Haider to head back to Pakistan, faces PCB grilling

LAHORE: Runaway Pakistan wicketkeeper Zulqarnain Haider has withdrawn his application for asylum in Britain and will return home on April 24 to be grilled by the Cricket Board for "indiscipline and misconduct".After a meeting with Pakistan's Interior Minister Rehman Malik in London, Haider announced that he has withdrawn his application for asylum in the United Kingdom and would be returning home to join his family."He committed several violations of his players contract and the board's code of ethics for players and he will first have to appear before the PCB disciplinary and integrity committees before any decision can be made on allowing him back into the national fold and to play domestic cricket," a board official said.Haider shook Pakistan cricket in November last yearwhen the national team was playing a one-day series with South Africa inDubai.Haider fled from the team hotel hours before a match and flewto London where he claimed asylum insisting he had left the team withoutinforming the management as he was threatened by a man who wanted him to fix theone-day series.Haider later claimed that there were corrupt elementsin the national team and he would soon expose them publicly.Afact-finding committee of the PCB, after investigating the entire episode, saidin its report that there was reasonable ground to conclude that Haider was not amentally stable person and had taken an abrupt decision.Haiderclaimed he would sue the PCB for its findings and also for holding back hispayments but didn't carry out the threat.The wicketkeeper suffered abigger blow to his chances of getting asylum in the UK when his wife andchildren had their visas cancelled by the British High Commission in Islamabadand they were stopped from boarding a flight to London to joinhim."Rehman Malik met Haider in London and told him in clear termsthat there were slim chances of his application for asylum in the UK beinggranted by the British home office and also assured him all security in Pakistanif he returned home," one source close to the keeper said.Haideralso confirmed from London that he had decided to return this week to Islamabadafter the assurances given by Rehman Malik."It has been six monthssince I saw my wife and children and I want to return home quickly and I amready to face any inquiry from the board. I want to be given a chance to playdomestic cricket and for the national team again," he said.Thesource said that Malik had assured Haider the government would help him insorting out his case with the Board. Haider said he had already sent a letter tothe British interior secretary informing him that he was officially withdrawinghis application for asylum.