Even as public opinion has turned considerably against the three Pakistani cricketers convicted and jailed by a British court for spot-fixing, President Asif Ali Zardari has asked Pakistan's High Commission in the U.K. to explore ways of securing their repatriation.
As patron-in-chief of the Pakistan Cricket Board, he has also asked the institution to submit a report including recommendations on how to avoid a repeat of such incidents.
These decisions were taken on Friday after Interior Minister Rehman Malik briefed the President on this week's turn of events ending in the imprisonment of the former Pakistan captain, Salman Butt, and bowlers Muhammad Amir and Muhammad Asif.
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Terming the imprisonment as unfortunate, Mr. Malik said the government would investigate the matter thoroughly and that the cricketers would not be abandoned.
He maintained that the possibility of them being innocent cannot be ruled out.
At the same time, the three cricketers face the possibility of police action in Pakistan as a court has ordered the police to ascertain if a criminal case can be registered against them.
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The court was acting on a petition filed by a lawyer to direct the authorities to register a case against the trio as they had tarnished the image of Pakistan in the world of cricket.
The petitioner apparently sought the court's intervention after efforts at registering a case at a police station proved futile.