Aaqib Javed’s international career ended at the age of 25 amid the acrimony of Pakistan’s match-fixing scandal in 1998, in which he had been regarded as one of the ‘clean’ players. (File Photo/AFP)

Cricket’s match-fixing ‘mafia den’ is in India, said former Pakistan cricketer Aaqib Javed. One of the whistleblowers in the corruption scandal in Pakistan cricket in the 1990s, Aaqib also said he was given death threats for his previous accusations against players such as Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Saleem Malik.

“Questions have been raised about the IPL and I think the den of this match-fixing mafia is India,” Aaqib told a television channel on Wednesday, according to AFP.

Aaqib also criticised the Pakistan Cricket Board for paving the way for Mohammad Amir’s return to cricket. “These things encourage those who have been involved with match-fixing,” he said.

“Those who blow the whistle against match-fixers hurt their own careers,” Aaqib said.

Aaqib had alleged in a statement during investigations in the 1990s that Wasim Akram had kept him out of the Pakistan team after he had declined an offer to fix matches.

Aaqib said on Wednesday that he had received death threats from match-fixers and they told him that they will mutilate his body if he testified in court. He added that only four to five players are needed to fix a match, which certainly was not a difficult task in the 1990s.

“The team had great potential back then and yet they were seen underperforming in many events, including the Singer Cup,” he said.

Former players Majid Khan and Rashid Latif had previously made allegations about the Singer Champions Trophy in 1997-98, where Wasim Akram had promoted himself up the batting order instead of sending in in-form batsmen and was seen using a mobile phone in the dressing room, according to the Justice Qayyum Report.