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ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has constituted a 14-member committee to decide on the Pakistan cricket team’s participation in the World Cup being held in India.
The committee will be headed by Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and will finalize recommendations for the PM’s consideration and approval before deciding to send the national team to the neighbouring country for the mega tournament in October.
The committee includes the interior minister, law minister, Inter-Provincial Coordination minister, information and broadcasting minister, adviser on Kashmir affairs, adviser on Establishment, foreign secretary, and representatives of intelligence agencies, The committee has been authorized to hold its meeting and consider Pakistan’s participation in the World Cup.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has written letter to the prime minister, who is also the patron-in-chief of the board, and sought the federal government’s clearance for the national team’s participation in the ODI World Cup.
Pakistan is scheduled to play its first match on October 6 and 12 before clashes with arch-rivals on October 15 in Ahmedabad. The venues at which Pakistan are to play include Ahmedabad, Bengaluru and Chennai. If Pakistan reaches the semi-final, the match will be play in Kolkata.
India, the host of the ODI World Cup in October, has already refused to participate in the Asia Cup being hosted by Pakistan. The Asia Cricket Council decided to hold the event in hybrid mode and Pakistan will host only four matches while the rest of the Asia Cup matches will be played in Sri Lanka.
Pakistan has already decided to send its security delegation to India for inspection of the venues before giving clearance to the team to travel for the World Cup.
The delegation will review the security and other arrangements at the venues designated for Pakistan’s matches. It will visit the arch-rival country after consultations with the Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The delegation will likely visit India’s Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Ahmedabad. The delegation will interact with the officials and inspect the security and other arrangements for our players, officials, fans and media.
