Islamabad, Jan 14 (ANI): Pakistani politicians have demanded an investigation into fast bowler Mohammad Asif's detention in the United Arab Emirates last year for possessing a small amount of opium.
Asif was caught at Dubai Airport on June 1, 2007, after being caught with 0.24 grams of opium on his way back to Pakistan after playing in the Indian Premier League. He was detained for 19 days before being deported.
"Youngsters will be encouraged to take drugs if Asif is not banned," Senator Enver Baig told Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ijaz Butt in a meeting of the senate's sports committee on Tuesday.
Butt said he had no knowledge of a report from the Dubai public prosecutor, which the media had published on Sunday.
"We didn't have the copy of it because former chief operating officer of the PCB, Shafqat Naghmi, took it away with him when he left the PCB on October 18 last year," Butt told the committee.
The committee asked Butt t to get the report within the next three days and then start a probe into the matter, The News reported.
Asif acknowledged in Dubai that he had used the substance in Pakistan four months before he came to the UAE. On the recommendation of the public prosecutor, the attorney general deported Asif, which means he can never return to the country.
Senator Tahir Mashadi said Asif's admission that he took opium would leave a bad impression on the Pakistani youth.
"We have great expectations from our sportsmen, they are role models," Mashadi said. "The PCB needs to take some strict action against Asif so that a clear-cut message be given to youngsters."
After the Dubai incident, Asif later tested positive for the banned steroid nandrolone while representing the Delhi Daredevils in the IPL. He is still suspended from playing domestic and international cricket by the PCB.
He has filed an appeal with the IPL's drug tribunal, which was first shifted to London but will now be held on January 24 in Mumbai. (ANI)
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