South Africa tour to go on as scheduled: PCB official

Karachi -- The opposition Pakistan Peoples Party has blamed former military ruler General Zia ul Haq‘s remnants for the Islamist attack that took at least 17 lives in Islamabad on Tuesday.

"The mastermind behind the blasts and suicide attacks wants to create an impression across the world that an Islamist movement runs in Pakistan," former federal ministers Khursheed Shah, Yousuf Talpur and Professor N D Khan and former Senator Taj Haider said in a joint statement.

According to the Daily Times, the party has requested the Supreme Court to take suo moto notice of the suicide attacks on the its reception camp in Islamabad

During the Pakistan National Alliance Movement, workers of the PPP were targeted, the statement said.

The former ministers further said that those who are criticising the party‘s chairperson, Benazir Bhutto, have been paid in dollars to go against Zulfikar Ali Bhutto‘s legitimately elected Government. (ANI)

Karachi, July 19 (ANI): A Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) official has said that South Africa‘s tour of Pakistan, which is scheduled for late September, will go ahead as planned despite concerns expressed by Cricket South Africa (CSA) over the deteriorating political situation.

"We know that the political situation in the country is far from ideal these days, but the series against South Africa is still almost ten weeks away and we are sure that things would calm down till then," a PCB official said.

The official also ruled out the possibility of holding the series at any neutral venue. "Shifting a home series to a neutral venue is bad for our cricket, and in addition to that, it is also a financial disaster."

"Things should improve in the coming days, and in any case, we would be assuring the South Africans complete safety of their team in Pakistan," The News quoted an official, as saying.

The statement came in reaction to an announcement made by the South African board that it was concerned about the prevailing scenario in Pakistan. However, CSA also added that the tour would go ahead.

Brian Basson, General Manager of operations at the CSA, was quoted as saying by a newspaper that the board would despatch its own security consultants ahead of the series if it is deemed necessary.

He also said that the CSA would be in close consultation with South Africa‘s high commission in Karachi and the PCB.

Basson said that he would ask for a copy of the report to be prepared by an Australian security team currently visiting Pakistan ahead of the Australia A tour of the country.

"I have a very good relationship with my Australian counterpart and I will certainly be asking for a copy of that report," Bass

on said.

"I also hope that the ICC (International Cricket Council) will be very proactive in this regard. It‘s far easier to deal with these situations before the team flies out, so that we don‘t end up in a situation like we had in Colombo (when they had to call off the tour last year due to a surge in violence and a bomb blast near the team‘s hotel)," Basson added.

South Africa is scheduled to arrive in Pakistan in late September to play two Tests and three one-dayers in October. (ANI)