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25 February 2004
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Wednesday
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04 Muharram 1425
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Independent committees to supervise security of Indian tour
By Intikhab Hanif
LAHORE, Feb 24: The federal government has reportedly directed the provinces to constitute independent committees to supervise even police during the forthcoming Pak-India cricket series to avoid overcrowding and entry of unauthorized people into stadiums.
Official sources informed Dawn here on Tuesday that the instructions had been issued in view of the reports that police manning entry gates or performing duties in enclosures allow free entry to their acquaintances or colleagues.
Previously, executive magistrates used to supervise police but since the abolition of their office, there had been no mechanism to oversee the latter, the sources said.
They said the directions had come following the concern of both the countries to provide maximum security to the teams particularly Indians, and to avoid any mismanagement.
Sources in the Civil Secretariat said a meeting chaired by the home secretary earlier in the day decided to allow entry into stadium only on tickets. The Pakistan Cricket Board would not issue any pass to anyone and even the VVIPs would watch matches after buying tickets, they claimed.
They said passes had been a problem in regulating crowd. Another problem had been the demand from those who matter, to allow their kith and kin to witness matches even without a pass, disallowing those who had bought tickets to enter the stadiums.
PCB would start selling tickets very soon and publicise it this time that no free entry passes would be issued. They said the meeting was informed that the federal government had asked the provinces to constitute committees under either the governors or the chief ministers for better management during matches.
It was decided to direct police to behave politely with people and refrain from teargassing or baton charge to repel crowd so as to show the world that the matches were a peaceful affair.
The meeting reviewed security arrangements during matches and around the hotels where the teams would stay to ensure protection of politely players.
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