Shoaib Akthar isn't getting much sympathy after the latest in a long list of misdemeanours. In an editorial in the News, a Pakistani daily, Asif Iqbal calls for Shoaib to be banned for life and poses this dramatic question:

The line has to be drawn somewhere and if it is not drawn here, the question has to be asked — are we waiting till he commits mass murder?

Former Pakistan captains Javed Miandad, in Rediff, and Rameez Raja, in the Telegraph, take potshots at the Pakistan Cricket Board while criticising Shoaib.

Imran Khan tells the Dawn that Shoaib failed to handle the fame.

"He has such great potential [as a fast bowler] he could have done wonders but he has let himself down for being in the news for the wrong reasons."

An editorial in the Dawn categorically demands that Shoaib should not be picked for the national team again.

Shoaib Akhtar has to be shown the door — permanently. Irrespective of the provocation, hitting a team member (with a bat no less) is simply inexcusable. It is now abundantly clear that Shoaib comes equipped with a self-destruct button that is always within reach and could be pressed at a moment’s notice.

And according to Geo TV, a Pakistani television channel, even General Pervez Musharraf, the patron-in-chief of the Pakistan board, wants no leniency shown towards Shoaib.