Bomb squad combs venue for India-Pakistan match
Source: AFP |
December 25, 2012, Tuesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
POLICE bomb squad officers and sniffer dogs searched the stadium in Bangalore yesterday as part of a massive security operation for the start of the first Pakistan cricket tour to India for five years.
Hardline Indian nationalist organizations including Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Shiv Sena have both threatened to hold protests outside all the venues for the five-match series, which begins in Bangalore today.
The Indian government has said it will issue a record number of 3,000 visas to Pakistani fans attending the series - the first since the 2008 Mumbai attacks which led to a complete breakdown in relations between the two countries.
"As the governments of both the countries have agreed to hold the bilateral series, no organization will be allowed to disrupt the match," Bangalore police commissioner Jyotiprakash Mirji said.
Bomb squad officers carried out a painstaking inspection with their dogs in and around the Chinnaswamy stadium. As many as 5,000 security personnel, including a 100-member bomb squad, have been deployed to cover the match, fearing attempts to disrupt the game or even stage an attack.
Shiv Sena, a Hindu nationalist party based in Mumbai, has branded the tour a "national shame" and accused Indian cricket authorities of "betraying the country for sake of money".
The same organization dug up the wicket at the Feroz Shah Kotla cricket ground in New Delhi in 1999 ahead of an India-Pakistan Test although the match did go ahead.
News blackout
Meanwhile, Pakistan's first tour to India in five years faced a media blackout yesterday after international news agencies suspended coverage over a decision to bar their photo counterparts.
News outlets said they would not be filing any text or pictures after the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) refused to accredit the international picture agencies Getty Images and Action Images as well as two Indian agencies.
"It is regrettable that the politically-charged Pakistan tour will be affected by the BCCI's failure to recognise the long-standing importance of photographic news agencies in the flow of sport and news images every day," said the News Media Coalition, which represents a group of media organizations. A similar dispute led to coverage suspension during England's recent tour just months ago.
Hardline Indian nationalist organizations including Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Shiv Sena have both threatened to hold protests outside all the venues for the five-match series, which begins in Bangalore today.
The Indian government has said it will issue a record number of 3,000 visas to Pakistani fans attending the series - the first since the 2008 Mumbai attacks which led to a complete breakdown in relations between the two countries.
"As the governments of both the countries have agreed to hold the bilateral series, no organization will be allowed to disrupt the match," Bangalore police commissioner Jyotiprakash Mirji said.
Bomb squad officers carried out a painstaking inspection with their dogs in and around the Chinnaswamy stadium. As many as 5,000 security personnel, including a 100-member bomb squad, have been deployed to cover the match, fearing attempts to disrupt the game or even stage an attack.
Shiv Sena, a Hindu nationalist party based in Mumbai, has branded the tour a "national shame" and accused Indian cricket authorities of "betraying the country for sake of money".
The same organization dug up the wicket at the Feroz Shah Kotla cricket ground in New Delhi in 1999 ahead of an India-Pakistan Test although the match did go ahead.
News blackout
Meanwhile, Pakistan's first tour to India in five years faced a media blackout yesterday after international news agencies suspended coverage over a decision to bar their photo counterparts.
News outlets said they would not be filing any text or pictures after the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) refused to accredit the international picture agencies Getty Images and Action Images as well as two Indian agencies.
"It is regrettable that the politically-charged Pakistan tour will be affected by the BCCI's failure to recognise the long-standing importance of photographic news agencies in the flow of sport and news images every day," said the News Media Coalition, which represents a group of media organizations. A similar dispute led to coverage suspension during England's recent tour just months ago.
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