By Awais Saleem

Islamabad, Oct 11 (IANS): Members of the Pakistan parliament's committee on sports have threatened to resign en masse, if the cricket board chairman Ijaz Butt does not step down within 24 hours.

The chairman of the parliament standing committee, Iqbal Muhammad Ali told IANS: "Ijaz Butt has caused huge damage to the game of cricket in the country and is also inviting more embarrassment with his irrational actions."

"We are meeting tomorrow to decide on the course of action," he said, adding that the "members would not hesitate to resign, if Ijaz Butt did not step down in next 24 hours".

He said that the committee will also approach President Asif Ali Zardari, who is the patron-in-chief of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), and ask him to remove Butt.

The disastrous performances by the national team and the stance of the PCB on important issues have led to calls for his ouster getting louder by the day. Butt accused English players of match-fixing but later retracted his statement and offered an apology.