Lahore December 31, 2012: PCB has termed the reason of security situation as the reason for Bangladesh not touring Pakistan in January, as “inappropriate”.
Commenting on the statement made by BCB Chief Nazmul Hassan that has appeared in media, the spokesman of PCB commented, “Although no official intimation has so far been received by PCB from BCB regarding this, and the decision to tour Pakistan is the sole prerogative of BCB, however, it is inappropriate to call security situation in Pakistan as the main reason behind this decision. A lot of cricket related activity in which many international players has participated in the matches held at Karachi and Rawalpindi has recently taken place in Pakistan successfully and without any security issue whatsoever, which in itself reflects that the atmosphere in Pakistan is congenial for any international team visit to the country.”
Moreover, a team of BCB and Bangladesh government jointly visited Pakistan to ascertain the security situation and they left fully satisfied on the subject. Now it would only be proper for the new president of BCB to read the report submitted by that team or visit Pakistan before making any such comments on the Pakistan’s current situation.
Regarding the comments on PCB releasing the players for Bangladesh leagues, the spokesman said, “Even earlier BCB has agreed to tour Pakistan but was stopped by the Dhaka High Court, which in itself is first ever incident in the history of the sport where a court intervened in the decision taken by two boards. Still PCB not only released its players for the BPL but also supported the nomination of then BCB president Mr. Mustafa Kamal for the position of vice president of ICC. It was because PCB made a commitment and wherever a commitment is made we honour it.”
“Now for the 2013 edition of BPL, we have to see the commitments and engagements of our players before releasing them for the tournament. To associate the release the Pakistani players with Bangladesh tour to Pakistan does not hold any merit.”
