T20 World Cup taking place in India this year will now also be joined by the Pakistani team, after securities concerns have been washed away. The green signal came from Federal Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar after a reported telephonic exchange with Prime Minister of Pakistan, Mr. Nawaz Sharif.
Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Executive Committee Chairman, Najam Sethi, announced that Pakistani cricketers will participate in World T20, and are expected to depart for Kolkata tonight or the following morning, GEO TV reported.
The news channel also reported that Sethi clarified the situation to the journalists on Friday after a meeting between Pakistan High Commissioner in India and the Indian Home Secretary, in which India promised to provide security to the Pakistani cricket team. Previously, Islamabad had asked New Delhi to guarantee the security of its players before Pakistan would allow its team to participate in World T20.
Sethi also told reporters that the permission to send Pakistan cricket team to play the World T20 has been granted by the interior minister only after reinforcing assurances from the chief minister of West Bengal, union home secretary and the home minister of India. He also added that Pakistani cricketers are completely ready and would expectedly take a detour to Dubai before finally flying to India.
While Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh also issued an independent statement to reporters in New Delhi that Pakistani cricketers will be given proper security protocol. He also emphasized that not only Pakistan but any participating team coming to India should not be worried about security issues.
PCB chairman Shahryar Khan also told reporters that the Pakistani cricketers were given the choice if they wanted to opt out because of the security concerns, but the all the 15 members of the country's national cricket team refused to stay back saying that they wanted to remain active and maintain cricketing ties between both countries.
To ensure the safety of the Pakistani cricketers, the previously designated venue for the match has been changed to Kolkata, First Spot reported. Both legendary cricket teams will go head to head against each other on 16th of the coming month, a clash that cricket enthusiasts never miss during a World T20 tournament.
The following NDTV video highlights some of the security concerns that had been dragging on.