"><$MTEntryTitle$>

<$MTEntryExcerpt$>

">Read more

You have to notice that the security has improved considerably in the last few months. There are very few bomb blasts to speak of now. Yes, it was particularly bad around the time Australia was scheduled to tour, but things have changed quite a bit.

Mr Ashok you have been very selective with facts.
India and Sri Lanka have a longer history of bombings going back decades therefore JAIPUR is not a one off. You could say its the most recent and there is no guarantee more wont follow.
As for England, many more attempts have followed the July 05 blasts Albeit they have been foiled. Also, if the british security agencies are to be believed, there are many more currently being plotted and who is to say one wont slip through the net. England also has a history of terrorist bombings going back decades through the IRA, a dispute which still has not really been settled.

The common denominator in all the above terrorist issues is that they are politically motivated therefore the Sporting World is relatively safe.

If it really is as dangerous as you suggest in Pakistan, why dont we evacuate all the Pakistani team, surely they must be under the same threat as the rest of the cricketers.

Dear Ashok, how flippantly you characterize London and Jaipur as one off's yet depict Pakistan as a "hotbed" of terrorism for many years. But in doing so you miss two very important points. First, no cricketer has ever been injured or targeted or even threatned in Pakistan. Second the back-up venue for the Champions Trophy is Sri Lanka! Now maybe my political history is a bit dodgy but I think the Tamil Elam have been around for a lot longer than the Taliban or Al-Qaeda. So what exactly are Pakistani fans to think if this tournament is moved to Sri Lanka? A "Tamil" terrorist is safer than a "Muslim" terrorist? C'mon guys this is all hog wash, the "Western" teams dont like to tour Pakistan because there is no "Wine, women and dance" at least out in the open. Its a boring, strenuous tour and the money aint great either. But the damage to Pakistan cricket is. If the CT is moved to SL, I would hope Pakistan or its players would have the guts to boycott!

Mr. Malik. The way you put it, any tournament would be a disaster if India gets knocked out early! Also after that happens people who are still following the tournament are mindless fanatics!! What are you implying here?? Please use your words more carefully.

For me the last champions trophy was a good enjoyable ODI tournament after a long time. It had some good matches where the contest between bat and ball was quite even (mainly because of the good pitches on show). There were a lot of good individual batting and bowling performances.

The tournament had its share of surprises with WI reaching the finals knocking out India in the process. So please don't slag something just to support your arguments.

[Ashok responds ... You've missed my point. I was calling Indian television fans who lost interest in the tournament after India was knocked out -- leading to the Champions' Trophy becoming a commercial disaster -- "mindless fanatics".]

During the 2005 Ashes the Aussie players were deeply concerned, and some went public that another bomb and they're on their way home - England or not, Ashes or not. Even cricinfo ran an article on it (Aug. 3rd).
South Africa pulled out of Sri Lanka due to bomb attacks there.
If the situation in Pakistan continues (and the latest round of bombings is continuing) there is no reason to even consider hosting there.
Note that the bombings are not exclusively against Pakistani targets. Just two weeks ago a massive car bomb was aimed at the Danish embassy in Islamabad.
If attacks are aimed at a Danish embassy (?!) then other nationals are certainly not exempt.
The media report I read was that:
"The blast, heard more than two miles away, sheared off the embassy's front wall and kicked in its metal front gate. The impact blew out the building's windows and also damaged the offices of a non-profit organization." (CNN June 3rd)
If that's the protection that can be offered an embassy...

"If some players want to pick and choose, given an over-burdened cricket calendar"

Since the IPL this can never be mentioned again since players who winge about this who happily went to the IPL are effectively saying that playing too much cricket isnt a problem!

You have a point. Mind you, it irritates me no end when every tour to Pakistan is "threatened" even though they have ALL (Karachi 2002 discounted, and that didn't have anything to do with cricket) come off well. South Africa and New Zealand in Pakistan 2003, India in Pakistan 2004, England in Pakistan 2005, India again in 2006... why is it so easy to forget this?

But you do have a merit when you say that foreigners should be allowed to make a decision whether to tour or not. However, one should remember that Sri Lanka has been in a state of war for decades and the cricketing atmosphere there has hardly been the worse for it. Same goes, I believe, for Pakistan.

All players are paid for play so if they don’t play or they make noises like Australian players doing then they should be kick out and ICC should not let them play Intl Cricket any more. I will request to PCB that if Champions Trophy moves from pak then please don’t participate in it and boycott all tournaments which have Australia.

By saying 9/11 , or security concerns, making lot of concern about security , all this making this tournament unsecure, just be quite, come and play and let people of pakistan to watch some exciting matches after so many years.

"it was a one-off" can only be said in hindsight ashok. the incidents reveal prejudices that you are refusing to confront. not to say that i would blame any poor sod who does not want to tour...

your refusal to entertain the idea that racial biases might not even partially inform the decision making is also bizarre.

I'm in Karachi, Pakistan at the moment, one of the major venues in the Champions Trophy. I would just like to say that the media has for years exaggerated the situation in my country. Yes, there were a lot of bomb blasts in the past but recently with the arrival of a democratic government, all but the tribal north western areas are as safe as any other place in the world.

I think it was unfortunate that Australia canceled its tour of the country,but in March it was understandable. Now if the Champions Trophy is boycotted, it will be very unfortunate , not just for the Pakistani people but for the game of Cricket itself.

No Outsiders can give assurance about security & as well as safty in countries like Pakistan, Iraq, Afganistan, considering too many conflicts within these contries. No one should take risk to participate in any international event in such countries, as they are primary targets as all terrorists organisation would try to grab such opportunity to make worldwide attention.

Even I suggest India also should refuse to play in Pakistan mased on this ground. All cricketers should have rights to make sure their own personal saftey first,& they must protest if their country cricket organisation forceing them to play. ICC should cancel this tournament without any second thought.

All should remember that this tournament was started by our own $miya to move ICC balance sheet from red zone to green zone! Now there is no such need to continue with this tournament. Also now a days there are too much Cricket making all players to perform like what various animals do in any Circus !!

I beleive that all players wanting to boycott the CT dont have anything called patriotism in them. Are they playing for themselves or for their countries? We have soldiers, armies in each country, why in order to defend their respective countries, not only armies, each and every citizen representing his country is a soldier, but players wanting to back-out are nothing but bullies.

By chance if andrew symonds was a Pakistani, it would have been interesting to hear his comments on the players wanting to back out from CT.

I hope these big names definately back-out so that young players from these countries wanting to make a mark in international cricket get a chance and make there seniors feel ashamed of themselves.

This article is certainly representative of a prevalent point of view...I would argue there are in fact too many of the same types sentiments. However, certainly cannot argue with its logic - if a player is afraid what can the board do. Nothing personal, but the PCB should pull out of the ICC if the champion's trophy does not happen in Pakistan. If its money that helps to decide these things...the the loss of a somewhat strong team at at time when the ICC wants to expand the game will eventually force some introspection.

"Otherwise, private employers like the Indian Cricket League will seem more attractive and amenable."
And this would be wrong because? Isn't the BCCI a private employer? Out of curiosity which boards are public?
The ICC and almost every cricket board out there are run on obfuscated and bureaucratic policy frameworks that facilitate their monopolistic grasp over the sport. For a long time the case has been that unless you have a strong player association or union to back you up, its curtains for your career. So while these bodies didn't have competition, they could afford to run on their archaic principles.
Competition forces changes, the better run organization usually prevails. A mass player migration can't really hurt cricket if the new infrastructure is better, can it? If the boards refuse to see this, who will miss them a few years from now? I don't remember the great Australian Cricket Administration pre-Packer, or post- for that matter. Just the change for better to cricket.

