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The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), known for hiding facts and misguiding the media, Tuesday tried to take the credit for International Cricket Council's decision to review and discuss Future Tour Programme (FTP) and penalties for non-compliance of future commitments.

We brought up these points in the Melbourne and London meetings this year. Malcolm Speed's statement confirms that those points are now maturing," a spokesman of the PCB said from Lahore.

Speed, the ICC chief executive, Monday confirmed to Dawn that among the proposals for discussion in Oct 14-19 executive board meeting at Kuala Lumpur include financial penalties upto $2 million for host countries failing to fulfil FTP fixtures.

In the case of a visiting country, a penalty equivalent to the budgeted gross revenues the home team was expected to receive from the tour. The figure would include TV and media rights.

"The ICC chief executive has spelled out the proposals which have been included in the agenda on the recommendation of Pakistan," the spokesman said.

The spokesman, while emphasizing that he was not bound to reveal all details, claimed that the PCB received Kuala Lumpur meeting's agenda last week. ICC's communication manager Mark Harrison, however, said the agenda would be finalized and circulated during the second week of October.

The chairman of the PCB, Lt Gen Tauqir Zia, and director Brig Munawar Rana will attend the Kuala Lumpur meeting.

With the ICC announcing a policy decision, the onus lies on the PCB if they can plead the case properly, forcefully, logically and lobby professionally to get the proposals approved.

The spokesman maintained that the ICC had agreed to discuss FTP and penalties earlier this year and officially announced it Monday in response to media accusations that it was an ineffective body.

"I don't want to be dragged into any controversy," he replied when asked if the PCB believed that the ICC was fulfilling its responsibilities.

The chairman of the PCB, it may be recalled, had demanded the ICC to show `some teeth' after India pulled from the Asian Test Championship in August because it was due to play Pakistan at Lahore between Sept 12 and 16.

The spokesman said he was unsure of the composition of ICC's Dispute Committee which would adjudicate on contentious cases and the onus of proving that non-compliance was acceptable would fall on the country that had not complied with the FTP programme. He said the proposal would be discussed at length before the composition part was debated. "But yes, constituting a Dispute Committee is part of the system."

He said the two Pakistan officials who would attend the Kuala Lumpur meeting had done their home work and had also send some suggestions to the London-based game's controlling body. But he didn't "remember" what the proposal were.

Ideally, the Dispute Committee should include former stalwarts and cricket administrators of repute whose reputation and integrity are undisputed. However, it looks highly likely that the ICC would buckle down under pressure and name members of the Dispute Committee from its 10 affiliated units.

The spokesman refused to answer what would be the appropriate time for implementing the penalties if the proposal gets the thumbs up.

This year, India and New Zealand have cancelled scheduled tours to Pakistan. While New Zealand's cancellation can be considered on genuine grounds in the aftermath of Sept 11 terrorist attacks on the US, India refused to cross borders after New Delhi rejected Board of Control for Cricket in India's request to allow its team to play in Pakistan.

Nevertheless, the bottom-line is that the PCB were denied the right to earn revenues estimated to be around $30 million due to these cancellations. The losses include Rs 20 million from the Asian Test Championship which is being contested without India.

© Dawn