The Bangladesh High Court has halted the planned tour of Pakistan by the Bangladesh cricket team later this month and asked the government and cricket board to justify the decision when no international team has visited the country following a terror attack in 2009.
In response to a writ petition, the court also issued the blockade for four weeks and asked the authorities to explain why the move to make the tour of Pakistan should not be declared illegal.
The secretary of the Youth and Sports Ministry, the chairman of the National Sports Council and president of the Bangladesh Cricket Board have been made respondents to the ruling.
The Bangladesh team was scheduled to tour Pakistan from April 29 to 30 to play a One-Day International and a Twenty20 match in Lahore under a controversial move believed to be solely taken by the Bangladesh Cricket Board President A.H.M. Mustafa Kamal.
Meanwhile in Melbourne, the Federation of International Cricketers Association has described Bangladesh's decision to tour Pakistan “chaotic and contradictory”, and remarked that players' safety should not be put at risk.
“As the peak body of player associations, of which the Cricketers Welfare Association of Bangladesh (CWAB) is a full member, FICA considers the matter of player safety as paramount in the consideration of whether any event or series should proceed,” FICA CEO Tim May was quoted as saying by PTI.
The petitioners said in their appeals to the High Court that Pakistan's political situation is not in favour of Bangladesh team's tour, adding that several cricket teams earlier refused to tour Pakistan on security grounds. They also mentioned that the Pakistan Cricket Broad had not yet given any security plan to the ICC for Bangladesh's tour. In this situation, the BCB should not send the team to Pakistan, they argued.
The Bangladesh media has criticised the BCB President, alleging that he has independently taken the decision although a group of BCB directors said it would be unwise to send the team to Pakistan.