Bangladesh ‘agree’ to tour Pakistan... again

Board to await security clearance before arriving for 2-match tour.

DHAKA: Bangladesh have agreed in principle to tour Pakistan early next year and become the first team to play international cricket there since the 2009 attack on Sri Lanka’s team bus.

“We’ve in principle agreed to tour Pakistan,” said Enayet Husain Siraj, head of cricket operations Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB). “It’s a commitment made by former BCB president Mustafa Kamal. We are keeping his word. The tour is subject to security clearance.”

Bangladesh had accepted an invitation to tour Pakistan in April this year for a short limited-over series after they received security clearance. But the Dhaka High Court ordered the tour to be postponed following a petition filed by a lawyer and a university teacher.

Officials have said they see no judicial bar this time although Jalal Yunus, a BCB spokesperson, said the board was still awaiting a security plan from its counterparts in Pakistan which would be discussed before signing off on the tour. Yunus said Pakistan had proposed two matches in Lahore on January 12 and 13.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 18^th, 2012.