June 25, 2008	Wednesday	Jamadi-us-Sani 20, 1429

KARACHI, June 24: Unlike the past practice, the entire security duties at the National Stadium have been given to the police for the Asia Cup, which kicked off here on Tuesday with a match between Pakistan and Hong Kong.

Earlier, only the Rangers handled security duties at the stadium. They were responsible for the security of the ‘Red Zone’ inside the stadium.

However, for the Asia Cup cricket tournament, the security for the Red Zone, which comprises the main gate, outside of the main entrance, VIP parking lot, inner gate, main pavilion building, hospitality boxes, media galleries, chairman PCB office, players dressing room, umpires room and VIP enclosure, has also been handed over to the police.

Rangers have stationed pickets outside the stadium. Their sniffer dogs have also been employed in the stadium security.

The strength of a little over 3,500 police personnel has been deployed for the Asia Cup.