Today’s news is that South Africa has refused to play 5th One Day International of the series at National Stadium, Karachi. Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has now moved the match to Lahore. South Africa made this decision after some of their players showed their uneasiness at playing in Karachi due to recent events. This is bad news for Karachi. The city’s reputation as a peaceful cricket center was finally coming back to normal. Since 2004, all matches played here have been successful and peaceful.
South Africa’s current decision will put Karachi back in a situation where other teams in future may refuse to play here for reasons which have nothing to do with crowd behavior or cricketing facilities. I also believe the team security in Karachi is not worse than any other city of Pakistan.
9/11 did not stop the tourist from NYC and nor did the business travellers from visiting NYC.
One God Damned lame incident of suicide bomber from some extermist masrasseh probably from some forsaken corner of Pakistan who blew himself up should not be a GOOD ENOUGH REASON FOR THE SOUTH AFRICANS TO CANCEL THE CRICKET MATCH IN KARACHI.
The best CBM (confidence building measure) we can give to South Africans is that our Governor, Chief Minister, Ministers, Mayor, MNAs and MPAs from Karachi will attend the match to guarantee the team security and will only leave ground after the last team member leaves.
The match is on 29th Oct – we still have time and Karachites need to be pro-active in making sure that this decision is reversed.
Karachi’s image is dear to us and we all need to act to restore and preserve it.
Khawar
My heart is broken into 1000 pieces. I was looking forward to see this one anxiously. SA’s bad a** really but cannot blame them as well. What pisses me off is that its KHI’s image thats gone to dogs, nothing else.
I am not surprised at the decision by South Africa not to play in Karachi. Recent history of violence in the city does not make it easy for foreign teams to take unnecessary risks. If the security of a high-profile politician cannot be ensured, it is natural for South Africans to have jitters for playing in Karachi. The experience of the New Zealanders in 2002 does not help either. When the government itself is considering banning political gatherings/processions for forthcoming elections for security reason, we should not expect a cricket team to brave the tense atmosphere.
However, I admire South Africa for not totally abandoning the tour after the bombing of the Bhutto procession.
I agree with you that the teams can be provided similar security in Karachi as they get anywhere else in Pakistan but it is hard to explain to a foreign board why you and I disagree with them.
I am sorry to see people of Karachi losing an opportunity to watch the national team play in their city but I am also glad that SA didn’t decide to pack up and leave all together.
I’m too surprised by their decision or maybe there are factors which suggest extremists are after Karachi and are not against foreigners.