On 10 September, the US State Department asked Americans to ‘reconsider travel to Pakistan due to terrorism,’ placing the country at Level 3, just below Level 4, which explicitly advises against travel.
NEW DELHI: While the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is attributing “political reasons” to the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI’s) decision not to send the Indian cricket team to Pakistan to participate in the Champions Trophy scheduled for February and March next year, the reasons have actually to do with the threat assessment by Pakistan’s own allies.
The upcoming tournament in 2025 will mark the first major ICC event hosted solely by Pakistan since the 2009 attack on the Sri Lankan team.
As per the current situation, major allies of Pakistan, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and China, have asked their citizens not to travel to Pakistan because of the security situation in the country.
On 10 September, the US State Department asked US citizens to “reconsider travel to Pakistan due to terrorism,” placing it at Level 3, just below Level 4, which explicitly advises against travel.
Similarly, as per the latest notice by the Foreign Ministry of the United Kingdom, the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO) has advised “against all travel to parts of Pakistan”.
It has stated that there’s a high threat of terrorism throughout Pakistan, including Karachi, while pointing out specific incidents like the February 2023 attack on a police station and the suicide bombings. Last month, two Chinese workers were killed in a suicide bombing outside Jinnah International Airport, Karachi. The advisory from the UK also stated that, like Karachi, Lahore too has witnessed recent terrorist attacks on public places and government or security forces, while urging citizens to avoid religious events, public gatherings, and large crowds.
Similarly, on 8 November, Canada asked its citizens to “exercise a high degree of caution” in Pakistan due to the unpredictable security situation. There is a threat of terrorism, civil unrest, sectarian violence and kidnapping.
Last month, China warned its citizens, enterprises, and projects in Pakistan to be vigilant, pay close attention to the security situation, strengthen security measures, and take safety precautions if they are in Pakistan. It also advised against travel to the south-western province of Balochistan and the northwest province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
In May 2015, Zimbabwe became the first country in six years to send its cricket team to Pakistan since the attack on a convoy carrying Sri Lankan sportsmen in Lahore in 2009. The International Cricket Council (ICC) had refused to send any officials for the Zimbabwe tour citing security concerns.
Pakistan, until then, had not hosted any major international teams since 3 March 2009, when a dozen gunmen armed with assault rifles and grenade launchers attacked the Sri Lankan team’s convoy en route to the same stadium, killing eight people and wounding several Sri Lankan players.
In September 2021, the New Zealand cricket team abandoned its tour after receiving a security alert from its government. The decision was made just before the scheduled start of the one-day international series in Rawalpindi. Later, England’s cricket team also followed suit and cancelled its tour.
The blame for the abandonment of the New Zealand tour was laid on a report by The Sunday Guardian (21 August) titled “New Zealand cricket team may face terror attack in Pakistan”, which detailed imminent plans by the terror group Islamic State to target the touring New Zealand cricket team. This had led to a loss of $3.5 million.
In a televised press conference in Islamabad, then-Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry and Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid claimed that the said report had led to New Zealand backing out, with the ministers announcing that they will approach the Interpol to seek the arrest of the reporter who wrote the report. Later, the Five Eyes—an intelligence-sharing alliance of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States—confirmed that there was an imminent threat of an attack on the cricket team.