As the 33-member New Zealand squad winged its way from Pakistan, it left behind a country which had still not recovered its confidence. While there are many reasons to condemn New Zealand’s action, the fact remains that Pakistan has been unable to convince the world that it is a safe place. On the receipt of a threat warning, it was perhaps too much to expect from any cricket board not to cancel, especially in a country where a team had been attacked. No matter that attack took place in 2009, and no matter that there were no deaths, the fact of the matter is that the attackers overcame all the hurdles placed in their way by those vaunted agencies. No board can be expected to take a risk at all even if there is even a tiny risk.
The information came from the Five Eyes, which is a pooling of intelligence collected by five countries, which include some of Pakistan’s supposed friends, such as the UK, the USA and Canada, along with Australia and New Zealand. Pakistan is not part of this group, and to expect any member to share information about how it reached its conclusions was probably hoping for too much.
There is something of a problem, for two more of the Five Eyes members, were due to tour Pakistan this winter. England was sending both men’s and women’s teams next month. Then Australia was to tour Pakistan next February-March, its first of Pakistan since 2008, has now been thrown into doubt. If either does balk at coming here, it would again prove that the attempt to improve Pakistan’s ‘soft image’ has come a cropper. Much thus depends on the English and Australian decisions. However, while the England Cricket Board is near a decision, it is expected not to proceed, as it shares security consultants with New Zealand Cricket. The only real solution is for the government to take the sort of steps, and crack down on the sort of persons, that indulge in such militancy. There are reasons for such an image, after all.
