An
inter-district cricket match under the aegis of Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB)
could not begin on schedule on Wednesday (Jan 11), after the police denied
entry to players and officials in the playground due to a “security measure” a
day ahead of President Mamnoon Hussain’s likely visit to the Azad Jammu and
Kashmir (AJK) capital.
The president
was expected in Muzaffarabad on Thursday to attend a function in a local hotel
as part of Quaid-e-Azam’s birth anniversary celebrations.
It appeared
that the administration had decided to land the "VVIP" helicopter in
Narul Cricket Stadium – venue of three out of ten matches under the “Regional
Inter-District (two day) U-19 Tournament 2017-2018.”
The first
2-day match in Narual Stadium was played on January 7-8 between Muzaffarabad
and Poonch districts, while the second match between Kotli and Poonch districts
had started on Tuesday.
On Wednesday
as the cricketers, umpires, PCB officials and office bearers of local cricket
associations reached the stadium to resume match at 10am, much to their shock
they were intercepted at the entrance by a police party, which denied them
entry citing the so-called security reasons.
After failing
to convince the police to let them resume the match, some of the office bearers
of cricket associations rushed to the press club to apprise the media of the
“disgraceful situation.”
“It was
shocking as well as embarrassing for us particularly when we have always been
urging the PCB to arrange tournaments in Azad Kashmir to explore and promote
local talent,” said Sajjad Ali Khokhar, president District Cricket Association
(DCA) Muzaffarabad.
AJK, it may be
relevant to mention here, was granted the status of a separate region by PCB in
July 2014.
The DCA
president regretted that the police and administration had created this
situation despite the fact that no sporting activity was scheduled for Thursday
when the president was expected to reach Muzaffarabad.
“Azad
Kashmir already lags far behind other regions in this sport and such ill-advised
actions further dent the efforts of local players to compete with their
counterparts from across the country,” he said.
According to
the calendar of the event, the third match in Narual stadium is scheduled for
January 13 and 14, while the remaining seven matches would be held in the
cricket stadiums of Bagh and Mirpur.
When some
media persons reached the stadium they saw players and their supporters,
seething with anger.
Some of them
went to an official from the President’s security staff, and brought the
situation in his notice.
He was told
that the players and office bearers of cricket associations and clubs would
block the main thoroughfare outside Press Club against the attitude of the
administration.
Mr Khokhar
claimed that the security official told them that they had not asked
Muzaffarabad administration to stop or suspend the game.
In the
meanwhile, divisional commissioner Chaudhry Muhammad Tayyab and deputy
commissioner Tehzeeb-un-Nisa also arrived at the stadium to sort out the
matter.
After their
intervention, the match started at 12:40pm, but remained result-less due to the
loss of nearly 3 hours.
It’s not for
the first time that sporting events in Narul Cricket Stadium have been
disturbed by the authorities due to the landing of VIP or VVIP helicopters.
Soon after the
formation of the PML-N government in July last year, a cricket match under a
similar PCB sponsored tournament remained suspended for about six hours due to
the landing of Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider’s helicopter.
The players
had lodged strong protest at that time as well.
Prior to that,
in May last year an Islamabad based affluent Kashmiri businessman was allowed
to land his private chopper in the same stadium when a match was
in progress.
Players say
chopper landing affects the grass and pitch developed at a huge cost.
Pertinently,
army choppers make landings in Municipal Neelum Stadium on the right bank of
Neelum River, which is considered a safe and convenient location for this
purpose.
Tariq
Naqash
