Pakistan’s military chief directly intervened to salvage the tour of the visiting Sri Lankan cricket team following the suicide attack in Islamabad, the interior ministry said on Thursday. Mohsin Naqvi told the Senate that Field Marshal Asim Munir facilitated talks with Sri Lanka’s top officials when the Lankan cricketers showed reluctance to play after the attack. Sri Lanka’s cricket board said late last night that its team’s ongoing tour of Pakistan will proceed, following the high-level exchanges that saved the situation for Pakistan.
“Our field marshal himself spoke to their defence minister and secretary, convinced them, and assured them fully of providing security,” Naqvi, also the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief, said while speaking on the Senate floor. Naqvi recalled that the Sri Lankan team yesterday “decided to return after the bomb blast occurred.”
“Our interaction with them began, and their board, players, and everyone decided with great bravery to stay here,” the PCB chairman added.
“They had many concerns, but we tried to allay all of those,” Naqvi said, highlighting that Sri Lanka’s President Anura Kumara Dissanayake spoke with his country’s team to convince them.
Naqvi said that high-level security was being provided to the visitors.
“And now, the Pakistan Army, Rangers, and Islamabad police together are managing their security, and we are providing them the same kind of protocol and security as they are our state guests,” the interior minister said.
The PCB chairman noted that the Zimbabwe team has arrived in Pakistan, and the rest of the matches will be held in Rawalpindi.
The series will now begin on November 18 instead of November 17, and Rawalpindi will be the sole venue, unlike Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium, which was originally chosen to host all T20 games.
The crisis followed a suicide blast in Islamabad on Tuesday, which killed 12 people. It occurred just before the first One-Day International match between Pakistan and Sri Lanka was to start in Rawalpindi.
The Lankan team had previously survived a terrorist attack in 2009 when the bus carrying them to the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore was attacked by gunmen. Six cricketers were injured, while six Pakistani police personnel and two civilians were killed
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