Aqib Javed says career met an early end for speaking against match fixing

Lahore Qalandars head coach Aqib Javed said Tuesday that his career met an early end after he spoke against match fixing.

“My career ended prematurely because I spoke against fixing. I was being threatened that I would be ripped to pieces. If you are vocal against fixing then you can only go to a certain extent in your career. This is why I was not able to become the head coach [of Pakistan],” Javed is quoted as saying by Geo News.

Javed said that punishing cricketers is a low-hanging fruit and questioned why the mafia and the masterminds were never reprimanded.

“This mafia runs very deep and once you enter it you can never come back. Many a cricketer was punished but the mafia was never identified. Both  should be punished and this menace will only go away through severe punishments and lifetime bans."

Javed's remarks come after his former teammate Saleem Malik – banned for life in 2000 on the recommendation of Justice Qayyum Commission - issued a plea for pardon.

The former pacer said that the commission was deliberately kept in the dark, once again pushing the long-held notion that many more were involved in fixing but only a few were punished.

“Facts were hidden even in Justice Qayyum Commission. I had told the court that fixing is not done by one but five to six players. I told Justice Qayyum that my testimony was based on what I had seen with my own eyes and heard with my ears,” he said as he admitted that “digging a 20-year-old issue will reap nothing.”

Surprisingly, Javed has a soft stance on Malik.

“Saleem Malik should be given another chance as well as a job within the cricket board,” he said.