Interior Minister Ch Nisar Ali Khan yesterday ruled out sending the national cricket team to India for the World Twenty20 until security assurances come from New Delhi, saying threats from extremists are concerning. Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board’s executive committee, Najam Sethi, after a long meeting with Interior Minister Chaudary Nisar Ali Khan, said that the government has given the go ahead to send the team to India. “We received a letter from the Chief Minister of Bengal and the police chief”, he said. The assurance came when High Commissioner of Pakistan Abdul Basit met Union Home Secretary Rajiv Meherishi in connection with the forthcoming ICC World T20 tournament in India.
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The match had earlier been scheduled to be held in Dharamsala in Himachal Pradesh but the venue was shifted to Kolkata for security reasons.
The clash between the two sides on Saturday next week has already been shifted to Kolkata following Pakistani security concerns over the original venue, Dharamsala.
The International Cricket Council, the game’s governing body, said on Wednesday it had been given assurances on security from all the Indian state authorities that are hosting matches.
“He (Khan) was hopeful that the security assurances would be given and the information pertaining to the security situation will be furnished to the government of Pakistan for their further directions in this regard”, the PCB said in a statement.
“Shahid is at the twilight of his career and I think this is the last chance for him to win something big”, Waqar told the media in Lahore on Friday shortly after the Pakistan government gave clearance to the PCB to send the team to India.
Pakistan will play their sole warm-up match against Sri Lanka on 14th March while it will play against a qualifier on 16th March.
The sources said the meeting was still in progress and a formal announcement would be made after it was over.
Historically, whenever the Pakistan cricket team has toured India, there have been political controversies: In 1991, when Pakistan cricket team was on tour, Shiv Sena’s men under Bal Thackeray vandalised the pitch at Wankhede stadium in Mumbai; subsequently, the tour was cancelled. First we have to play Bangladesh and get past them.
The focus of the attention and the questions over security arrangements has unsurprisingly been on India’s contest with Pakistan on March 19.
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The Pakistan contingent includes manager Intikhab Alam, the experienced former Test captain and a high profile security manager.
