IT is less than two months to go before the much publicised ICC Champions Trophy gets underway, if the much awaited green signal is waved for hosts Pakistan.

What’s really most worrying from Pakistan’s point of view, though, is that despite umpteen visits by the security personnel of the ICC and also from Australia and New Zealand, the matter remains in abyss.

It is time now that those who run the game in Pakistan and also those who are considered to be the final authority learn to stand on their feet and stop being cowed down and bullied by the Australians and the New Zealanders who, like on many previous occasions, continue to fear for their safety on a Pakistan tour.

The rest — India, England, West Indies, Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka and also South Africa — have all in the period after ‘9/11’ made successful tours to Pakistan without much fuss and fear.

The well-organised Asia Cup recently was also ample proof that Pakistan is totally prepared and geared up to hold an international event with the kind of security that could match any litmus test.

Pakistan perhaps is paying the price for their soft approach which they adopted a few years ago by opting to play their home series against Australia and the West Indies in Sri Lanka and Sharjah, a decision which should never have been agreed upon by the then PCB officials.

I firmly believe that Australia’s refusal to tour Pakistan for a Test series earlier this year was dictated more by the IPL factor and less by security concerns. Their players dispelled all safety and security fears when some of them travelled to Jaipur to play on the very next day of a spate of explosions there. Isn’t that what we call ‘double standards’?

The ICC should forget that Sri Lanka and South Africa would be safe haven if the tournament is shifted. Explosions and deaths is a common story of the Jaffna Peninsula and in the capital of the country, Colombo. India knows it well and are still going to play there in a Test series this week. Do the Australians really think that their lives are more precious than those of other countries’ players who travel and fulfill their commitments?

Even South Africa has its perils which could be no less menacing. Cities like Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban are no safer than Karachi or Colombo as most players will agree. Pakistan’s problems stem from the fact that they have failed to stand up to challenges the way India has.

The whole world saw how Kumble’s men reacted in the face of that ugly row involving Harbhajan Singh and Andrew Symonds in Australia. The ICC knew well who they were up against and, in the end, had to bow down to BCCI protests.

The PCB sadly does not have that kind of muscle to flex because of their own inability to tackle matters with a firm hand.

Take for instance the recent controversies involving Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif, which have undeniably brought tons of embarrassment to Pakistan cricket.

It was alright for the chairman of the board to withdraw his case against Shoaib for making allegations of cut backs for IPL hirings but to show any sort of leniency in disciplinary cases against players is simply unacceptable.

Asif’s case is even more grim. Now that he has once again been cited by WADA report for IPL offence and served time in a detention centre at Dubai for carrying banned substance, there should be no soft approach to this by PCB. To name him in the Champions Trophy squad before his fate is decided is even more embarrassing.

It is mindless too to have board’s own officials investigate him. You can’t be the judge and the jury at the same time. His report by the Dubai authorities has got to be made public and appropriate punishment must be handed to the player if found guilty. There should be no two ways about it.

The much-criticised ICC is already on a weak wicket because of the Zimbabwe saga and also because of their decision to reverse the result of the forfeited Oval Test of 2006 and being able to have no control on their ‘future tours programme’.

Twenty20, described by former England player Derek Pringle as the ‘Frankenstein’s Monster’ threatens to disintegrate the whole fabric of this beautiful game. The Sri Lankans are already telling the ECB that they can’t tour England before May 20 next year because of their IPL contracted players. England is not happy with the itinerary handed for their tour to India coming autumn.

And combine that with bullying by the Australians and the Kiwis in regards to ICC Champions Trophy; it certainly makes horrible reading.

It came as no surprise when the former England captain Mike Atherton, in a recent article, condemned the ICC and its validity. “I think the ICC has had its day. It doesn’t have the moral authority after its decisions on Zimbabwe in the past two years and is driven by self interest and compromise. That can not be the best way to run an international game. We need to put in place as much of an independent board as possible,” Atherton wrote.

The ICC has now got to prove him wrong. But will it, actually? Certainly not if they are cowed down by bullying from a couple of whining nations.