Asif still in doldrums; might stay in detention

Quashing widespread speculation that he has been released or had charges against him dropped. Fast bowler Mohammad Asif is likely to remain in detention in Dubai for another three to four days, a Pakistan board official has said.

"These are incorrect as far as we know," a PCB official told reporters. "The charges haven`t even been laid against him so far. As far as we know of the process, the airport prosecutor lays the charges down and passes on to the public prosecutor who will then decide whether or not this should go to trial. That process, we have been told, can take three to four days. But we are concerned that they have not come back still with results of the urine test, which they carried out on Sunday and the tests on the substance."

Asif has been detained at Dubai International Airport since Sunday after an allegedly contraband substance was found in his wallet. Since then, the PCB has appointed a legal counsel for Asif and sent a senior board official to Dubai to handle the case.

Meanwhile, no immediate resolution In the discussions that took place between Asif`s lawyer and prosecutors on Tuesday. A PCB official told mediapersons that results from a urine test authorities carried out on Asif are still awaited, as are the results of a test on the substance itself. The fact that it has taken them so long to get results is in itself a concern, the official said.

Further complicating the matter is the fact that there has been a death in the UAE`s royal family, which generally means that the various states will observe a period of mourning now over the next few days and that all public offices may remain closed.