Damn, was gonna type up a really intelligent and insightful response to this article but it's too crazy here in Lahore! Bullets flying all over the place, oh noes Taliban have captured my kitchen! WMDs hidden in Gaddaffi stadium!

Gotta escape from the evil terrorists!!! Aussies don't even go places where the people are even slightly tanned, it's a trap!

I'm assuming that Mr. Malik is an Indian who can't help being bias when it comes to anything to do with Pakistan. I have spent a decent part of my last 15 years in developing nations of South Asia and to my amusement, the story is extremely similar in all these countries. No nation can claim to be terror free and safer than the other.

India for incident reported 172 bomb blasts since 9/11, a number that superseeds the number of blasts in Pakistan or Sri Lanka during the same time frame but India being a media proxy nation made it seem "all ok", thanks to US involvement in Afghanistan, Pakistan can't affoard the luxuries entertained by Indian media.

The fact of the matter is that "the world itself, is a dangerous place and it has been like this since the beganing" does that mean that we should stop doing what we love to do? No.

Well Mr. Ashok you give a very weak argument dont you. The very fact that you want us to treat the cricketers as we do ourselves should tell you that if you refuse to do your job you will be penalised for it and please dont tell me that you think that everybody is doing a job they like or want to do. Same for cricketers penalise em when they say no.

Also one offs wow thats really something from your side aint it. The only possible way you can know this is if you were involved and did them so you can say it wont happen again.

And again how can you say for the whole cricket fans community that champions trophy is nothing. Its cricket Mr. Ashok and people who love cricket love champions trophy as well. IPL was fun but i would rather watch countries playing against each other rather than wannabe indian cricketer teams with the stars having to do everything.

But your whole article has amazed me to the point that i had to write a comment (by the way my first post ever :)).

[Ashok responds ... Dear Kashan, Congratulations on your first post.]

Mr Ashok...Ur comments seem very biased to me towards Pakistan as most indians tend to be. Please stop with the talk of pakistan being unsafe and india being safe. An unfortunate incident related to terrorism can happen anywhere and at anytime. It has happened numerous times in India and doesnt make india, or for that matter any other country any safer than Pakistan.

if some players dont want to tour the country, that should be alright and new players should be given a chance, but the tournament should go ahead as scheduled. The ICC hasn't just declared the security in Pakistan as above par without going into the depth of it. If the players intending to boycott the tournament have no faith in PCB's assurity of the best security arrangement, they should be satisfied by ICC's results.

The newzealand skipper Daniel vetori openly stated that if the security arrangement in Pakistan during the Champion's trophy is like the last time he visited, than he has no concerns in playing in pakistan

Abdul K. Hussain hit the nail right on the head, "no wine, women & dance" in Pakistan. No "entertainment" and then money isn't great either. If every player is guaranteed a minimum half a million dollars to play in Pakistan, I would like to see how many still have the "security" concern.

YOU SAY THAT THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE LONDON/JAIPUR INCIDENCES AND PAKISTAN IS THAT THOSE INCIDENCES WERE A ONE OFF.THE PROBLEM WITH YOUR ARGUMENT IS THAT IT IS ALL RELIANT ON HINDSIGHT. HOW DID THEY KNOW AT THE TIME THAT LONDON AND JAIPUR WERE GOING TO BE A ONE OFF? WELL THEY DIDN'T BUT THEY STILL PLAYED, STRANGE HEY?

YOU ALSO IGNORE THE FACT THAT THE ATTACKS IN PAKISTAN ARE AT POLITICAL TARGETS. THERE HAS BEEN NO ATTACKS ON FOREIGN SPORTS PERSONALITIES (OUR COACH IS AUSTRALIAN, HE LIVES THERE, PERFECT TARGET RIGHT?) OR SPORTS FACILITIES. YET SOMEHOW YOU MANAGE TO LINK SPORT AND TERRORISM IN A WAY THAT EVEN ANDREW SYMONDS WOULD BE PROUD OF.

THIS LEAVES ONLY ONE QUESTION; ARE YOU ANDREW SYMONDS MR ADMINISTRATOR?

I think Ashok has a point. Firstly, there are a lot of comments about how Pakistan is relatively safe now. It is great thing but it has to continue for another 6 months or so for people to feel safe. I don't think it is fair to expect everybody to start feeling safe now if it was turbulent 3 months back.

Also "So far no cricket related incident has happened" is not a good reason to feel safe. Its like saying "Hey, you don't have to worry. So far no 40 year old 5'55" guy weighing 155 pounds has got hurt".

Secondly, though India and England also are facing issues with terrorism, Jaipur and London were indeed one-off incidents unlike few bloggers suggested. Thirdly Srilanka is turbulent but it is also facing issues with tour cancellations.

Pakistan is not alone in this. However I don't agree with Ashok on players not playing in Champions Trophy because it is less important. Aus/WI didn't play in Srilanka in a World Cup game in 96.

Terrorism is increasing everyday in every part of the world and I agree with Mr Malik that the players should be allowed to make their own decisions. And obviously Pakistan, Sri lanka, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe will not be holding any tournaments and the international games played (if any) in these countries will involve only club cricketers.

Eventually public in these countries (atleast) will loose interest in the game and cricket will end there. That will be a great boost to the game of cricket. Mind you, at the moment the most interested audience of cricket is in Asia. And if Pakistani fans loose interest in the game, Indian cricket will suffer as well. Because for indo-pak fans there is nothing like an India Pakistan contest.

Cricket in Australia and west indies is already showing signs of decline. You see where I am going with this or should I say, Where cricket is going...? Good suggestions Mr. Malik, you should be on ICC's board of directors.

terrorism knows no boundaries

when was the last time cricket was disrupted or atleast the minds of the players were, IPL wasnt all tension free,after all bombs were exploded and an act of terror commited yet it went on, england faced the terrorism acts and yet the game went on, when was the last time something like that happned during cricket in pakistan

i guess if at all cricket makes the country the safest as even terrorists i believe are fans of the game, such is the magnitude of the passion of the game here, they are probably postponig their future acts just to watch the games involving pakistan and india.

making pakistan the only taget is stupid, what makes england ,india or australia any safer to the vulnerable acts of terrorism.i guess it tells that many cricketers are just shelved into their game so much that they hardly understand what terrorism who and who has been stuck.

mates its the whole world in the grip and pakistan the front runner in fighting these terrorists who exist anywhere and everywhere.max

It seems Mr.Malik has missed recent abduction & torture of Pakistani cricket fan by Indian authorities. Also Pakistani cricketers are always threatened for playing in Mumbai. In Pakistan no one has ever threatened any local or international cricketers. Pakistan is safe for cricket & recent foreign team tours has proven that.

You have mentioned that in case of Jaipur money was an issue. Does this mean that these cricketers weight money more then their life? Baseless execuse !!!.

Have you ever seen a sporting event in Pakistan being target of the terrorism?... NOPE ...

The fact is that this is a planned saga in which Aussies and English cannot see cricket flourish in other parts of the world.

Situation in other coutries is as bad as it gets. I mean in South Africa you have the highest crime rate in the world, but have you ever seen it boycotted.

I would urge Pakistani cricketers and officials to boycott the CT, if the venue is changed. National Dignity is much more important than cricket.

It was interesting to read this, i can understand a
indian point of view on this. i ask one question How long the bombs havs been going OFF in pakistan(it is no secret every one knows how is behind) and how long the bombs has been going off in india.

Mr Ashok let hear your view if there is bombs going off in India (as they are always ) and every one bycot the commonwealth games.

I know the ashes, (It was wrong to say and very Ignorant of you say that ashes was more important )and i was in australia, the theam that came off after the blast was we are going to beat terrorist and we need to be brave. So what happen to it and don't worry that situation will change.

It is rather hard to side with ICC, no matter what decision they take.

