Pakistan’s tour of Palestine postponed

Visa issues force football federation to reschedule matches in June.

KARACHI:

The Pakistan national football team was dealt a blow as their tour to Palestine has been postponed due to non-issuance of visas from the Israeli authorities.

Pakistan and Palestine were scheduled to play on May 24 and May 27 in Ramallah in the return-leg of the bilateral series.

According to the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) Secretary Ahmed Khan Lodhi, the Palestinian Football Association (PFA) has failed to send the required NOC to the PFF resulting in the postponement.

“We don’t have the NOCs which are supposed to be issued from Israel,” Lodhi told The Express Tribune. “We had planned to leave for Palestine on May 21 but due to shortage of time we decided to postpone it.”

He also added that the federation will reschedule the two matches in the first week of June so that the team can get enough practice.

Palestine deny Pakistan’s reasoning

PFA Secretary Abdelmajeed Hijjeh has criticised its Pakistani counterparts’ decision to postpone the event, highlighting that the Israeli authorities never refused the NOCs and that the documents are usually issued three to four days before.

“I’ve sent the NOC letters for each player and the Israeli authority will approve of them.”





Published in The Express Tribune, May 17^th, 2011.