Karachi: The International Cricket Council has stuck to its stand of not allowing former Pakistan captain Asif Iqbal to hold any key positions in the wake of his alleged involvement in the match-fixing scandal.

In a response to Pakistan Cricket Board's query regarding their stand on Asif, ICC has reinforced their position and reminded about their commitment to not award key positions to players against whom serious allegations have been made in the past, sources said.

Asif one of the big names in Pakistan cricket had his name mentioned a few times in an inquiry commission finding by Justice Malik Qayyum into match fixing and also in a report by the British tabloid, News of the World, but no evidence has ever been given about his alleged involvement in fixing matches.

PCB sources indicate that ICC Chief Executive, Malcolm Speed at the end of December had sent a detailed response to the board Chairman Naseem Ashraf on Asif.

Speed had in short reminded the PCB Chairman the ICC's commitment to not awarding key positions to players against whom serious allegations have been made in the past, PCB sources said.

Ashraf had on the prompting of Asif written to Speed asking him to explain ICC's position on the former captain and about reports that the ICC had declared Asif a persona non grata in a board meeting in 2003, sources said.

Apparently, Speed had also sent some supporting documents drawing Ashraf's attention to the fact that the PCB itself had transcripts of a media report mentioning Asif and also the findings of the Qayyum report.