That said, I do think that the pride once felt in wearing the national colors has given way to the quintessention thirst for money.

Champion's Trophy lacks the raison d'etre. It is quite like having the world cup every two years instead of every year. Nevertheless, it remains the rare ODI tournament in a calendar replete with bilateral and triangular (in each case, quite boring) series. I fail to see why the event should evoke a lesser 'noble sentiment' than a world cup.

On terrorism - I dare say that Jaipur was hardly a one-off incident. We have had bombings, mass murder for over 4 decades. I am astonished by your words, it dishonors countless soldiers and innocents who have died terrible deaths at the hand of this vile threat.

I FEEL PAKISTAN SHOULD TELL AUSTRALIA AND ENGLAND , COME AND PLAY ORELSE STAY AND WATCH THE HIGHLIGHTS FROM THEIR COUNTRY.

i just want to say one thing why only the australian and england are hesitating to play in pakistan. Is the life of the people living in pakistan is not eqaul to the life of an english. we are very safe here , much safer than australia and england. and we love our pakistan and love cricket. i would invite all the players and i am sure they will really enjoy it.

Pakistan has been a great cricketing nation and they entertain fans both Pakistani and of the opponents' sides.However, if one nation has mixed up religion to sports, it is Pakistani team. I am baffled and feel sorry for the players who have to recite "Allah and Bismillah..." before talking to any reporter or prize distribution ceremony. What do they want to portray? They should come out of that mentality to enjoy cricket as a sport only!

why only pakistan targetted.ven jaipur hit by blasts.no player even moved 4rm his place.every player is just playing normally.i dont knw when blasts hit india or eng no one said even a single word of unsecure.i requests to PCB if any team r even this tournament moves from Pakistan.boycott either the foreign country or this tournament.pakistan is the safest country.those who r not living in our country please stop exggeration relates to insecurity.everyone is safe here

I would tend to agree with a lot of points mentioned by various respondents to your "ësteemed article".

My point is simple, no country and its sports administration in particular is responsible for mindless violence and terrorism caused by a section of people.

No country in the same breath is free of the danger either. A sporting event of any magnitude cannot be held to ransom due to such incidents.

The Aussies and anybody who says they will not travel to Pakistan for Champions Trophy is just plain lazy to play the 50 over version and sees Pakistan as a boring place, cause else they should have been on the first flight out of India during IPL and London in 2005.

While you describe it a one-off incident, a one-off incident is sadly good enough to snuff your life out. Therefore keeping the circumstances what is possible is bets security measures agreed to by all and once thats done, you better shut and Play, or else....

Mr. Ashok, I partially agree with your thoughts. Players should be treated as humans not as robots. It is upto them to decide whether to play or not and ICC should not impose anything on any team or their players............

But dont you people of Pakistan are also humans and equally sports loving as Australians, English or Indians.. Last edition of CT was not a disaster, India was not only particpant in that tournament but there were world class performances from international teams. May be it was disaster in India but not over all.

Mr Rajendra, would u support Australian & English teams and suggest to boycott CT if tournament would have played in India?

Indians stand & fight when some western player make merry of an Indian player but when the same western players are humiliating other country and its people then they supports them, dont u think it is a kind of racism ...

Sri Lanka, the alternate venue, is not a safer place than Pakistan at the moment with the Tamil insurgency. Let the players decide themselves whether they want to come. The tournament should not be canceled and whoever shows up should be able to enjoy the cricket.

It's funny Rajendra Nanda putting Pakistan in the same bracket as Afghanistan and Iraq. While 'Mr. India,' with his obvious biased opinion, forgetting that India is not any safer place for any Muslim or western player to play, either.

Mr Malik,

A truly disgusting article. You seem to have everything revolve around Twenty20 and some imaginary West vs Subcontinent rivalry that you have conjured up in your mind.

You take delight in whitewashing the Jaipur blasts and India's own security threats. The London situation was something far more dangerous than Pakistan while the Jaipur blasts which, at the time, seemed pointless were far more dangerous precisely because there didn't seem to be a point to them at the time. Jaipur was not the one-off that you make it out to be.

Sri Lanka has been at war within itself for years but you seem to find this of no interest. India is at the very least as dangerous as Pakistan, if not more. Your article is despicable and revolting.

Daniel Vettori best summed it up, saying that if the security was high(which it undoubtedly will be) he was completely confident of touring.

I agree with Faisal Hashmi that, if the Champions Throphy is not played in Pakistan, Pakistan should pull out.

"As India was out in the first round and hence ICC champions trophy was bore". Just for that reason alone i think the writer is so intellectually shallow that anything he says has lost its credibility.

There is an old school of thought where ancient Indians did not use to travel beyond a certain point on ther motherland as they believed that the earth's edge might finish there and they might fall down.

Thats how such writers see the world. So typical of an Indian mentality till today!

[Ashok responds ... Dear Farras, Thank you for putting words in my mouth and misrepresenting what I said. Perhaps you didn't understand it. Unfortunately, this is a blog and not an English language, grammar and usage classroom.]

I think PCB should cancel hosting the CT before there are boycotts from anny team or players.It's unfortunate but true that we have our self to blame for the image we are carrying.

Our midias were not able the spotlight the realities about all this terrorism going on,everybody think our whole nation is playing a part in this bloody game started by the Rasians .No one realise that we are the first victims,I think it's fair to say that there are no guaranties of security in anny city of Pakistan.And i refuse to compare my country to India or Sri lanka that is a different story.

It's also fair to say that palyers that feel unsafe should not be forced but I think what's unfair is the way all western players comment about it.

The ICC should never dammage the dignity of anny cricket board and nation connected to it.They should check the security before letting a country to host a tour or tournament.And if there are last minute changings at least do it with dignity and not make a joke of it...

And I hope the Pakistan team use the rage of their nation over cancelation as terrorisme as extra energy to play with passion ,beat Eng in semi and AUS in final to bring us the champions trophy ... i know it sound childish but everything is possible.

There we go again''I'll always curious about the mental health of someone who will say that India and Srilanka are more safer then Pakistan.There is not a single incident of bombing in last 4 months in any major city and things are improving every day.Now the "premedonnas" have "concerns" well they always had on one thing or the other..

The arguments presented in the article are feable and contradictory to each other,writer seems to have some other "agenda". I'll say,anymore bycote and PCB should should respond in same way.

Pakistan is to host some matches in 2011.So lets see who boycotts than,do remember the number of attacks thwarted in UK were due to Pakistani Intelligence efforts. Also keep in mind terrorism is an issue of global scale the agenda is to scare people thats what boycotting will achieve.

Look at Andrew Symonds recent form he needs excuses to feel good. Indian has far better players and icons its better Aussies dont come. Theyll make mock of themselves as they did in 1996 by not going to SL.

Why are australians always the first ones to raise security concerns, chuking issues, ball tempring, and offcourse racical discrimination arguments. In reality their best spinner was banned from cricket for two years following dope charges, Their own kerry packer started the rebel league their own players mark waugh and adam gilchrist openly accpeted match fixing charges so a team who has the same charge sheet as the rest of the world cannot have the single handed right to denominate the playing conditions anywhere in the world.

And the strange thing is if they continue to make a mockery of this situation they are bound to lose their jobs because even now cricket is on verge of becoming a flip slog game of twenty20. My bet is if the ICC cant generate interest from a major tournament like CL then next years twenty20 worldcup will be the turning point of entire cricketing industry.

Those who are mugging about security are on the verge of losing their own ashes series.

Excuse me, MR. Rajendra Nanda, Talking about Pakistan not bieng a safe place. India is not a different case as well. Threats in India are more or less same that in Pakistan. I think more than their personal lives, players are worried about the MONEY FACTOR.

