PCB finally sends Lahore report to ICC
The PCB has finally sent the judicial inquiry report on the Lahore terrorist attack to the ICC
Cricinfo staff
17-Aug-2010
The Punjab Government finally gave the PCB the go ahead to send the report on the Lahore terrorist attack to the ICC • Associated Press
Seventeen months after the March 2009 terror attack on the Sri Lanka team in Lahore, the PCB has finally sent the judicial inquiry report on the incident to the ICC, after getting the approval of the Punjab Government.
"The board sent the report [on Lahore terror incident] to the ICC about one month ago after seeking approval of the Punjab government," PCB chairman Ijaz Butt told Dawn. "As the Punjab government had sent a copy of the judicial inquiry report to the PCB with the instruction to keep it confidential, we were not in a position to forward the report to the ICC initially. But soon after the Punjab government allowed us, the PCB dispatched the report to the international body."
An ICC spokesperson confirmed to Cricinfo that the report was received on August 3. "It is a confidential report and the ICC will not make any comments on it," the spokesperson told Cricinfo.
On March 3 last year, the bus in which the Sri Lanka side was travelling to the Gaddafi Stadium was attacked by terrorists. Eight policemen lost their lives, while several others were injured, including some of the Sri Lanka players.
Since the attack, no international cricket has been played Pakistan, and only two international events in any sport have taken place in the country - the Asia Cup baseball qualifiers in Islamabad and an international boxing tournament in Karachi.
The 600-page report was put together by Lahore High Court Justice Shabbar Raza Rizvi, who questioned a number of security officials, as well as Butt, former PCB COO Saleem Altaf and the present COO Wasim Bari, who was the human resource director at the time. The report comes down heavily on the weaknesses in the security arrangements made by the Punjab government, which was running under governor's rule at the time.
Former ICC president Ehsan Mani recently criticised the PCB for taking so long to submit the report to the ICC, whose own security task force is engaged in finding ways to bring international cricket back to Pakistan.