New Delhi, February 17: India vowed Wednesday to “protect every player” in upcoming major sports events in the country after a weekend bombing and alleged new threats raised fresh concerns over security.
“We will provide full protection to every player, every coach, every official who participates in the forthcoming hockey, cricket and Commonwealth Games,” Home Minister P. Chidambaram told reporters.
New security worries surfaced ahead of the field hockey World Cup later this month after last Saturday’s bombing at a restaurant in the western city of Pune which killed 11 people.
A previously unknown Islamist splinter of a bigger Pakistan-based group claimed responsibility for the attack in a call to an Indian newspaper.
The group, calling itself Lashkar-e-Taiba al-Almi, linked the attack to upcoming peace talks between India and Pakistan, set for February 25.
On Tuesday, the Hong Kong-based Asia Times Online news website said it had received a warning from Al-Qaeda-linked militant Ilyas Kashmiri about attacking sports events in India.
The Pakistan-based extremist reportedly warned competitors against going to the hockey World Cup, which runs February 28-March 13, the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket tournament in March and the Commonwealth Games in October.
“We cannot be deterred and we are not deterred by what Ilyas Kashmiri says,” Chidamabaram said.
The latest threat led New Zealand officials to delay the hockey team’s departure for India until a security update had been received.
“While Hockey New Zealand still plans for the Black Sticks men?s team to attend the Hockey World Cup in Delhi, it has decided to keep the team in Perth until further notice,” Hockey New Zealand chief executive Hilary Poole said.
Australia and England said they still planned to attend.
“We have made elaborate arrangements for the entire World Cup hockey event,” Delhi police spokesman Rajan Bhagat told AFP. “Arrangements are foolproof.”
Home Secretary G. K. Pillai said late Tuesday the government had put in place elaborate security measures to ensure an incident-free hockey tournament and Commonwealth Games in October in New Delhi.
“We are in close touch with security liaison officers of all countries that are coming here to participate,” Pillai said.
“All of them have seen the preparations” by the Delhi police and the Ministry of Home Affairs and “they are quite satisfied,” he said.
Hockey India, which is organising the World Cup in New Delhi, said no team has threatened to pull out of the World Cup.
“As far as we know, all the 11 international teams are coming,” said spokesman Anupam Ghulati.
Any pull-out or disruption for India would be major blow as it gears up to host the Commonwealth Games in October, the biggest sporting event on Indian soil since the Asian Games in 1982.
Organisers hope that a successful competition could open the way to an Olympics bid, though preparations have been marked by severe delays and a row between Indian officials and the Commonwealth body.
In August last year, England’s badminton team angered Indian sports officials by pulling out of the World Championship, saying security in the host city of Hyderabad was lax. The event passed off without incident.
Australian field hockey coach Ric Charlesworth brushed aside the security concerns.
“Having lived in India, there are all sorts of threats every day and there are 80 news channels,” Charlesworth told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
“Everyone is looking for a story. There is always a story like that. I don’t think we can distract ourselves with that.”
—Agencies