To add to this, according to FICA India was as threatning as Pakistan was and players were even advised not to visit India during that IPL season as the bombing threats were severe. Australian players decided not to tour Pakistan, but went to India. Now just explain why is their a discrimination. My friend, this is just the love for money and not for thier team and lives. It's better you grow up and dont forget that in recent times every team visiting Pakistan has never complained about the security problems.

It's time for everyone to open thier eyes and make sure Pakistan, again, is not treated unjustly.

To all those suggesting the Pakistanis pull out if the tournament is moved - "Beggars can't be choosers" Pakistan has no pull in any of this. If they pull out, few except fans in Pakistan would care. And we all know the Pakistani fans aren't all that courted by the advertisers for obvious reasons. So their pulling out wouldn't be much of an event and they'll lose whatever marginal income they would have made for participating.....

I totally agree with Mr. K Hussain, you have not given us the whole story. Instead you have picked out certain things that make Pakistan seem to be inhabited solely by terrorists. Sure,there are security concerns, but this would be the same all over the world. Not just Pakistan.

i think england and the aussies are just scared of getting beaten :D. if the aussies were no1 they would come to pakistan and show what they made up of. But instead I really think they just a bunch of women wearing helmets.

As for England well their football team is not participating in Euro 2008 and would love to see a World Cup for cricket to be organized in Pakistan, India and Sri-Lanka and the boys from England will be definitely be sitting out.

If they dont want to play fine dont play but they should be fined too for letting the fans down. Pakistanis fans have not seen a good match happening in Pakistan for years.

Is it really the Pakistani cricket fans faults that their country is not safe and bombs are happening?? Come on guys whats happening in Pakistan has got nothing to do with CRICKET!!! dont mix cricket with politics!!!

I am pretty much sure if this had been the other way around and Pakistan or India had rejected from playing they would have been fined. :(

I think pcb is trying their best to make the security best but if this was the case in the end then this trophy would have been posponed or shifted long time backk but no use of talking non sense at the moment when every thing is so close to come.... bombs are evry where in the world today ..not even our house is safe...crossing the road also not safe....cooking foood also not safe....... i dont inderstand this safety thing ... ICC should tell players to play or hell.............

Why is everybody getting so emotional trying to prove that pakistan is a safe tranquil place? - Lets face it a lot of terrorists learn their trade in pakistan. However call them freedon fighters,religious zealots or criminals they all have one thing in common they probably love cricket and have never before attacked a venue or player - (although new zealand were quite close to a blast).

Mr.Malik, if you are saying that watching teams like westindies thrash south africa and the likes then i think that is more mindless. And if you are talking of 'following scorecards of during side matches in zimbabwe' as mindless than perhaps you should write an article on the ICC and the other members as well to come tour the associates, well atleast zimbabwe were not to scared and played pakistan. That is called hunger for cricket not mindless and it is the same for supporters where passion for the sport is concerned.

Enough has been said about the security in Pakistan already. I'd say, players being apprehensive is justifiable. Let individuals have the final say whether to go or not, neither the ICC nor their boards can force them to travel. And mr. Ashok has put it, seriously, how many are gonna follow the CT?? Agree with Mr Ashok Malik..completely.

I really don't understand what all the fuss is about. I mean there is no "threat" to the players or even cricket for that matter, then why is everyone so afraid of touring Pakistan. The security has really improved in Pakistan and I would say, if the ICC the main Board of cricket gives Pakistan' venues a thumbs up then why do other boards officials have to come. Its like if your touring Pakistan, its like ok lets start thinking about this should we go or not, its annoying, they are hardly getting anyone to play in Pak and well the fans in Pakistan really want to see some good cricket

These days terror threats are everywhere. Simple fact is that there are no bars, women and drinks openly in Pakistan and Western teams don't enjoy touring Pakistan.

I think this is a time for pcb to take bold step on this major event.if australian team does not come to paksitan then they have same right to boycott any event in which australian team participate.security issue could be everywhere and even more in Srilanka and like just happened in Jaipure India.

Even if the main stream players pull out of the tournament, I believe that Pakistan deserves to host this tournament, Pakistani cricket has already suffered alot because of all this, and mind you on many occasions Pakistani board has helped other boards with similar issues, If our hard hitting Indian friends remember Pakistan did the 99 tour in quite hostile conditions with death threats given to players, Pakistani coach died(or murdered) in WI during world cup and the tournament continued, Pakistani team visited Zimbabwe and Srilanka when other teams were refusing to do so,
My point is any country can face these kind of issues although I agree its happening in pakistan quite frequently but its a responsibility of all other boards to back Pakistan on this

None of these comments so far have looked at the main point of the article -- a player's right to refuse to go to a tournament for any reason. The level of violence in any particular place is irrelevant. Players should have the absolute right to choose which tournaments to play in. If for no other reason, this will loosen the powers of the dictatorial boards.

Pakistan is not Iraq or Afghanistan, dear Mr. Nanda. No country has ever come to its soil and declared war against terrorist.

Yes, there has been a bit of a turmoil, so there has been a bit in other South Asian countries also...why do they get to hold MEGA events and only Pakistan gets singled out. I request all the cricketers to think for the game and trust your respective employers (boards) and the World's Cricket governing body.

Guys we look up to you and want to see you excel in every country and ground you play on. Cheers

Pakistan is not Iraq or Afghanistan, dear Mr. Nanda. No country has ever come to its soil and declared war against terrorist.

Yes, there has been a bit of a turmoil, so there has been a bit in other South Asian countries also...why do they get to hold MEGA events and only Pakistan gets singled out. I request all the cricketers to think for the game and trust your respective employers (boards) and the World's Cricket governing body. Guys we look up to you and want to see you excel in every country and ground you play on. Cheers

Blast in jaipur was one off? Atleast be honest with your facts, Ashok Untill last year every year there were more deaths due to terrorism in India Than Pakistan.

And have you not read Recent reports in your own media that India is the murder capital of the world! Some of the other cricketing regions like Jamaica and South Africa have almost always much worse security situation than pakistan.

And who have given you right to call CT a crashing bore?I can say same thing about Your IPL. Infact IPL has a stronger case of being called a big bore simply because every side included many below average and Mediocre Indian domestic players.

At least in Pakistan no shivsena digs up pitches every time a pakistani side goes there.They even threatened to kill them all on 1999 tour! And can i ask why no match against pakistan has been hosted in mumbai in last 3 decades?

And lesser said about westeren hypocricy the better.They are actually handing a win to terrorists by not coming to pakistan.

I am a Kashmiri & would like to see cricket matches under Indian army security in Srinagar

I'm afraid that I don't really give the paranoia about Pakistan's safety much credence. Even the bombing of the Danish Embassy killed Pakistanis, not foreigners. And as Sri Lanka and England and India have shown, no place is immune to violence. You take your chances.

But I find it ironic that the Australians (most of whom are large, imposing men) are the ones most vocal in their whining "I'm afraid." Alas, it is more likely that they find Pakistan, a place with no bars and limited interaction with women, as a boring place to tour...so they seize upon any excuse.

The only place that has consistent violence in Pakistan is the NWFP - if they are worried, don't go there.

I hope that the Aussie and ECB players who are building up their own spiral of fear will look outside themselves and realize that this is an international sport and they are playing for their countries -- if they don't want to travel at all, maybe they should just play county cricket.

Australians and the black caps are cowards. They think they are some hot commodity that the terrorists will target. Let me make clear that terrorists target political events, and cricket isnt one of them. Aussies should stop thinking themselves as some one special because they are not, and will therefore not be attacked.

Lesson from 9/11 is that no place is more secure than the other. Events after 9/11 all over the world including England, India, and Srilanka are the proof. We should not let terrorist and politicians be successful in their goals. They want to destroy the lively hood of the common man to achieve their horrific ambitions.

