ISLAMABAD: A furious Pakistan demanded Friday that cricket makes good on
promises to clean up corruption, declaring prison terms for three
disgraced stars a wake-up call for a game in crisis.The
spot-fixing scandal surrounding the Lord's Test against England in
August 2010 was taken personally in a country where cricket is a
national obsession and a respite from the bitter realities of Taliban
suicide attacks, recession and corruption.But when a British
judge sentenced former captain Salman Butt to 30 months, fast bowler
Mohammad Asif one year and Mohammad Aamer to six months, Pakistanis were
left wondering if they were really watching sport -- or just greedy men
lining their own pockets.The News, whose main headline was Cooked punning on the name of the judge, Jeremy Cooke said the
sentences "should come as a big eye-opener"There should be
no tolerance for cheats and thieves. They belong not on the playing
field but in prison. It remains to be seen whether our cricket
officialdom has learnt some lessons from the fiasco," it wrote. "We
are made mugs for getting up in the middle of the night, lunatics for
investing deep emotional attachment and fools for devising our own
strategies," wrote The Express Tribune newspaper.Millions of
fans want to see Pakistan implement a 2012 deadline from the
International Cricket Council (ICC) to end political appointments in
cricket -- one of only three countries in the world where this still
happens.The Tribune said the lack of apology or resignation
from officials over the scandal shows "the people who really don't get
the point of sport are the ones who control our unofficial national
game, our undisputed national obsession"."With money and mafias inching ever closer to the heart of cricket, what the trio needed was support and guidance," it said.Late
Thursday, a few dozen local players and young men protested against the
disgraced trio in the central city of Multan, setting alight portraits
of the players and calling for a complete overhaul of Pakistani cricket."Pakistan
should completely start afresh with a new set of players because there
are still question marks over a few of the others," Tariq Neem-ullah
Khan, a former local cricket player and political activist told the
gathering.The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), which has kept a
low profile since new chairman Zaka Ashraf took over last week, said it
was determined to eradicate corruption from the game after "a sad day
for cricket in the country"PCB is determined to ensure
that any form of corrupt behaviour from Pakistan cricket is stamped
out," said spokesman Nadeem Sarwar in a short statement.After
the scandal broke, the ICC came down hard on Pakistan, last year
threatening them with suspension if reforms were not implemented.The
PCB said it has taken serious measures to prevent future misconduct and
that "more would follow" as and when the need arises."Ridding Pakistan cricket of any possible corrupt behaviour will remain a high priority," it said.Pakistan's
greatest cricketing hero, Imran Khan, who led the country in 1992 to
their only World Cup, said the verdicts would be a wake-up call.He
said "in a way" he felt sorry for the players, who "must have thought
crime pays" given corruption allegations stacked up against President
Asif Ali Zardari and a host of top officials from all walks of life."The
verdict is a wake-up call for Pakistan cricket and from now on we
should be ultra careful," said Khan, a bitter critic of the government
and head of his own political party -- Tehrik-e-Insaaf (Movement for
Justice)Former greats and experts of the game blamed the
PCB for a lack of action while relatives wept and protested the
innocence of their loved ones."My son is innocent and he did
the no ball at the asking of the captain," said Nasim Akhtar, the
mother of the 19-year-old Aamer, tears rolling down her cheeks, at her
home in the village of Changa Bangial outside Islamabad.In
the eastern city of Lahore, Butt's sisters spoke to reporters to defend
their brother and claimed he had been made a scapegoat for a wider
conspiracy."The punishment is unfair, it is shocking. Our
brother is innocent," said Khadija, veiled and in her 30s, outside the
family home."His crime is that he was at the wrong place at the wrong time," she added