07-02-2009, 10:21 PM
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Badmaash
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Join Date: Feb 2008
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Pakistan protest delays new tour programme
Pakistan protest delays new tour programme
Karachi: Pakistan has complained of being marginalised in the draft of the next six-year international cricket programme, forcing the signing of the schedule to be postponed, an official said Thursday.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) last week began chalking out a Future Tours Programme (FTP) which aims to provide a structured schedule of cricket for the ten member countries from 2012 to 2018.
Teams have been wary of playing in Pakistan amid a wave of Taliban-linked attacks over two years, and the nation was stripped of its World Cup matches after a deadly attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore in March.
The ICC had hoped to get the programme approved by member countries last week, but Pakistan objected, saying it had not been granted enough matches.Pakistan Cricket Board chief operating officer Salim Altaf said the ICC had now assured Pakistan that its interests will be looked after, as the schedule went back to the drawing board.
"Yes, there were attempts to marginalise us" in the next tour programme, Altaf told AFP.
"The ICC was due to approve the FTP by June 25 but after our concerns it has gone back to the table. We hope that -- as the ICC has promised -- our interests will be addressed."
Pakistan has become a pariah of international cricket with security concerns keeping teams away since the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.
Australia, who have not toured Pakistan since 1998, forced Pakistan to play them in the United Arab Emirates earlier this year.
The ICC was also forced to move the Champions Trophy 2008 out of Pakistan after several teams refused to travel to the troubled country, where the army is currently battling an expanding Taliban insurgency.
The March 3 gun and grenade attack on the Sri Lankan team ended Pakistan's hopes of staging international cricket in the near future. The attacks killed eight people and left seven Sri Lankan players and their assistant coach injured.
Pakistan is due to restart legal proceedings over the ICC's decision to strip it of its share of World Cup 2011 matches after talks broke down last month.
India, meanwhile, refused to send its national team to Pakistan earlier this year amid heightened tension between Islamabad and New Delhi after the Mumbai attacks late last year.
AFP
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