We should continue to fight this. As they say, "SHOW MUST GO ON". These professional cricketers, who also are very well paid should not look for lame excuses. As somebody mentioned earlier make CT little sexy, with money and glamor and everybody will forget everything and will come running.

Please for God sake *DO NOT* mix sports with politics.

Everything boils down to a weak Pakistan Cricket Board. They are the one to blame, how a cricketer can publicly refuse to play in Pakistan for any reason, and Pakistani board is not complaining to the respective player’s board and ICC about this. Does ICC rules allow such an ill behavior from a player?

We should have a rule in place to ban such players with this extreme behavior. If a cricketer doesn’t want to play, he should tell his board and the board should come out and say in their behalf not the players themselves.

There are many more factors between the lines, which cannot be said publicly. Trust me if every board take a strong and responsible stance in this matter no player will act irresponsibly. This is board responsibility to handle theirs players.

Khalid
New York

Commen Ashok

I used to think you were actually a balanced individual and cricinfo a neutral website, but apparentlt, it has been hijacked now. According to your own ministers India has a very high crime rate. From Gandhi to Indra Gandhi Indian leaders were murdered. Srilankans started the sucide phenomenon and England is not immune either.

Players have a job to do and they should play wherever they have to. Its people like you who want to force Pakistani Cricket into mediocrity and later you would shed crocodile tears as you do for West Indian Cricket now.

You being an Indian should know that if an Indian team has never been attacked in Pakistan, other teams being attacked is utterly out of question. I wish if the other teams bycott, PCB should bycott world cricket.

And one more proof of ur impartiality and biased views is that u responded to a comment abt calling audience fanatics but didnt respond to any 1 who questioned ur credentials as a security expert

I am from Pakistan, live in Karachi, and agree with Mr. Mallik completely. The fact is that even our own people aren't safe here. How the hell can we guarantee the safety of such high profile tourists?

You talk about 'smug' statements by Asian officials against the Old Empire.However,it is you who are passsing 'smug' statements about Pakistan being an unsafe destination, and hence are as guilty, if not more so, than any of the countries who do not want to tour.

The threat in Pakistan is exaggerated,the majority of players know it,they just dont want to go there because of what they read in the headlines, which is a piffle of nonsense. Pakistanis are tired of being labelled a failed state,hotbed of terrorism or whatever. We are an emerging democracy, & several sectors of our economy are thriving.

Our security threat situation is no more threatening than in Sri Lanka, India or elsewhere.

Hence, it is these xenophobic statements from certain nations that makes the blood boil. I say Pakistan boycott the ICC & stop playing unless those countries tour us. If they do not want us, then we do not want them. To hell with them!!

wow, what a sell-out! I'd thought the age of the brown sahib was over.

Listen MR malik. if u really did followed events in Pakistan u would have known that All bombings were targeted. Consisting of Govt security forces...Spies of govt...or danish embassy. who country did a shameful, hilarious act of defaming Holy prophet (PBUH)....it was a reaction....NEVER a random attack....

before passing judgements and opinions about something sensitive for a country( event like CT to which we are anxiously waiting) one MUST have complete information and ability to view thw whole picture rather than picking bits and pieces and selective facts.....

If a country like India being the economic engine of cricket is not objecting why are the western players crying....india cares about its cricketers as much as other countries but its just that they cant see balance of power swinging out of their favour...

One more important point to consider is: The teams of Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka etc have toured Pakistan right in those times when Aussies refused to come .. Nothing happened to them, just demonstrating that the bombings were politically motivated and sports ppl were not targeted.

Moreover, now the govt has changed and they have been able to have peace agreements with the agitating groups. The bombings incidents for last 3 months have been very few, if at all.

Finally, I agree on the point that the players should have the right to choose which tours they take, which matches they play. But then, the boards should also have the right which players they pick in future!! Its just not possible to leave a player who grabs the opportunity, remains loyal to his team and makes himself available for all tours - And this may come at the cost of player(s) opting out of tours.

This article has Bias written all over, you're saying that because India got knock out of the CT and all of sudden it was boring? You are very bias and Have no interest in cricket whatsoever.

India is not the only team and just recently they become a better team which I really respect. Pakistan record in ODI's and Test is still better than India and yet I don't see media making big deal about Pakistan as they been making about India.

I guess end of the day, its all about who throw more money. Championship trophy will happen in Pakistan and I am sure it will go without any incident. If Aussies doesn't want to participate, better for rest of the team. I think real situation is not bad but its the media people like yourself making out to be a big deal.

Ashok please talk to Indian secret service RAW on this issue. If they will not use Afghans suicide bombers to disrupt CT matches than eveything will go well. Live and let live.Peace..

I understand that the point of this article is that players should have the right to exercise the option of whether or not they want to tour a particular country. However, the arguments with which you are trying to support your point are absolutely ridiculous. Worst article....ever!

How is Siri lanka safer than Pakistan ? Forget Siri lanka what about South Africa last time Pakistan were there team lougue was stolen from airport. I tink 2 year ago when Pakistan was in Idnia, Pakistani team buss was stoned. Has been many bomb threats against grounds where Pakistan played in India.

Pakistan should reject playing any country who dont want to play in Pakistan. Asutalian has just racist. Always been

i dono get.please some one explain me. why sports person in pakistan is not attacked. when they are attacking all the person from indians,westerns,australians,and many others when they visit pakistan. so is this an coperative law in pakistan to attack all the foreign person and not sports person .

Maybe the fear of terrorism is only part of the problem. All the reviews of Pakistan tours I have heard of have been awful. 5 star hotels overlooking slums, no nightlife or entertainment and some of the most unhappy and dishonest people on the planet, and biased ODI umpires ...No wonder the people are angry at the West when the Westerner has it so mush better than the average Pakistani.

The New Zealand team saw a bombing just down the road from their Hotel in 2002 but still endured another (from all accounts) boring tour of Pakistan in 2005 in which a development team was sent and thrashed largely without incident off the field.

I like the article. People seem to be a littletoo careful to speak out on this topic for fear of offending the you know who's and to be politically correct. But it is a fact. I believe you will get a lot of hate mail for this one :), specially from Pakistan , and with a lot of them saying that India is just as dangerous and what not. In fact India being dangerous (only little less so) in the minds of sch people is a even better reason why some guys might not want to go to Pakistan. It is after all the sources of that danger ;).
Anyways, Thanks for being candid.
Manoj

Hmmm... Pakistans President is serving illegally, he took power by military coup d'état and the person likely to succeed him was assassinated, but not before a bomb was detonated in an attempt to kill her, injuring innocents... This is not normal. No wonder some sportsman feel as if they are risking their lives touring in Pakistan.

Perhaps it is perfectly safe in Pakistan, more than likely it is for the average Joe, but what is portrayed in the media that we see every day is far from peace and very far removed from normality. Killing and maiming are not acceptable ways of dealing with disputes and this is what is scaring the sportsman in question.

If Pakistan were to solve its problem with anger management, I could almost guarantee you that more players would be keen to tour. this is not about Muslim v's Christian, or East v's West, this is about players valuing their personal safety.

Hey ashok...r u going to Pakistan for the coverage of Champions trophy??? Terrorists are now waiting for you :)

'mindless fanatics'.

I cant agree more with the last sentence - HR policies in ICC are made for robots.Truly its the fact and hilarious - worth a good laugh.

"Hmmm... Pakistans President is serving illegally, he took power by military coup d'état and the person likely to succeed him was assassinated, but not before a bomb was detonated in an attempt to kill her, injuring innocents..." LOL - i love it! you'd never think this was reality...

But the point is, a lot of paks are over-reacting to this article simply because the writer is indian. The indian team has never refused to go to pakistan, and has always shown solidarity when PCB is in trouble. So quit your whining.

