• Source:JND
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JE Sports Desk:  Pakistan Cricket Board's (PCB) former chairman Khalid Mahmood has slammed the government's decision to form a committee to take the decision on their national team's Khalid Mahmoodisit to India for the upcoming ODI World Cup.

Mahmood was the head of the board when Pakistan made a full tour of India in 1999 and he also visited the neighboring country in 1989 as manager of the junior team.

He said that there is no sense in forming this committee and also finds the position to link Pakistan's participation in the World Cup to the Asia Cup being held in Pakistan beyond his understanding.

 

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"The interesting thing is that no representative of the main stakeholder, the Pakistan Cricket Board is on the committee," Mahmood said in an interview.

"While I agree that there is no justification for India not to tour Pakistan now but this is not the way things are done at the international level." Mahmood believes that the government has contradicted its policy of not mixing politics with sports by forming this committee of ministers.

"If you say that we are looking at the security situation before deciding to send the team to India, that makes sense, but to say openly that if India doesn't come to Pakistan then we will also not send the team to India for World Cup is mixing both things, which we have never done."

"When I was chairman in 1999, despite threats from India, we assessed the security situation for our team ourselves, by sending a delegation to India and advised the government we were willing to go to India." He said that the sensible thing to do now is to ensure Pakistan's participation in the mega event rather than facing sanctions and sour the relations with other boards as well.

 

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Mahmood appreciated the stand of former chief Njam Sehi and said that Sethi should be honored for the decision he took on this sensitive matter.

"I expect Zaka Ashraf to face an uncomfortable situation, when he attends the ICC meetings later this week, because of the formation of this committee and the statement made by Minister, Ahsan Mazari."

Earlier, Pakistan's Prime Minister formed a high-profile committee headed by Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari to find recommendations for their team's travel, a decision that was considered as a follow-up to PCB's letter sent a few days back.