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Pakistan cricket tour canned after ‘credible security threat’

Plans under way to fly tour squad out of Islamabad as Pakistan cricketers and officials vent their anger and leading sports stars call for an explanation. reports.

Mark Geenty

FORMER Black Caps all-rounder Grant Elliott says New Zealand Cricket owes angry Pakistan fans and officials a public explanation over its decision to abandon the tour – but that explanation now seems to have arrived via the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which told Sunday News that officials ‘‘alerted NZ Cricket to information regarding a specific, credible security threat’’.

That threat was received as recently as Friday, the ministry said.

Sunday News understands the 21 players, plus support staff, were set to fly out from

Islamabad by today, but their movements remained a closely guarded secret as NZC and the NZ Cricket Players’ Association refused to answer further questions yesterday.

Ysst as the first one-day international was scheduled to start in Rawalpindi on Friday night, NZC confirmed it had abandoned the Black Caps’ first tour of Pakistan in 18 years, ‘‘following an escalation in the New Zealand Government threat levels for Pakistan, and advice from NZC security advisers on the ground’’.

Australian Reg Dickason, a long-time security consultant for cricket teams touring Pakistan, is with the team in Islamabad.

Pakistan Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed told a press conference the threat was a conspiracy from another country and ‘‘an attempt to damage our efforts for peace’’.

PCB chairman Ramiz Raja posted on Twitter: ‘‘Walking out of the tour by taking a unilateral approach on a security threat is very frustrating. Especially when it’s not shared!! Which world is NZ living in?? NZ will hear us at ICC.’’

Elliott played in the Pakistan Super League as top-level cricket slowly returned to the country in recent years after the 2009 attack on the Sri Lankan team’s bus in Lahore saw all tours suspended. He told SENZ radio more explanation was needed from NZC to placate their hosts.

‘‘Pakistan fans are angry, it looks like the Pakistan Cricket Board are angry, and their new chairman, Ramiz Raja. Everyone is in the dark because it’s an undisclosed threat,’’ Elliott said.

‘‘There needs to be a level of transparency around how that decision was made, because when you read the quotes it looks like it’s purely a New Zealand Cricket decision.’’

Elliott understood the reaction of fans and former cricketers. ‘‘Pakistan is a passionate nation. I’ve been there, and there was a presidential level of security when I was there . . . We can’t understand what sort of threat was made, but I’d say there would be a lot of smoothing over in the next couple of months between Pakistan and New Zealand cricket boards.’’

Ahmed said Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, a cricket great, had spoken to New

Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to reassure her of security for the team.

Ahmed told the press conference that Ardern said the NZ government had ‘‘received intelligence that the team could be attacked when it steps out to go to the stadium.’’

NZ’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade is in contact with NZC as the team makes plans for its departure.

‘‘New Zealand agencies have provided ongoing and consistent advice that Pakistan remains a high threat security environment, as outlined in the New Zealand Government travel advisory for Pakistan, which notes there is a significant threat from terrorism throughout Pakistan,’’ a spokesman said.

‘‘MFAT alerted NZC to information regarding a specific, credible security threat yesterday. We will not discuss details of the threat. Decisions about the tour were made by NZC.

‘‘We understand how disappointing this decision will be for Pakistan and its cricket community, just as it will be for NZC and the Black Caps.’’

Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson said the government supported the NZC decision. ‘‘As they have said, they did so on the basis of security assessments, including by their own security advisers on the ground. There was a credible security threat and NZC has responded appropriately. As is normal in situations like this, it is not

possible or responsible to go into detail around the nature of these threats, but it was credible and had to be taken seriously.

‘‘As the Prime Minister has said, we are grateful to the government of Pakistan for keeping the team safe while they have been there, and appreciate how disappointing this decision is . . . However, player safety has to be paramount.’’

Dickason reportedly contacted Pakistan authorities at 3am (local time) on Friday with news of the threat.

Dawn news website reported Pakistan Army’s Special

Services Group, soldiers, and

4000 police officers were deployed for the matches in Rawalpindi. ‘‘We also tried to convince them to play the match without spectators. But they did not agree to it,’’ Ahmed said.

NZC rubber-stamped the tour last month, pending a final security assessment, which Dickason completed in the fortnight before their arrival. It was part of their Future Tours Programme obligations, having

been hosted by Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates since 2009.

The Black Caps touched down in Islamabad aboard a charter flight from Dhaka last Saturday night (NZ time), with Pakistan’s government promising ‘‘extraordinary’’ security.

NZCPA boss Heath Mills said last week that the team felt secure.

‘‘I believe we have the highest level of security that could be afforded to an international team. I am very comfortable with the resources the Pakistan

Cricket Board and government are putting towards the tour to ensure our people are safe,’’ Mills said as the team arrived.

Still, there were reservations among the squad in the leadup to the tour, which was preceded by a five-match Twenty20 series in Bangladesh.

Last month, Mills said some players had sought reassurance before they left New Zealand, after the Taliban’s takeover of neighbouring Afghanistan, which potentially heightened the risk in Pakistan.

Dickason spent 16 years in the Australian police force and in the past two decades became one of the foremost security consultants for sporting teams travelling to volatile countries like Pakistan.

He was with the Black Caps in 2002 when they abandoned their tour of Pakistan after a bomb blast on a bus killed 14 people outside their Karachi hotel on the morning of the second test.

Dickason also accompanied them the following year when they returned to Pakistan with a second-string side and played five one-day internationals without incident.

‘‘Security risk assessments are completed every day and the level of resource and the rollout of the security plan is assessed every day,’’ Mills said last week.

‘‘If there were any issues at any point in time, we’re very confident that our security expert would pick that up and advise us accordingly, then other plans would need to be made.’’

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