The point of the article was that a player has a right to choose.. not autrali,not south africa, but an INDIVIDUAL player should be able to make the decision in conjunction with his family. And thats absolutely fair.

If you were to ask 1,000 pakistanis whether they want to go and live in Kandahar, a large number will say no. Why? are they being racist? are they cowards? No. Its their personal choice, and that cannot be overruled. Simple as that.

Well first of all Sam if you yourself are saying that its a personal choice, then why would you say that every Pakistani will refuse to go to Kandahar.

As far as the article is concerned, I think its not a matter of the author being Indian, but the points that are brought up certainly do not have a head nor a tail. They are randomly put forth in order to merely construct an article.

The facts mentioned about England, India and Pakistan in the article have certainly been altered in order to prove a point, although a very weak point. I think many of the above articles sum up the absurd thinking that author tried to portray.

Such an action of the various countries to cancel the tour would not only be detrimental to the game but also show their continual coward and selfish behavior. A lot of the times, one needs to come out of their selfish skin and try to represent their country to the best of their ability, a moral responsibility which some of these cricketers have forgotten.

Just thought I would note a couple of points.

Saying that the attacks are politically motivated and therefore won't happen against sports people is not looking at facts. If a terrorist (any terrorist) is looking at inflicting large amounts of damage to a governements credibility and/or force them to step out of office. Attacking a major sporting event would be a good way to do this whether or not this has happened before it is a possibility. And what better way to attack a touring teams country then by attacking the touring team themselves.

This is the same as with any high profile member of a country. Movie stars, singers, sportsemen are high publicity targets which is why they always have strong security surrounding them. To suggest that they would never be attacked is naive.

I'm not saying that any team shouldn't tour pakistan.

Players of teams who don't want to go somewhere for reasonable fears for their safety should not be made to. Cricket is democracy not dictatorship.

To all my paki friends, why do u drag India into all this?

Also the remark someone made that terrorists like cricket too much to attack it are making assumptions. I think that someone who murders innocent civilians is unlikely to have more respect for cricket then they do human life.

Ashok..I think the arguments are a bit weak though the basic point is worth looking at. An outsider's perception of threat is always higher than the locals. The respective governments are better equipped to give directions and ICC should not penalize the countries if they are directed not to travel by their Governments. This will take away bias from cricket bodies/players.

There are only a handful of countries playing Cricket and the schedules are drawn earlier and it should be possible to get proper advice in time.CT schedule is known for some time and it is unfair to players/sponsors/fans to keep the issue undecided for such a long time.

Best wishes for Pakistan to host a successful championship

Iraq and Afghanistan? Imagine what would be the misconceptions among the westerns, when people sitting so close to our border believe Pakistan lies in the same bracket with Iraq and Afghanistan.

Did anybody even think that why is it always the senior players who threaten to boycott Pakistan? All the youngsters are ever ready to tour anywhere to cement their place in the side. Is it like Ponting's life values more than say Shaun Marsh? It is just that those seniors know they have a guaranteed place in the squad and they can afford refusing.

Sri Lanka and India have been far worse hit than Pakistan, if we count the number of bombing since 11/9. Moreover, whatever happens in Pakistan normally is internal conflict and happens in uphill regions. India is the arch rival of Pakistan, and they should be the one to feel most unsafe. But they don't. They come here quite often, enjoy and leave safely.

I think ICC has every right to penalize a board for not participating in a tournament held under its name. However how players should be handled by the boards and should have nothing to do with ICC.

If a senior player is not available this means more chances for new players. I remember when there was no terrorism players like Richard Haddlee .. Botham ... lillee opted out of Pakistan tours so why should it be any different now

India has great Cricinfo writers who are always a pleasure to read. The issue here is not whether Pakistan is safe to play in or not. You have disgraced yourself as a commenter of the game of cricket by fickle arguments conveniently twisted repeatedly to prove your points.

"The last edition became a television disaster after the Indians got knocked out, indicating that only mindless fanatics – the sort who follow their team’s scorecards during side matches in Zimbabwe – were interested." Your statement's are so impulsive, emotional and personal that I can't believe you are allowed to have your own blog spot for thousands to read on such a respectable website.

I'm sure a crafty one liner retort is coming my way simply because you have the ability to do so. Are you implying that anyone following a match in which India is not playing is a mindless fanatic??

[Ashok responds ... Shaukat, as I clarified earlier, the "mindless fanatics" reference was to Indian fans who simply switched off the Champions' Trophy after India got knocked out, without any interest in the fine cricket that followed. This led, unfortunately, to the tournament becoming a commercial disaster.

As for my blog, it's a free world -- if you don't like it, don't read it.]

This appears to be two separates issues, the fear of the individual, who consequently boycotts, and the fear of a country to send its squad. I think every cricketer has a right, and perhaps even a family obligation to decide not to place themselves in (perceived) danger.

However, if the nation is still serious about sending a team, then other players should be given consideration to replace them. As for entire squads, Pakistan were as likely to be involved in 9/11 as Saddam Hussein. I think the only squad who need fear traveling to Pakistan would be the Israelis.

The only country that should be boycotted across the board is Zimbabwe, not so much because of threat to the players, as much as sending a political message to Robert Mugabe.

Please consider that a boycott of this series could be damaging to the long term existence of Paki cricket, as well as to the goodwill of the Pakistani people.

Dear Malik

Your opinion - not bad, worth provoking a discussion rather its good for the sake of discussion as you stirred most of the Pakistanis to write something. I won’t blame west for their retreat from the game in Pakistan. This is We, PCB, always begging them to play in Pakistan. Disgusting. A slave mentality. If you can’t win the deal on table with pride n honor, quit the game. Hell with them. Don’t want to come to Pakistan, we don’t want to see their faces too.

In fact they always try to find a point to disgrace Pakistan and PCB..huh...a bunch of manipulator. PCB remember if you won’t respect , your team and your people, others will not give you respect at all.

I recall Inram Kahn boycotting home tours of Pakistan....Competitive cricket? yes. A good place to tour? Obviously not. If you were an established international cricketer, would you want weeks away from your family and friends in an awful place for the sake of a meaningless tournament?

As an Australian, I'll be disappointed in any Australian players who decide not to go. Of course there's a risk of an incident, but I don't think our elite sportsmen can allow fear to control their actions. If so, then we might as well cancel the Olympics as well, on the basis that Munich could repeat itself. Besides, the only way the terrorists win is to force us to change our lives, and canceling sporting tours is doing just that.

I do, however, agree that the Champions' Trophy is a pointless addition to the calender that we could do without. Haven't the ICC ever heard of "Less is more?"

But it does raise an interesting question. Pakistan (as part of Asia) won the 2011 World Cup out of sequence, with Australia and New Zealand missing out. Even though this event is completely pointless, in the interests of equity you'd think that we'd get it ahead of Asia. Apart from anything else, it has the distinct advantage of players not having security concerns about touring.

Please tell me who would be better equipped to Captain a side, one with let say an experience of over 100 games or the one with just "a one off game". I say the former one. Now lets say the a one off (which under prevailing conditions)bomb explodes in Australia what would happen the same when the twin towers in America were destroyed,as it was a "one off" incident no one really knew what to do ,result a lot of casualties and I am more than 100% sure if the same would have happened in Pakistan,India,Srilanka there would have been a lot less number of casualties, please comment on this,

Secondly If Australia,England,Newzealand don't tour Pakistan we would still have South Arica,WestIndies,Srilanka and India (the one off) and Bangladesh also which has the making of a fabulous competition,India can also Back Off,No Problem as their Players are more Models than Players

The jingoism runs thick here..some refined and some very crude indeed. I thinks its going to be a lot of fun seeing everyone squirm over the next few days to figure if they want to go to Sri Lanka instead of Pakistan. One last point, if one-offs" are the difference between safe and unsafe then wasn't 9/11 a "one-off"?

