“After the directive of the court, the CM saying that atmosphere is not good (in the state), raises a question mark”.
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Last-minute shifting of the India-Pakistan ICC World Cup T20 match on March 19 from Dharamshala (Himachal Pradesh) to Kolkata is not only unfortunate but also joopardized the reputation of the state and the country. The assurance was given to Pakistan High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit when he called on Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi here on Friday.
For time being, it seemed to have resolved the issue, but the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) kept the team’s departure on hold awaiting an assurance from the Indian government.
On Wednesday, the ICC moved the marquee clash between India and Pakistan from Dharamsala to Kolkata. Chief minister Himachal Pradesh, Virbhadra Singh refused to provide security for the Dharamsala match.
Dar said there was great passion for cricket in Pakistan and people wanted their team to win while playing in worldwide events.
In response to the PCB chief’s comments, Thakur maintained that the BCCI does not give green signal to each team separately and insisted that there were no security concerns from their end.
Responding to the PCB’s demand of a written assurance, a top BCCI official said, “There is no precedence of such a procedure”.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said he “very very happy” with the Eden Gardens hosting the India-Pakistan group match of the World Twenty20.
These 456 athletes didn’t become a security assurance debate as opposed to the 15 cricketers set to take part in the World T20 held in India.
Meanwhile, senior BCCI functionary Rajeev Shukla also said the board takes full responsibility of providing fool proof security to all the teams visiting the nation for the World T20. “Despite a lot of apprehensions and the fact that India do not want to play with Pakistan in bilateral series on one or other pretext, the government and every Pakistani fan want to see our team, former champions, to go and play”, he said.
“I think it gives a wrong impression about the country, about the state which is not in the interest of a country like India”.
“A decision has been taken to relocate the India-Pakistan match from Dharamsala to Kolkata due to security reasons”. There are 59 matches in total, across eight venues.
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India has blamed Pakistan-based militants for the attack.
