No security concerns for foreign teams: Ijaz

You are well aware about who is trying to jeopardise the Bangladesh team’s trip to Pakistan: Ijaz Shah

Interior Minister Brig (retd) Ijaz Shah on Sunday said the law and order situation in the country was far better than it was in the past and foreign teams coming to the country had nothing to worry about.

Speaking about the refusal of the Bangladesh cricket team to play Test matches in Pakistan, the minister said politics had penetrated the sport of cricket.

“You are well aware about who is trying to jeopardise the Bangladesh team’s trip to Pakistan," he added.

"We are going to organise PSL matches in Pakistan as the law and order situation is much better now.”

The Bangladesh Cricket Board said its cricket team would not tour Pakistan for the two-match Test series due to security concerns. Bangladesh was due to tour Pakistan from January 18 to play two Tests and three T20 Internationals.

The BCB had earlier floated the proposal of playing one Test in Pakistan and the other in Bangladesh but it was rejected by the Pakistan Cricket Board. The PCB had also ruled out the possibility of hosting the Test series at a neutral venue.

The minister said the year 2020 would usher the country into an era of progress and prosperity.

To a question about MQM-P convener Khalid Mabqool Siddiqui’s decision to quit the federal cabinet, Ijaz said allies having reservations over some issues was common and the grievances of the coalition partner would be addressed.

The minister described the Indian army chief's statement against Pakistan as “irresponsible”.

“He shouldn’t have issued such a statement in the prevailing situation,” he added.

A day earlier, the new Indian army chief, Gen Manoj Mukund Naravane, continued with his belligerent rhetoric in his effort to stay in the headlines in India’s jingoistic media.

After threatening to carry out, what he called, “preemptive strikes” in Pakistan earlier this month, Gen Naravane went one step ahead on Saturday and said his force would take steps to take control of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) if the Indian government gave such an order.

The Pakistan Army brushed aside the top Indian military commander’s threat of invading AJK as “routine rhetoric for domestic audiences”.

“[The] statements by [the] Indian COAS to undertake military action across [the] LoC are routine rhetoric for domestic audiences to get out of ongoing internal turmoil,” the chief spokesperson for Pakistan Army said in a Twitter post.

(With additional input from APP.)