Its a timely article that addresses player concerns....not too sure if theres enough depth there to answer to political/strategic questions.

As for my blog, it's a free world -- if you don't like it, don't read it.]

Its funny ashok says that. Its a blog on a public website related to one of the most followed games atleast in south asia. If you give a biased view to a certain situation then the other ppl that are being effected by it will definitely speak up. Take it as it comes. No harm in admitting the other side of it as well. no offense meant.

I understand what Ashok is trying to say. I think many people, especially the Pakistani respondents to this article have missed something vital - the perceptions created by news media, and the targets of the terrorism.

In Sri Lanka - the seems that the attacks are all political motivated and are aimed in that direction. However in Pakistan it appears to be both political and pure terrorism. Attacks against the Danish embassy etc. The message this sends to the rest of the world is that it is not only about internal strife and politics, but is also a direct and calculated attack against foreigners. This most definitely is not the case in Sri Lanka with the Tamil Tigers.

Pakistan seems torn between western ideology and the ideology of organizations like Al-Qaeda. Al-Qaeda have done more than enough to indicate that there is nothing political about their agenda.

Unless this changes, peoples minds wont change either and there will always remain their fears of being attacked.

First, no ones over reacting to the writer being 'Indian', he's 'only' being a bit biased :). Second, i like Indian team's sportsmanship. That's what every Pak is talking about in this forum. Despite the danger u guys are willing to tour Pakistan. Our argument is why can't other teams follow your footsteps :).
Second, about Pakistanis living in Kandahar? Mate its time to step into maturity. Living in Kandahar and playing in Kandahar are 2 different arguments. I am sure paks will love to play there.
Muslims don't fear death as death is inevitable. A player who refuses to play in pak fearing that he might die can die anywhere in the world maybe in an accident next day. Can he dodge that? of course not.
So, bottom line, to all my coward fellow humans, Pk's internal conflicts have nothing to do with sports. Get sensible.

My Dear Dear Dear Ryan! not gonna discuss your point as you have a right. But lets put the danish embassy attacks this way. Denmark has hurt our religious beliefs. Do u agree? Fair or unfair? I still don't think the embassy should be bombed as i commend that kinda reaction. But my friend what's that gotta do with cricket?
If Denmark had a cricket team and they refuse to come to Pakistan then i could understand. But what in this world Australians and English are trembling about? Don't make me laugh.
Secondly, u mentioned al-qaeda ideology penetrating in pak's minds. I don't see no al-qaeda here mate. There are a few radicals but they have nothing to do with al-qaeda. They are all political. Not a single person in this world knows where al-qaeda is. Al-qaeda might be living next door to u.
There are a lot of western foreigners roaming around in the streets of pak. They don't fear anything. Then why a bunch of cricketers who ll be getting all the security in the world fear to come. Incredibly dumb !

While i don't mind people expressing their anti-Pakistani bias I would like to think that they actually do their homework before writing articles that may offend some people.

No board has given their players an ultimatum "play or else". The security issues have been cleared by the ICC.Cricket has always been played in a safe environment in Pakistan with first class security. Can you deny this?

Other than Australian players (as always) no other country has expressed any fears. Even you should be able see that this approach is racially motivated. India has a far more dangerous terrorist history than Pakistan but enjoy far greater financial clout.

I wonder why, whenever there is a team/teams to tour Pakistan, the whole debate starts again. We are a target of terrorisms ourselves but regarded as terrorists. We are fighting a war and killing our own people so that others can stay safe in their homes 1000's miles away.

When a bomb goes off in any other part of the world everyone from the International Community deliver a message that the normal life has to continue as we don't want to send a wrong message to the terrorists.

But when it happens in Pakistan, we cancel all the international activities in Pakistan. What message are we sending at that time?

The answer is very simple, we are a poor nation whose utility in the international circuit is to get killed, abused, targetted whenever possible, who can not influence any international decision because they don't have any economical value in the global village.

I wonder why we humans scare death when we all have to die when, where and how no one knows. I wonder??????????????

Now finally directing myself to Mr Ashok's article. Mate sorry but your article was a total crap. Initially bullying the great game of cricket and then giving a hypocritical view about CT being held in Pak.

My dear, don't know what you really tried to focus on, because all of your arguments are missing a common link. At point u say Pak is not secure and ICC should reconsider it, then u turn around and say give it a try it might go smooth. What you really on about?

Coming to the 2nd point, IPL was entertaining and was a success. I enjoyed watching some of the top players performing but half of the teams were composed of highly unskilled and unprofessional domestic players, so i think it was lacking the originality of the game.

Calling CT a bore is utter nonsense. Not just me but more than 80% fans would love to see the countries battling out for glory. That's the true spirit not the impure IPL 20/20. So, think about your comment again.

it really depends, but even though i am pakistani myself, i would definitely be worried for my life as well for no one will know when and where a terror could attack. it is not really about being couragous or being a wussy guy, you have to understand it is a sports and it is not something that anyone should risk their life for.

but on the other hands, i have not even seen any worse thing happening to any team since 2002 and i do believe security is sure tight, in a way i think Indian players are the one's who should be worried for coming pakistan but they are willing to come happily, and that should really show that the entire world should come to pakistan as well.

i believe in a way it is not right for australian players to reject pakistan without even giving a chance, and when was the last time they were attacked in pakistan? so why the hell are they so scared about? i just believe it is not right to write off Pakistan as a life threatening country.

Well, as someone said before, terrorism is usually politically motivated and rarely has effects on sport. But you can't expect a player to feel that...it is only natural for him to fear for his safety.

I think terrorist incidents have become more frequent in general around the world. But the reason people didn't want to leave India is because, and there's no point denying it, the pull that India has in world cricket. As you said, and the money in the IPL helped too.

I wonder - if one-dayers offered similar sums of money, would players be willing to risk their lives to play? I think they would, even in Pakistan. The same people will end up saying that in reality Pakistan is pretty safe and if you drive on a road in Lahore you're just as safe as driving in Delhi or anywhere else.

So it all depends on what's in it for the players. That may sound cynical, but I think it's true.

Ashok...Get a life!!!

Ashok,

You really need to improve on your articles on cricket. Last Champions Trophy was boring? Wow, Just cos India got knocked out it became boring, Hell No, I loved each moment of it.

Also, Jaipur is one off incident? So, Parlimant Attacks, Benaras Bombs, Hyderabad Blasts never happened?

CT is a great concept with a knockout quality about it which makes it good to watch. I am sure that teams are aware of it's importance but,life is more important than glory in few cases and players always have a right to feel nervous when put in such situations. Let the players decide and don't penalize them, but make Aus and Eng Play even if they play with their 2nd string sides.

P.S. : Improve your writing skills :-( Pleaseeeeee
This forum gives you a great oppurtunity to connect with the cricket fans, utilize it.
Good Luck.

Seems that the Pakistani people got hurt with this article. But one thing is true, India is participating in the tournament which shows we are happy with the security.

One more thing, please leave the political angles (India VS Pakistan, which is safer) to the governments, we are here for cricket not for these. It is very staright and clear, If anyone finds security not good, please get off, no need to make an issue. We need cricket, not these controversies.

Ashok has seemingly created a good fan-base based on this factless article. Good job dude !! Your writing is anti-cricket.

Mr. Malick you think Indian players or Indian board or both are stupid to be in Pakistan right now. The way you put it, either it is stupid or suicidal to be in Pakistan. What are the Indians and srilankans doing right now in Pakistan.

Mr. Malick you appeared to be an educated person. Be impartial and stop propagating hate... otherwise that's what you will get in return. I hope the review that you have gotten will teach you a lesson and you will think thousand times before you sit on the keyboard again. GOT IT my Friend!!!!!

