.

“I have fulfilled my responsibilities with complete honesty and dedication but now I feel I do not have enough time to concentrate as chief executive therefore I have decided to resign,” confirmed Rameez the news of his resignation and added further, “PCB now needs a full-time chief executive to execute the increasing workload of the cricket board.”

PCB chairman Shaharyar M. Khan, in an emergency press conference at the Gaddafi Stadium Lahore, corroborated that he has been intimated by Rameez about the decision to quit on telephone from Sri Lanka where the later is currently discharging his commentary duties on Ten Sports for the Sri Lanka-South Africa series.

“Rameez Raja has told me on telephone that he is doing television commentary for the previous six weeks and because of his hectic schedule for another six weeks he will be unable to realize his duties as the chief executive. Therefore he asked me relieve him from his responsibilities and I have accepted his resignation. He will submit his written resignation on his arrival.

“Rameez had wished to resign prior to the Asia Cup but then I had asked him to reconsider his decision. Since he has again communicated his desire to leave the cricket board, therefore I am constrained to accept his resignation.”

According to the PCB chairman, the post of the chief executive will now be advertised in newspapers and it will be full-time position, as recommended in the Lahore University of Management & Sciences (LUMS) report.

“After the position of chief executive will be advertised in newspapers, a selection committee will be constituted to interview the interested candidates who will handover to me the short-listed persons. I will then present these names along with my recommendations to President General Pervez Musharraf, who is also the patron of PCB and is the final authority in selecting the chief executive,” stated Shaharyar Khan while explaining the procedure that PCB now intends to adopt for selecting its next chief executive.

Shaharyar Khan also confirmed that till the next chief executive is selected, he will continue to perform the chief executive duties as well as he has been doing for the past six weeks.

PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan eulogised the services of Rameez Raja. “Rameez as the PCB chief executive performed credibly and his services will always be remembered. I did not have any fundamental differences with him and although we differed on minor issues there was no pressure either from me or the senate committee for his resignation.”

Former PCB chairman Lt. Gen (Retd.) Tauqir Zia has termed the decision by Rameez as timely and in the interest of the game.

“Rameez must have arrived at this decision after careful consideration and he must have decided to take-up commentary on full-time basis. It was highly appropriate that he should be part of the cricket board when the Indian series was organised since he was in the forefront of the entire process from the outset. Now that he is actively pursuing his career as a commentator he must have thought that it’s about time that he should leave his post in the board.”

Rameez Raja joined the Pakistan Cricket Board as advisory council member during the tenure of its former president Mujeeb-ur-Rehman in 1999. Later in 2003 under the chairmanship of Lt. Gen (Retd.) Tauqir Zia, Rameez was appointed as the chief executive. He was however blamed for continuing his role as a commentator, which many connoisseurs of the sport believed opposed his duties as a cricket board administrator. He was also criticised by the Senate Standing Committee, which currently is probing the affairs of PCB, for the same. Rameez was also censured by a section of the press for his handling of the issue of the cricket associations.

Though Rameez worked in an honorary capacity and did not draw any salary from the PCB treasury, he however was the beneficiary of numerous privileges. Besides a 1300 cc car and 250 litres of petrol every month, he was entitled to monthly entertainment allowance of Rs. 8,000 (approx. 75 pounds), a fixed telephone for monthly bill up to Rs. 10,000 (approx. 93 pounds), one driver, servant and guard.