I can see how some still think Aamer is innocent but its obvious he is not. In fact he was the least repentant of the 3 and the only one who claimed that there was no fix and Majeed just guessed the no balls.
I can see why people want to support him, he is a once in a decade sort of talent and they don't want to let him go. Hell even the PCB is trying to appeal his sentence which I don't think they should given his reluctance to admit to anything or take responsibility.
I think I'm satisfied with the actions taken so far, the cricketing careers are over for Butt and Asif for sure. If Aamer sits out for 5 years then I'd be ok with him returning too.
The only thing that bugs me is that Kamran Akmal, an obvious crook who got let off, and Wahab Riaz who was implicated numerous times in the report got off as well.
Saeed Ajmal should be a bloody hero for Pakistan, he's one of the only ones specifically mentioned as not being corruptible. I'm of the opinion that him alone and maybe one or two fringe players are the only truly innocent ones. I have little doubt in my mind that Afridi has taken part in this sort of activity (given his history of unethical behavior) and others like Kaneria, Akhtar all are equally shady.
If the PCB really wanted to change it's ways they would have conducted an internal investigation and banned the Akmals, Kaneria and anyone else they know of from insider sources to be match fixers. That wouldve send a great message to the ICC that the PCB is not only on their side, but pro-active in trying to stamp out corruption.
Shoaib Malik and Danish Kaneria were both not considered for selection for the World Cup due to their "suspicious activities"
Kamran Akmal however submitted details of his bank accounts, properties, and assets to the PCB, who then cleared him. The ICC cleared him and stated that Kamran Akmal was clear to seek selection for the team and was not under any investigation from the ACSU.
While this is difficult to believe, it's hard to stop him from playing for Pakistan if there's no proof, and he's done everything asked of him.
Wahab Riaz - same deal to an extent. There's no proof he did anything, no suspicious no-balls, no suspicious wides, just him taking a jacket. It doesn't mean much to be honest and I'm not sure if he's involved or not, its difficult to say.
Shahid Afridi was named by Mazhar Majeed as someone who would not match-fix, as was Abdul Razzaq, Saeed Ajmal, Younus Khan, and Umar Gul.
Also the PCB isn't intelligent enough to have "insider sources" - the biggest inside source right now is Zulqarnain Haider, if he actually has something. The PCB did however restrict Kaneria and Malik from being selected by the Selection Committee so they have done something, whether justified or not.
All in all, it seems like a clean group of players we have for the World Cup. But then again, nobody would have expected Salman Butt or Mohammad Amir to be involved in fixing, so perhaps we shouldn't say that. Asif of course has a past history of discipline, so I guess while it was a shock, he'd be the one out of the three to most likely do a fix.