PCB asks FICA to send security delegation to Pakistan

Lahore: The Pakistan Cricket Board has urged the Federation of International Cricketers Association (FICA) to send a security delegation to Pakistan to explore ground realities before trying to enforce their rigid views on the Board and other cricket playing nations.

"To us it is strange that FICA can make a sweeping statement like it is not possible to hold international matches in Pakistan because of the security situation without any of their officials or representatives ever visiting Pakistan to assess the ground realities," a senior official of the PCB said. Tim May, the chief executive of the players representative body, had questioned the ICC`s plan to allow Bangladesh`s planned ODI tour to Pakistan to go ahead despite the governing body of the sports not being willing to send its own match officials to a country on advice that it was unsafe to visit. But the chief operating officer of PCB, Subhan Ahmad said that the proposed series was a bilateral one and if the two boards were satisfied with the security level then no one should be worried. "Especially FICA since they are neither recognised nor have any representative body in Pakistan," he said. Ahmad also said if the PCB or Pakistan government felt even for a minute that security situation was not ideal to invite an international team, it would have never taken such a risk. "But the reality is that situation has improved in Pakistan in the last two years and what bothers us is that bodies like FICA make sweeping statements without ever having bothered to even visit this country." Meanwhile, the PCB Chairman Zaka Ashraf has also invited FICA to send a team to Pakistan. "The association should play a positive role in the promotion of cricket in the whole world," Ashraf told the `Express Tribune` newspaper. "FICA should form an International XI and bring a team of former cricketers to play against Pakistan here rather than trying to discourage other countries that want to bring out Pakistan from international cricket isolation," he added. Former Pakistan captain Zaheer Abbas have also lashed out at FICA for its call to postpone the planned series. "It`s time that ICC and other countries start thinking positively. We should not give value to May`s statement. People should consider the efforts the PCB and the Pakistan government are making," said Abbas. Interestingly attempts by FICA to set up a representative players association in Pakistan has always been forcefully negated by the PCB despite some senior players being convinced that Pakistan also needs to be a member of the players` world body. PTI