London - Pakistan wicketkeeper Zulqarnain Haider has retired from international cricket and is reportedly seeking political asylum in Britain amid alleged threats from match-fixers.
Haider left the Pakistan team in Dubai on Monday and flew to London after claiming he had been offered money to lose matches against South Africa, the latest twist in the fixing scandals rocking the team.
The 24-year-old Haider would not identify who threatened him or the nature of the threats that prompted him to flee the team hotel in Dubai and travel to England without telling anyone.
“I was approached by one person who asked me to fix the fourth and fifth match, and there would be problem for me if I did not do it,” Haider said.
“I do not want to say who is involved and who is not involved in the match-fixing.”
Haider said he received threats after scoring the winning run in Friday’s one-wicket in the fourth one-day international in Dubai. South Africa won the fifth and decisive ODI on Monday and clinched the series 3-2.
“The country is like a mother and anyone who sells it cannot get anything in life,” he said.
“I did not want to sell my mother. I did not want to sell my country and I did what I thought was better.”
Following Friday’s match, Haider asked a Pakistan Cricket Board official for his passport, pretending he needed it to buy a mobile phone connection, and then left the hotel three days later to fly to London.
“I did not do what I was asked to do in the fourth one-dayer and I also did not let it happen what was being asked to do, so this is the reason that I left it and came here and I did what I felt better,” he said.
Haider would not detail the threats, but Pakistan police beefed up security at his house in Lahore “to avoid any untoward incident,” according to senior police official Sahahzada Salim.
“I cannot say what kind of threats I have received as my family is still in Pakistan,” Haider said, adding his reluctance to provide details was in the interests of family safety.
Haider arrived in London on Monday and said he had discussed his status with immigration officials.
“I understand there is rule in Britain that if you are on right and if you are not a criminal, then they always protect you.”
Raza Haider said his brother was asked by UK immigration authorities to appear with a lawyer. He said the family was sending Zulqarnain money he received for playing in Pakistan’s tour of England earlier this year.
Haider is staying at a hotel near Heathrow Airport while his case is being decided.
Julie Gibbs, spokeswoman for the Information Center about Asylum and Refugees, said Pakistani citizens seeking asylum in the UK were usually dealt with on a “fast-track system.”
But Gibbs said it was unlikely Haider would be granted political asylum if he requested it, while emphasizing that each case was different.
“He’s not got a good chance. Pakistan isn’t really an asylum country,” she said. (Mark Walsh)
Associated Press