T20 World Cup: Team’s India visit tied to security assurance

Nisar says a report will be presented to PM after consulting with PCB chief

ISLAMABAD: Expressing concern over Indian response regarding provision of security to the Pakistani cricket players during the upcoming T-20 Cricket World Cup, Pakistani authorities have linked the national team’s visit to India with assurance of a foolproof security.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said the players could be granted permission for the visit only after getting solid assurance from Indian side regarding their foolproof security.



The World T20 match between the arch-rivals is scheduled for March 19 in Dharamsala city of India’s Himachal Pradesh state. However, uncertainty now surrounds the event as Himachal Pardesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh has refused to provide security to the Pakistan team.

Himachal Pradesh’s CM proposed that the match should be moved from Dharamsala to another venue, out of respect for the ‘martyrs’ killed in an assault allegedly made by ‘Pakistani militants’ on an Indian air force base in neighbouring Punjab on January 2.

Nisar said that after holding consultation with the Pakistan Cricket Board chairman, a report will be presented to the PM Nawaz Sharif on this expected visit to India. “Besides Indian authorities, it is also the responsibility of the International Cricket Council to ensure security to the players,” he said.



Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), however, criticised the Himachal Pradesh government and the BCCI Secretary Anurag Thakur took to micro-blogging site Twitter to disapprove handling of the issue by the Indian government.  “Those politicising this cricket issue have shown their own shortcomings.”

Published in The Express Tribune, March 3^rd, 2016.