India is Greater Security Risk than Pakistan: says, Ehsan Mani PCB Chief
By;Asghar Ali Mubarak


The Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Ehsan Mani has called India a “Far greater security risk” than his strife-torn country, where Test cricket returned for the first time after the 2009 terror attack in Lahore. The PCB chief Ehsan Mani made the remarks after Pakistani team celebrated Test cricket’s return to Pakistan with a 263-run victory over visitor team Sri Lanka. No major team has toured Pakistan since the terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team bus near Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore in 2009, which left eight dead and six visiting cricketers injured. “We have proved that Pakistan is safe, if someone isn’t coming then they should prove that it’s unsafe. At this time, India is a far greater security risk than Pakistan,” Mani stated, He further said that “No one should be under any misapprehension as to where Pakistan’s home Tests will take place,” Mani said at a press interaction. “All of Pakistan’s matches, against Bangladesh or anyone else will take place in Pakistan. I still hope the BCB will reflect on the matter and accept there is no reason for them not to visit Pakistan.”If Sri Lanka can come – and bringing them was very high-risk – then it is safe. If anything even minor had happened, people would have said it isn’t safe to come. But they trusted the people here and came and they [the ones that opted out] said they wished they had come for the limited-over’s series as well, because what they’ve been told and the ground realities are very different.” Pointing out that the PSL draft had over 400 overseas players listed; Mani argued that individual players no longer had a problem with coming to Pakistan. Unlike the last few editions of the PSL, where a handful of games at the back-end of the tournament were played in Pakistan, the entirety of the tournament will take place in the country this year.
A lingering uncertainty, now that the PCB has become more forceful in its insistence that teams visit Pakistan for tour commitments, is what would happen if a visiting side refused to tour for a scheduled series. The PCB has, until now, opted against disclosing what its course of action would be, but Mani said the burden of proof had shifted from Pakistan to any team that believed it was unsafe to tour the country and hinted at the possibility of taking the matter to the ICC for resolution.
“I have been around with the ICC for a long time. I know the way it works,” he said. “They will have to prove Pakistan is not safe. We think it’s safe, and we’ve shown the world it’s safe. Look at what happened in Christchurch [with the Bangladesh team], and incidents can happen in Australia and England, and all around the world. India is at present in far greater turmoil from a security perspective than Pakistan is. I will not take a risk with any players’ safety or security. We will listen to everyone who is worried about coming here, but ultimately they’ll have to prove it isn’t safe to come here.”
The PCB’s tone might suggest discussions with the BCB have stalled, though Mani insisted talks had not been called off. While Mani stressed that nothing but a full tour would be acceptable to the PCB, he stopped short of suggesting that Pakistan would rebuff any other offer.
“We would absolutely have the right to dispute such a decision with the ICC,” he said. “I don’t want to say too much, because our discussions with the BCB are ongoing. When they formally tell us what decision they’ve taken, we’ll see what we need to do. The Bangladesh women’s team came to Pakistan, as well as the Under-16 team, and they went back very happy. So we don’t want them to be in any doubt that if they play us, it will be in Pakistan.”The former ICC chairman called the ongoing Sri Lanka a turning point.”No one should now doubt security arrangements in Pakistan after successful Sri Lanka Test series. This is a turning point for revival of test cricket in Pakistan.The Media and fans played an important role in portraying positive image of Pakistan worldwide,” he said. Pakistan were due to host Bangladesh in January for three T20 Internationals and two Tests but some BCB top officials have been quoted as saying that they will not be playing the five-day format in Pakistan due to security concerns. The PCB Chairman Mr Ehsan Mani is a Pakistani chartered accountant who is the former president of International Cricket Council and current Chairman of Pakistan Cricket Board. On 20 August 2018, Prime Minister Imran Khan nominated Ehsan Mani as PCB Chairman. On 4 September 2018, he was elected unopposed as PCB Chairman by the PCB’s Board of Governors for a period of three years Born in Rawalpindi in Pakistan, Mani spent his early life in Pakistan playing for the Rawalpindi Club and Government College Lahore XI from 1959 to 1965 as a right-hand batsman and a left-arm fast medium bowler before moving to the United Kingdom to complete his further studies, Mani is a Chartered Accountant by profession and has resided in the UK since the late 1960s. From 1989 to 1996, Mani represented the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) in the ICC. For the 1996 Cricket World Cup, he was on the advisory committee as the PCB representative. He was also on the same committee during the 1999 Cricket World Cup played in England. In 1996, he was elected by the ICC member nations to the position of Chairman of the ICC Finance and Marketing Committee. He held on to this post until it was dissolved in June 2002. After that he took over as the Vice-President of the ICC Executive Board. He has also served on a number of ICC Committees, such as the Chairman’s Advisory Committee, set up to advice Lord Cowdrey and Sir Clyde Walcott during their stint as ICC President. Other committees he has been a part of are the Rules Review Committee and the Governance and Organization Committee. In June 2003, he became the ICC President. Mani is on the board of a number of UK companies mostly banking and real-estate. He is also the chairman of Galiyat Development Authority (KP), member of board of governors of Shaukat Khanum Memorial Trust and member of board of directors of Biafo Industries Ltd in Pakistan. He is also trustee of a number of charities in UK and Pakistan. More over PCB chairman presents a token of appreciation to Mr. Rashid Khan and Mr. Saleem Yousuf who made their Test debut against Sri Lanka at the NSK Karachi inaugural series between the two countries in 1982.