ISLAMABAD: A leading figure in Pakistan’s parliament has called for the dismissal of Ijaz Butt as chairman of the country’s cricket board.

Jamshed Dasti, who heads the lower house’s standing committee on sports, urged President Asif Ali Zardari to remove 71-year-old PCB Chairman Butt.

“He (Butt) has gone too old,” Dasti said. “Butt is physically unfit, he can’t even walk properly, he can’t even see properly.” Zardari, who is also the patron of the PCB, appointed Butt in October 2008 in place of Nasim Ashraf.

Dasti said Butt had overseen a period of financial mismanagement and a decline in the team’s performances.

“Not only this, Butt has also done nothing to help in finding what went wrong when gunmen attacked the Sri Lankan team in Lahore last year,” Dasti said.

Several Sri Lanka players were injured and six policemen were killed when gunmen opened fire at the visitors’ team bus and security convoy last March.

In response, the PCB issued a statement describing Dasti’s comments as “unworthy for a member of parliament and not befitting to his stature.” It added that “such personal remarks cannot and will not do anything good for the game of cricket in Pakistan.”

The outspoken Dasti had long criticized the PCB. He summoned then captain Younis Khan to explain Pakistan’s loss in the Champions Trophy semifinal last year and to respond to match-fixing allegations. Khan resigned soon after the meeting, but was later reinstated as captain.

Dasti also took a dim view of Pakistan’s performance in Australia where it now trails 2-0 in the Test series after the hosts took the second Test from a seemingly unwinnable situation.

“The team is also not performing and it’s a serious issue,” Dasti said.

He said the committee would summon manager Abdul Raqueeb, coach Intikhab Alam, chief operating officer Wasim Bari and Butt in the near future to discuss the performance of the team.

Brighter 2010

Meanwhile, Butt on voiced hopes on Friday for improved security so matches could be played at home this year and said he was working to renew ties between the national team and India.

“Like every Pakistani, I too hope that the security situation improves in this new year and that we can resume hosting international teams on our home soil,” he said.

“We faced unique challenges in the past year and hope for a better 2010.”

Butt said his board had tried to limit the damage by staging international games in neutral venues.

“The results that we have achieved such as regular cricket for the national team on neutral venues will help to minimize the damage caused from the temporary suspension of international tours,” he said. He said the PCB had also worked to restore ties with arch rivals India.

T20s in Dubai

In another development, England will play two Twenty20 matches against Pakistan in Dubai next month ahead of their tour of Bangladesh, the England and Wales Cricket Board announced Friday.

The matches will take place on Feb. 19 and 20. The senior England squad will leave Dubai on Feb.21 for Dhaka, where they will play two one-day tour matches before the start of the three-match ODI series against Bangladesh.