LAHORE, April 19: While the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) deferred the scheduled tour of its national team to Pakistan for four weeks following an order of their High Court on Thursday, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) alleged that the petitioners have vested interest and want to spoil the cricketing relations between the two countries.

“The PCB notes with extreme concern that the Dhaka High Court has today issued an injunctive order against the forthcoming Pakistan tour of the Bangladesh cricket team.

“It is astonishing to note that a matter lacking any legal issue has been dragged in the court by petitioners who appear to have vested interest and want to jeopardise the Pakistan-Bangladesh cricketing relations.

“The matter before the court prima facie does not contain any legal issue and it is extremely disturbing for the PCB and the Pakistan cricket fans as well as the world cricketing nations that such an adverse order has been passed to block a bilateral cricket series.

“The PCB has been extremely disappointed due to this new situation,” a press release issued by the PCB, after the decision of the Dhaka High Court, said.

It may be mentioned here that both the PCB and the BCB had announced a short three-day tour of Bangladesh cricket team to Pakistan from April 28 to 30 including a One-day International and a T20 match. The tour was seen as a major step towards the revival of international cricket in Pakistan.

However, since the announcement of the tour, the BCB head Mustafa Kamal appeared under tremendous pressure from some quarters to either delay it or call it off.

It was due to the mounting pressure that a spokesman for the BCB was forced to issue a statement that the tour was not final until clearance from the ICC.

In Pakistan, too, the situation didn’t appear really conducive for any such tour after the internal conflict between two of the biggest political parties — PML-N and the ruling PPP — threatened to jeopardise the tour.

Recent statements from Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif claimed that neither the PCB nor the federal government had made any contact with the Punjab government to make security arrangements for the important tour.

The PCB, however, countered the claims of PML-N leadership by saying it had written a letter to the Punjab chief minister on April 16.

It seems that the provincial government was not willing to take the responsibility of providing foolproof security to the Bangladesh team since it would have involved several federal and provincial government agencies.

The sources said the Punjab government was mindful of the fact that in case of any untoward incident during the tour, the PML-N leadership could face the wrath of the whole nation and the situation could become more complex with the federal govt not willing to support the Punjab regime at this stage.