PCB women’s wing advisor sacked after ‘YouTube’ scandal

LAHORE: It seems that the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and scandals are made for each other. PCB women’s wing advisor Azrah Parveen was sacked on Tuesday after an audio scandal, allegedly involving her, surfaced on a website ‘Youtube’. “Yes, Azrah Parveen has been relieved of her duties. She has been asked to report to the Sports Board Punjab (SBP) from where she came on deputation,” a spokesman for the women’s wing told reporters here. In the audio file, Azrah, who is SBP assistant director, is badmouthing women’s wing chairperson Shireen Javed and manager Ayesha Ashar and requesting another woman to pull some strings and pass the dirt on the duo. When Azrah was contacted, she flatly denied having said anything of the sort. “The audio tape is fake. I have not said anything like this,” she maintained. On the other hand, Shireen said she had recognised the voice of Azrah and was disappointed as well as disgusted. “She has spoken utter rubbish. I have known and worked with Azrah for over 30 years and would not have believed that she could have said all this had I not heard it myself.” When asked what could have prompted her into making such controversial statements that can bring down the women’s wing, Shireen said ‘vested interests, of course’. “She wanted to accompany the team to England as manager for the Women’s Twenty20 World Cup but her request was denied.” Azrah is better known as a former women’s hockey umpire. She took over the position of an adviser of the PCB women’s wing from former Test cricketer Imtiaz Ahmed soon after Ijaz Butt took over as chairman of the board in October 2008 and sent home several women’s wing employees.