Thaindian News

Karachi, May 14 (IANS) Afghanistan will be the first international cricket team to tour Pakistan in more than two years when the two nations clash later this month — but contrary to expectations, the bilateral series will not receive any special security protocol.

The Afghanistan team, which will arrive in Pakistan May 24 to play three one-day games against Pakistan A, will be given routine security during its stay here. This comes after international teams stopped visiting Pakistan in the wake of the attack on the Sri Lanka cricket team in 2009.

The one-dayers will be played in Faisalabad, Rawalpindi and Abbottabad, which has become the centre of attention after the US operation that killed Osama bin Laden.

Although not a high-profile series, it will end the drought of international cricket in Pakistan since the 2009 attack which resulted in Pakistan losing out on hosting several home series including the 2011 World Cup.

However, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has no plans to contact top authorities for enhancing the security arrangements during the series.

“It’s not a big series,” a PCB official told The Express Tribune Saturday. “We are in touch with the local administrations and they have assured to provide security. The Afghanistan players are visiting Pakistan regularly to play local tournaments. We are not denying the importance of security but the security provided by local administrations would be enough.”

It may be recalled that excerpts of the report on the Sri Lanka team attack suggested that security lapses were responsible for the incident.

Lahore High Court judge Shabbir Raza Rizvi, who prepared the report heavily criticised senior police officers and wrote that the police failed to perform their duties.