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Musharraf pledge wasn`t enough: Australian PM
Sydney, Aug 12: Australian Prime Minister John Howard said on Monday that Pakistan leader Pervez Musharraf had personally guaranteed the safety of Australia`s cricketers during a planned tour to Pakistan, but the pledge was not enough to prevent the trip being cancelled.
"The President rang me about two and a half weeks ago, we had a conversation for about half an hour," Howard said on a radio channel in Cairns.
"He asked me to tell the board that the players would be safe. He said he would guarantee their security."
Howard, a self-avowed cricket fanatic, said he passed the information on to the Australian Cricket Board but told Musharraf it was a matter for the ACB to decide.
"I don't think they had any alternative, particularly in light of recent events, but it is a great shame," Howard said, referring to a spate of deadly attacks on Westerners and non-Muslims by Islamic militants in Pakistan.
Bureau Report