ISLAMABAD: The government committee, set up to decide the fate of Pakistan’s participation in the upcoming ICC World Cup in India, has asked the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to seek assurance of fool proof security for the national team from the International Cricket Council (ICC).

The committee, headed by Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, was constituted by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif last month with the task of carrying out due diligence before making recommendations to the premier over whether the Pakistan’s squad should be given the green light to travel across the border for the 50-over showpiece, set to be held from Oct. 5 to November 19.

On Thursday, the 11-member body held its first meeting, which was attended by the PCB’s Interim Management Comm­ittee chairman Zaka Ashraf, Minister for Inter-provincial Coordination Ehsan-ur-Rehman Mazari and Adviser to Prime Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira among others.

The high-profile officials agreed upon giving the PCB the task of asking the ICC to assure the Pakistan players’ safety in India during the World Cup. The committee also requested the PCB to explore with the sport’s world governing body the possibilities of shifting Pakistan’s high-voltage encounter against archrivals India from Ahmedabad to some other venue.

The discussions that took place during the meeting, as one of the attendants told Dawn, were based on the consensus that the Indian government and the country’s cricket board were leveraging sports for political reasons.

The committee pointed towards India’s refusal to visit Pakistan for the upcoming Asia Cup — which the latter was originally scheduled to host — over security concerns, that the officials believed were baseless.

They lamented that the PCB had to end up as co-hosts of the tournament along with Sri Lanka to facilitate India’s participation and termed it a serious concern.

The committee did not rule out the possibility of Pakistan withdrawing from the World Cup in case the government was not satisfied by the security arrangements for the national side in India while also mulling sending a security delegation to the neighbouring country for a clearer assessment of the five venues where Pakistan are scheduled to play their matches.

The officials, however, maintained that the Pakistan government prefers not to mix sports with politics before deciding to engage with the ICC.

Earlier, a delegation of the PCB, headed by Zaka called on Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar at the Finance Division.

Zaka apprised Dar of the matters related to the PCB and hosting of the Asia Cup, which is set to be held from Aug 30 to Sept 17. The opening match of the event, between Pakistan and Nepal, will be held in Multan.

Published in Dawn, August 4th, 2023