Pakistan want iron clad security for cricket tour (15 January 1999)

15 January 1999

Pakistan want iron clad security for cricket tour

By Faraz Hashmi

ISLAMABAD, Jan14: Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Saddique Kanjo on Thursday said the Pakistani Cricket team would not be sent to India unless the government was sure that iron clad security measures had been invoked by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

The final decision would be taken by the government in the light of report of an official of Pakistan Cricket Board currently touring India to review the security arrangements being made by the Indian authorities in view of the threats given by the Hindu fundamentalist party Shiv Sinha, Mr. Kanjo told the National Assembly.

"We are fully conscious to the threat given by the Shiv Shena and will take final decision only after we are completely sure about the security of our players," he said.

Responding to a call attention notice, he said the Indian authorities had assured that foul proof security arrangements would be made by them during the proposed tour of Pakistan Cricket team to India, starting from Jan 21.

Giving details of the arrangements, he said the venue of first Test had already been shifted from New Delhi to Madras. The Indian authorities had conveyed that special coaches would be provided to the Pakistani team for travelling from hotels to the venues, hotels would be taken over by the security agencies, floors on which the Pakistani cricketers would stay would be sealed off, special measures would be taken to check every spectator entering the stadium and security personnel would be deployed in the crowd to check any security lapse, he added.

Aftab Shahban Mirani of PPP asked the minister whether the shifting of venue did not reflect that even the Indian authorities were not sure about the security of players in New Delhi.

Source :: Dawn (https://dawn.com/)