Thaindian News

New Delhi, April 21(ANI): Runaway former Pakistani wicketkeeper Zulqarnain Haidar, who is currently living in the United Kingdom on a temporary visa, has said that he will go ahead with his plan to return to Pakistan despite receiving threatening telephone calls from there.

The now retired wicketkeeper had stunned one and all by fleeing the Pakistan team hotel in Dubai hours before the final one-day international against South Africa last year. After reaching London, he had claimed that he had got death threats from a person who wanted him to fix matches, and subsequently sought asylum in the United Kingdom.

Zulqarnain, however, voluntarily withdrew his application for asylum in Britain after the Pakistan government assured him and his family of “the highest level of security” in the country, and was supposed to return to Islamabad on April 25.

The wicketkeeper’s return was just days away when he claimed that he received threatening calls from Pakistan, warning him of dire consequences if he arrived in the country.

Zulqarnain told Geo TV on Thursday that he had been threatened on telephone by an anonymous caller from Pakistan, saying: “You are coming back despite being told not to come, you are responsible for the consequences.”

According to a Dunya News report, British police took Zulqarnain into protective custody following his claims of receiving two threatening telephone calls from Pakistan, and also took his two cell phones for investigation in this regard.

There were speculations that Zulqarnain might reconsider his homecoming plans following the threatening calls, but he denied such reports, saying: “Coming with [the] same plan.”

Zulqarnain wrote on his Facebook wall that he would be returning to Pakistan “on [April] 24 on Sunday.” (ANI)