Police block Karachi Youth team (31 August 1999)

31 August 1999

Police block Karachi Youth team

CricInfo365

Karachi City Cricket Association (KCCA) officials claimed on Monday evening that the KCCA Blues U-19 team was prevented from leaving for Lahore from the city's two stations by police.

The team was leaving to take part in the Grade-I championship shceduled to take place from Sept 1 onwards in Lahore. But the police has been consistently denying of any such acts.

Eyewitnesses said about 22 members of the KCCA arrived and they were told be a senior police official that they cannot proceed to Lahore. The manager of the KCCA team said while briefing his seniors that the police was headed by SSP who had orders 'from the top' of not letting the team to get on the train. And according to him, the police said if the team will not stop 'then police will use its force'.

The squad went to the Cantt station where they saw more than 150 policemen waiting to prevent them from getting on the train. One thing is confirmed that KCCA has still not lodged the First Information Report (FIR) of the morning's incident. "Can one afford to make police enemies?" asked one KCCA official. "All know what police is capable of doing. Lodging of the FIR would be the final nail in the coffins of all the KCCA officials," he added. A team was never denied in the history of Pakistan sports, to travel, by police.

The blocking of the KCCA Blues team's passage is the latest episode in a tussle between the PCB sub-committee for Karachi and the KCCA, both of whom claim they have the right to select two teams to represent Karachi in the Grade-I Under-19 championships.

Source :: CricInfo365