Australian tour to Pakistan on verge of collapse

Australia’s tour of Pakistan in March was on the verge of collapse last night as political officials in the strife-torn country predicted the general election would be postponed.

A high-level Australian cricket official said the election date would be crucial in determining whether Ricky Ponting’s team made the trip for the first time in a decade.

The election was slated for January 8 but the assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto has meant the election could be postponed for up to two months.

As political officials met to discuss an election date, the Pakistan Election Commission reported 11 districts in the south of the country had been burned and voting material, including electoral rolls, destroyed.

Bhutto’s killing in a suicide attack last Thursday has sparked bloodshed across the country and rage against President Pervez Musharraf, casting doubts on nuclear-armed Pakistan’s stability and its transition to civilian rule.

Ponting’s team is slated to play three Tests, five one-day internationals and a Twenty20 in Pakistan from mid-March through April next year.

Australian cricket officials had expected turmoil around the time of the election but had hoped this would settle before the pre-tour inspection by CA, the players union and security experts was completed in early February.

But if the election date is pushed back, the current chaos will remain and cricket officials may run out of time to complete the pre-tour inspection before the team is due to leave.

Australian Cricketers Association boss Paul Marsh will discuss the dire situation with players during this week’s second Test, and most are expected to express their fears about touring a nation which had more than 50 suicide bombers in 2007.

Marsh last night played a straight bat when asked if the tour was expected to be abandoned.

“We are going through the process,” he said. “We need to go through the process but the safety of our players is the ACA’s only concern here, and that’s what we will be focusing on.”

Australia’s security delegation must tick off on a detailed checklist before it allows the team to tour. Areas to be covered will include:

* An inspection of all airports, ensuring players can go straight from the plane to a bus without passing through the terminal;

* Asking for roads to be closed while the team travels, and for state security to patrol these roads;

* Players to all be on the same floor at team hotels, with tight security at all entrances;

* Special team rooms at hotels where players can meet and eat;

* Tight security at grounds and in dressing rooms.
Marsh said the security and safety check was exhaustive.

“We have got it down to a pretty fine art now. We know what we are looking for. We can pretty much knock off a city in a day,” he said.

A CA spokesman last night said the situation in Pakistan was being monitored and a decision on the tour would not be made until after the security team visited the country. [Herald Sun]