Pakistan cricket’s top official admits the deadly attack on the Sri Lankan team convoy could cost his country its co-hosting of the 2011 World Cup.
“How can we force them to play in Pakistan if the security situation doesn’t improve,” Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief Ijaz Butt said yesterday, a day after an ambush by a dozen gunmen left six police officers and a driver dead and seven Sri Lankan players injured.
The Test match was abandoned immediately and the Sri Lankan squad evacuated. It was Pakistan’s first chance to host a Test series in 14 months after Australia, West Indies and India withdrew from proposed tours — all on security grounds.
“It has earned a bad name to Pakistan in international community,” Butt said, adding that no country would contemplate touring unless the security situation improved considerably. “It looks grim for at least six to 12 months.”
Butt deflected questions about security, saying it was a government responsibility.
“Nowhere in the world the cricket board interferes in the security matters and it’s the sole responsibility of the government,” Butt said. “As far as I know, the security level was the same as was in the past when various teams toured Pakistan.”
The International Cricket Council is reviewing plans for the 2011 World Cup, which is set to be co-hosted by Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
Imran Khan, captain of Pakistan’s 1992 World Cup winning team, said Sri Lanka had been promised foolproof security and Tuesday’s attack “was a shameful security lapse.”
“Our interior ministry adviser has more security than what the Sri Lankans got,” he said. “If it was any other country, government officials would have resigned by now, but no such sort of a thing happened here.”
“To talk about the 2011 World Cup in Pakistan when it’s warlike situation everywhere here — the security situation does not look good at all,” he said.
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