Pakistan

Security protocol: PCB U-13 trials disrupted as CM K-P lands in field

The police contingent forced the administration, umpires, and players out of the ground

Muhammad Sadaqat March 27, 2017

The police contingent forced the administration, umpires, and players out of the ground. PHOTO: ONLINE

ABBOTABAD: A cricket match in Abbottabad had to be stopped midway on Sunday after police and local administration cleared it to allow the helicopter of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak to land.

Eyewitnesses and players said that the U-13 cricket trials were under way at the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) ground on Murree Road and budding young cricketers from seven districts of K-P were busy exhibiting their talent when suddenly heavy police contingent arrived, herding the trial officials, umpires, and players out of the ground. Players had to watch on from the sidelines for over an hour as Khattak’s helicopter landed in the middle of
the ground.

Khattak had travelled to Abbottabad to attend the burial of Mushtaq Ahmed Ghani’s mother. Ghani is his adviser on information and higher education. On this occasion, provincial ministers Shah Farman, Qalandar Khan Lodhi, MNA Dr Azhar Jadoon, National Assembly Deputy Speaker Murtaza Javed Abbasi, and local leadership of PTI and other parties were in attendance.

She was laid to rest in her ancestral graveyard of Muhallah Khola Kehal on Sunday afternoon. The CM did not attend her funeral, offering prayers and returning to Peshawar half an hour later.

Sources said that Khattak left early because someone from his team took notice of news on some television channels who had started reporting how his arrival had caused the cricket trials to be suspended and forcing players out of the ground.

Commenting on the issue of vacating the ground, a PCB official said they had was no prior information about Khattak’s arrival or that he intended to land a helicopter in the ground. The official added that boys were busy in their games when police forced them all out.

Noting that senior PCB officials had been informed about the issue, he added it was against policy that PCB playgrounds be used to land helicopters or for public gatherings.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 27^th, 2017.