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Summary Former players and family members of guilty players said whole spot-fixing episode was sad.
Salman Butts sisters said they would challenge the decision in court as their brother was innocent.In the eastern city of Lahore, where Butt was brought up in relative luxury compared to Aamer, his sisters spoke to reporters to defend their brother and claimed he had been made a scapegoat for a wider conspiracy.The punishment is unfair, it is shocking. Our brother is innocent, said Khadija, veiled and in her 30s, outside the family home.We talked to him this morning he was very upset and asked us to pray for him... His crime is that he was at the wrong place at the wrong time, she added.Similarly, Butts father Zulfiqar said his son was wrongly implicated.I am convinced and will do my best to prove that my son has been implicated and made a scapegoat, said Zulfiqar.However, former Pakistan captain Rashid Latif said the sentences were due.I think they deserved this punishment, they had it due. But now the Pakistan government and Pakistan cricket board should also take action against them and the matter should serve as a lesson, Latif said.These convictions will hopefully serve as a deterrent to others in future because cricket should not be allowed to be corrupted by anyone and that is very serious for all of us, said Latif, known for blowing the whistle on another fixing scam in 1995.Another former captain Intikhab Alam said it was a sad state of affairs.I would call it a black day for Pakistan cricket, said Alam, also a former manager and coach. I feel sad for these boys because I have spent so much time with them but what they have done they must pay for it.They have let their families and the whole nation and million of fans down, which is very shocking.Former player and selector Salahuddin Ahmed said Pakistan government should also initiate action against the guilty players.I think they deserved this and Pakistan government should also take action because they have let the whole nation down. I think the greed of money prompted them to do this, said Ahmed.Former captain Moin Khan said the matter saddened the whole nation.It is a sad for us and for the whole country, and tragic day for Pakistan cricket but one hopes it will also result in a new beginning for Pakistan cricket, everyone feels for their families, said Khan.
