ICL player in ICC awards!

NEW DELHI: Going by the nominations shortlist for the latest ICC Awards, the world body's position on the rebel Indian Cricket League continues to be as clear as mud.
With statements being made ad infinitum about banning ICL players, and a strident BCCI stalling any talk of reconciliation, the ICC has gone forward and nominated Ireland's wicketkeeper-batsman Niall O'Brien for the Associate Player of the Year Award.
Niall had played four games for the Delhi Jets in the inaugural edition of the ICL from November 13 to December 16, 2007. He also plays for English county Northamptonshire.
In March this year, O'Brien became the first player to buck the trend and resume playing international cricket for his country despite having participated in ICL.
While other ICC Full Member countries had banned all ICL players, Cricket Ireland ruled that O'Brien and pacer Boyd Rankin could return to play for the country since there were no matches scheduled in India and the players did not have full-time contracts due to financial constraints.
Last year, too, the BCCI had chosen Abhinav Bali for an award but dropped him like a hot potato after TOI highlighted the Delhi player's ICL links. The BCCI was apparently unaware of Bali's 'defection'.
That isn't the case this time, though. ICC communications officer James Fitzgerald, while refusing to comment on any perceived inconsistency in the world body's dealings with ICL players, said, "We are aware that Niall O'Brien played for the ICL. But in our July annual conference all Full Member countries decided that no penalties would be imposed on any player who appeared in the ICL before the ICC framed its current stance on the league, provided they don't play anymore."
The explanation isn't entirely satisfactory, because by that yardstick all players who played only in the first ICL edition should also be allowed back into the fold. Fitzgerald added: "We decided we would be fair. If Niall plays for the ICL again now, it will be a different story."
BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah, who had opposed O'Brien's re-entry into the Ireland ranks earlier this year, said he was unaware of the developments. "We have always maintained ICL players are banned. There is no inconsistency with us," he said. Incidentally, on Monday, ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat, while announcing the awards nominations, refused to comment on the ICL's proposed plans for a new tournament by saying, "We still have an application from the ICL seeking recognition. We are working on that."
The question is, if O'Brien can be exonerated, even nominated for a mainstream award, what about the likes of Shane Bond and all the other ICL players who continue to be treated as pariahs by their own cricket associations?