At the end of the day you are just a petty journalist who just wants cheap publicity for his new blog by touching a controversial topic but has no control over decision making. I am sure if England,Australia or NZ do not tour to Pakistan then they will also have consequences to suffer.
We are also no longer interested in fighting their proxy wars.

Your article is politically motivated and has nothing to do with reality, if Pakistan is unsafe then so is India and Srilanka and who knows something like 7/7 happens again in England.

Why were you not concerned about players safety when bombs exploded in Bangalore.

Please keep sports and politics separate.

So..if you want to give freedom to the players to decide when and where they want to play then why do you rebuke them for choosing private leagues like say ICL. It should be players own decision especially when they are happy with it also.

Now BCCI are going to other boards and jurisdictions and threatening them to ban ICL players or else they will not get the piece of pie. Talented players like Shane Bond's international career is jeopardized along with many other talented players. This stinks! Don't you think?!

The Asian teams are already in Pakistan and ready to play the Asia cup. Are people who are siding with Aussies and the likes somehow suggesting that the Asian player's lives are less important and they don't care about their families therefore they are in Pakistan playing cricket? They are there because they know and understand the ground realities whereas the other teams, particularly Australia, are behaving out of a habit. I think the CT should continue and let Aussies or England send their second string teams to play the championship games or even play without their presence.

Please keep politics out of sports,the reality is after 9/11 every major cricketing nation has played in Pakistan and nobody was ever harmed.

Australia sent their A team and U19 If safety was not an issue for the youngsters then why so much fuss about National team.

The only cricket ground which was ever targeted by terrorists was MCG. No country is immune to terrorism but somehow all the other countries are portrayed as victims and sympathized but Pakistan despite all of its sacrifices in the war against terror and fighting communism gets a negative criticism as if we are the ones who created all this mess.

Thousands of foreigners work for multinationals in Pakistan and they go every where, the trouble is in the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan where the Allied forces are trying to clear up the mess which they created.

Our cities are as volatile and as peaceful as any other major city in the region so all these apprehensions are partly due to ignorance and mainly due to politics.

I said it in my earlier post and I will repeat it again. The situation in Pakistan is not that bad as most of media make it out to be. There were 5 blasts in one day during IPL in India, no one left India. why? The simple answer is money. Offer each big star a million dollar for the tournament and watch them coming to Pakistan willingly. Please do not think we are attacking the writer because he is an Indian. If that was the case, I would left this site long time ago because this site offer many great journalists and most of them are Indians. I personally love most of them but this article just left bad taste in my mouth.

Personally I have been to Pakistan (as recently as two months ago) so I feel confident in saying that: 1. TV is not indicative of day-to-day life in the country, but also 2. It is not in any way similar to life in most western countries.

Violence level is abnormally high, news reports about terrorist threats and potential or real violence occurs every day and there is a REAL possibility of finding yourself involved.

My points are this: the fact that no violence was AIMED at sportspeople in the past is not indication of what the future holds. Until Munich no one believed that anyone would attack the Olympics, but it happened and people died.

Also, due to the kind of weapons used today by terrorists (mostly bombs) it doesn't matter if the bomb is not AIMED at you. Just being there is enough.

When terrorists blow up the entire wall of an embassy, saying "we can protect you" means nothing. It could easily be the wall of a hotel.

I am certainly not against sports in Pakistan

cont...

and I certainly don't think Pakistani's should be "punished" by not hosting events.

But is this really the time to host an international event where at least two teams (England and Australia) are not really loved by extremists? Let's not forget both countries played (and still play) a major part in both Afghanistan and Iraq and Pakistan does not lack supporters for extremists in both countries.

My suggestion is to let things die down, but keep a record of what Pakistan is owed. Parhaps giving Pakistan a far more substantial part in hosting the world cup, or giving them longer test series in the future can be considered partial compensation.

It is not sensible to host in Pakistan now, but it should be made clear that the debt will be repaid in the near future

Hats off to all those who penned their apprehensions about this article. I especially commend all non Pakistanis supporting the tournament, because its the voice of Indians, Aussies, English and the likes supporting this particular tournament that matters because naturally all Pakistanis will support their country and its hard to remain neutral.

The fact remains that no govt. or security agency can offer blanket security to anyone in any part of the world. So the Pakistanis don't need to defend themselves and provide personal testimonials about how the players will remain unharmed in Pakistan. We Pakistanis don't emit a particular pheromone that says to the terrorist, "come and bomb us".

Terrorist are ruthless people that kill people without prejudice and god forbid, if if happens in Pakistan, it certainly won't be our fault. Long live cricket, and all of us should welcome the Indian and Sri Lankan players with open arms because they came over to play a good game of cricket.

Absolutely disgusting, pathetic!

The worst logic, i have read on my favorite website, is it result of cricinfo-ESPN deal? Well all the well being and efforts of Indian cricketers, film stars and BCCI to melt hate walls are being wasted for desire to win fame of a selfish writer.

Mr. writer, it is better you give your "last line opinions" 'The ICC and its affiliates, sadly, have an HR policy devised for robots' in quote-unquote rather trying to create fights in two neighboring, close but sensitive countries.

I would like to laugh on these childish arguments by writer rather replying it. Ah 9/11, one-off, Indian less cricket of no use, money less---! wow fantastic/drastic!

yes terrorist attacks have happened in India, england and Pakistan but tell me how many have happened in oz or New Zealand! none! Australia is about the safest place in the world when it comes to these things and i am sure most Pakistani cricket fans are peaceful, friendly people but no one can deny there is a feeling of hatred towards the west. the champions trophy could present a unique opportunity for terrorists to strike at the west at their own doorstep. people posting calling the Aussies cowards and that they are mostly of big build it doesn't matter how big you are or how brave, if a bomb goes off when you are around... anyway i hope every team attends the champions trophy and it goes off with out a hitch but don't blame the Aussies for not wanting to go!!!

Has any Eng, Aus, NZ, SA player (any sport) EVER been killed by terrorists in Pak? NO!

Did the visiting IPL players leave after the Jaipur blast? NO!

Are lives of visiting Ind, SL, Ban, UAE, Hong Kong players for Asia cup any less important then anyone else? NO!

Were Eng, Aus under 19, SA visiting players to Pak within last couple of years fools or were their lives any less important? NO!

These are the facts and no amount of spin can explain them otherwise. Statistically, Eng/Aus/NZ players are 100 times more likely to get killed by a knife carrying thug or road accident in the streets of London, Sydney then while touring Pak.

Ashok I will ask you this after cutting thru this security BS. Why are you so much willing to give pass to refusing to tour players while ICL players are being treated worst then dogs?

I think I know the answer to this but you may censor my comments because you can. I will let people use their common sense for this ;)

Ashok, sure any boss will stop listening if someone keeps sounding like a broken record.

This is not the way players should handle this matter. ICC's security experts are on their way, even a private security expert (from AUS,ENG and NZ board)is on its way to access security. They should make any decision after getting the records instead of going public like a loose canon before getting the reports.

All, the real reason why Australian cricketers had security issues with Pakistan during April was - money they could get from IPL.
Unfortunately for Pakistan, IPL had made country representation mandatory. Else, Symonds, Ponting & Co. would have cited "Personal Reasons" to stay out of the Pakistan tour & collected money from IPL.
There was no danger then & is no danger now. However, since ground realities have not changed, they can not go to Pakistan now & allow the world to see through their April facade. They therefore are now forced to stick to their original words.
By the way, Indians are enemy # 1 for Pakistan if history is to be believed & the Indian team in Pakistan has no problems at the moment...Just so the readers understand, I am an Indian, not Pakistani.
I request BCCI to ensure that if the Champions trophy goes out of Pakistan OR any countries send 2nd string string teams, we boycott all ICC tournaments till ICC compensates PCB (without funding from Asia)