October 16, 2003	Thursday	Sha'aban 19, 1424

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KARACHI, Oct 15: A senior official of the Karachi City Cricket Association (KCCA) on Wednesday urged the chief of the ad hoc PCB, Tauqir Zia, to prevail upon New Zealand to play one-day matches throughout Pakistan instead of just one province.

Prof Sirajul Islam Bukhari, the KCCA honorary secretary, in a press release, expressed his anguish at the Pakistan Cricket Board’s decision to host New Zealand in a series of five One-day Internationals in the Punjab.

“This is all the more important for them (New Zealand) to play in Karachi as the visitors are coming over to compensate for the losses sustained by the PCB and KCCA for not being able to stage the Karachi Test last year because of a bomb blast,” he said, adding one ODI should have been played each at Karachi, Quetta and Peshawar.

“Then it makes sense because the Kiwis are coming on a tour of Pakistan. Confining the tour to a single province is going to set a very wrong precedent for the future,” he noted.

Bukhari advised the PCB hierarchy not to react impulsively to the demands of the visiting countries.

“The PCB should not be dictated by the whims of foreign teams because one should not forget that Karachi is the backbone of Pakistan cricket.

“And refusal by foreign teams to play here will be a big blow to the game and will label Karachi as ‘no go’ area for international cricket.

“New Zealand should have been made to realize that the PCB has done them a big favour by agreeing to organize one-day matches in Pakistan during Ramazan despite the sanctity of the holy month and sentiments of the Pakistanis,” the KCCA secretary added.

Bukhari recalled that during 1996 World Cup — jointly organized by Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka — when half of Karachi was under curfew because of law and order situation, no team dared to refuse to play World Cup matches in the city.

South Africa, the current tourists, last month cancelled the tour of Pakistan because of a minor bomb blast in Karachi. But the PCB coaxed them to change their mind with a revised itinerary that excluded Karachi and Peshawar.

The KCCA official termed PCB’s decision to hold New Zealand matches at Faisalabad, Lahore and Rawalpindi as totally unfair and unjust to the cricket-mad Karachiites. “It is an attempt to deprive us from seeing them in action particularly at a time when the visitors will be touring our country after playing on the volatile and crises stricken Indian soil.”