Bangladesh will only tour Pakistan if the security situation in the country improves, BCB chief Nazmul Hassan
has said. Hassan, who addressed a press conference in Dhaka on Monday,
was noncommittal on the issue, not saying 'yes' or 'no' to the proposed
tour, but made it clear in various ways that the January visit is ruled
out for the moment.
"The ICC minutes have it that we have made an unconditional commitment
to tour Pakistan. But there is concern among us about the country's
security situation, it has deteriorated. We don't think it will be wise
to visit Pakistan at this time," Hassan said. "We have sent them [the
PCB] a letter three days ago, telling them of our stance. We will again
contact them when their security situation improves. And we will go in
the future, because we are committed to go there."
Two months ago, Hassan had said that the BCB - without mentioning who in
particular - had committed to tour Pakistan in an ICC meeting. But
concerns remained in Bangladesh, and it was learnt that the players
wanted full-proof security guarantees from all parties before heading to
play the series.
However, the PCB has begun its preparations for an impending tour. It
has already placed a tender in one of Pakistan's top newspapers, Daily Jang,
inviting sponsorship bids for a series title sponsor, two co-sponsors
and in-stadia advertising rights for two international matches (one ODI
and one T20). The PCB has also moved the domestic first-class
Quaid-e-Azam matches, scheduled between January 7 and 22 away from the
Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore to accommodate the proposed matches against
Bangladesh.
Hassan's comments came at an "exchange of views" programme on Monday,
which the BCB had arranged to discuss some of the issues in Bangladesh
cricket with the media. Hassan said the BCB was aware that putting the
tour on hold could sour relations with the PCB. "It isn't an easy
decision for us. If we say we want to go, many people in the country
will be hurt. If we don't go, there will be repercussions," he said. "We
know the consequences, they may not want to send their players to the
Bangladesh Premier League and our Dhaka leagues. They will probably not
want to help us or support us."
The PCB had used the upcoming BPL as a bargaining chip
ahead of the T20 league's player auction on December 20: the Pakistan
board had not handed out No-Objection Certificates to their players to
play in the tournament, the understanding being they were waiting for an
official announcement from the BCB, confirming that the proposed tour
would go ahead.
Several Pakistan players were however bought at the auction.
The prominent ones among them included Umar Gul, Kamran Akmal, Abdul
Razzaq, Mohammad Sami, Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Malik, Umar Akmal, Imran
Nazir and Wahab Riaz, whose participation in the tournament is now
unclear.
The PCB and BCB have for some time now been discussing a short tour of
Pakistan that would mark the return of top-flight international cricket
to the country for the first time since the March 2009 attack on the Sri
Lanka team bus in Lahore. A window had been created by the PCB to
accommodate an ODI and T20 between January 10 and 15 ahead of the BPL,
which starts from January 17. That window will now be missed.
The BCB have a 'written commitment' to tour Pakistan and, earlier this month, Hassan had said that they were in the second phase
of talks with the PCB about going ahead with the tour, as the first
phase that dealt with security issues had been completed satisfactory.
However, on December 22, Hassan said the tour was still unconfirmed, as the BCB was awaiting a security assessment to be conducted by the ICC.
Bangladesh was all set to tour Pakistan in April 2012 after a deal
had been cut between the two boards, by which the PCB would back the
BCB president Mustafa Kamal as the nominee for the ICC vice-presidency
and Bangladesh would tour Pakistan in 2012. However, the tour was
postponed after a Dhaka court order embargoed the series. At the time, the ICC had introduced
a special dispensation by which bilateral series can take place even if
the ruling body determined it unsafe to appoint its officials for the
series. As per the dispensation, such series could be manned by
"non-neutral match officials".
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