Islamabad, March 10: The responsibility of making alternate arrangements for Pakistani fans who have already made ticket purchases and hotel reservations at Dharamsala fall on BCCI, said a Pakistani daily after the India, Pakistan match was shifted to Kolkata.
An editorial “Dharamshala fiasco” in The Nation on Thursday said that cricket fans around the world waited with bated breath for the conclusion of the Pakistan security team’s report on the Dharamshala cricket venue.
“While India has been unable to guarantee safety in the northern state, it is willing to move the Pakistan-India clash to Eden Gardens in Kolkata – and the ICC’s announcement has finally put rest to fears of Pakistan choosing to sit out of the tournament.”
The daily said that commentators have rightly touched upon the issues in India that this crisis revealed; “rising intolerance, militant responses to problems and a political culture built around hating Pakistan”.
“Yet not enough have touched upon the culpability of the Indian state in this matter and the consequences they must face by all norms of propriety,” it added.
The editorial said that after Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh started creating problems at the 11th hour, “no one from the Congress – the supposedly secular party he belongs to – made any real effort to convince him otherwise”.
“Similarly if the provincial authorities were unwilling to provide security, why didn’t the federal authorities step in. No effort was made by the federation or any political party to diffuse what was essentially a political problem – created solely to score points in their own constituency,” it noted.
As for BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India), “whose lack of planning and foresight led to this unwanted situation, it is not going to be reprimanded by the ICC”. It said that “the responsibility of making alternative arrangements for those fans – especially Pakistani – who had already made ticket purchases and hotel reservations also fall on BCCI”.
“If they have the funds to host the World Cup, they have funds to reimburse fans who have been disadvantaged without any fault of their own.”
IANS