Aaqib Javed said he was threatened that his career would be ended if he did not comply with the order to fix matches and that he was sidelined from the team when he did not. Players who would talk to him were also reprimanded, he said. (File Photo/AFP)
Aaqib Javed named former cricketer Saleem Pervez as the person who would introduce players in the Pakistan team to bookies who would give them money to throw matches. Javed, whose international career had ended at the age of 25 in 1998, said he refused to do this when approached in the same manner and that his career was ended because of this.
“Lavish cars and millions of rupees were handed over to cricketers. I was also asked to fix matches and was told that if I did not comply, my career would be finished. Players were approached with match-fixing offers through a former cricketer named Saleem Pervez,” Javed was quoted as saying on a local news channel in Pakistan earlier this week.
Saleem Pervez, who played his only ODI against West Indies in 1980 and passed away in 2013, had confessed to offering money to Saleem Malik and Mushtaq Ahmed according to the 1998 Qayyum report. Aamer Sohail, one of Aaqib Javed’s allies in the match-fixing scandal that rocked Pakistan cricket in 1998, had alleged then that Pervez had told him he had given money to Inzamam ul Haq and Waqar Younis as well, as also mentioned in the report.
Javed added, “When I came to know about fixing, I took a strong stance and stood by it. I don’t regret the fact that it shortened my career as I strongly believe in my values. People tried to sideline me from tours because of my stance and would also reprimand those people who would talk to me.”
Javed had alleged in a statement during the 1998 investigations that Wasim Akram had kept him out of the Pakistan team after he had declined an offer to fix matches.
He said he had been instructed to contact Saleem Pervez, accept a sum of Rs 40 lacs and a vehicle, and that Akram had told him he would never play for Pakistan as long as he was captain when he turned down the offer.