West Indies have made up their mind not to tour Pakistanunder the prevailing situation in the region but thePakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said it was waiting for theforthcoming Saarc conference in Kathmandu before announcingits decision

02-Jan-2002West Indies have made up their mind not to tour Pakistanunder the prevailing situation in the region but thePakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said it was waiting for theforthcoming Saarc conference in Kathmandu before announcingits decision.According to sources, the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB)president Wes Hall has informed the PCB of its decision in aDec 24 communication in which he has further stated that theWest Indies had no objection in fulfilling its obligationata neutral venue.Nevertheless, chairman of the PCB Lt Gen Tauqir Zia toldreporters that it was premature to say that the series inPakistan had been cancelled. He added that the PCB would bemonitoring Pakistan and Indian foreign ministers meeting inthe Nepalese capital before deciding whether to host theseries in Pakistan or shift it to a neutral territory.”We would look for a neutral venue only if the foreignministers meeting fails. If the meeting is constructive andsituation eases out on the borders, we would press for theseries to be played in Pakistan,” Tauqir said.The PCB supremo added that there had been communication andaccepted that he had a telephonic conversation with his WestIndian counterpart. But he denied that the West Indies haverefused to tour Pakistan.PCB director Brig Munawwar Rana said the communication hasbeen received in which the West Indies have shown concernover Pakistan and India situation.”We will give due consideration to their concern and willrespond in due course of time.”Pakistan and India situation is an international concernand countries all over the world are worried. But thesituation is not bad and as the signs go, things willimprove,” he said. However, sources confirmed that Hall haswritten in clear terms that the decision has been takenafter the players said they would feel insecure and unsafeif the tour went ahead.”The WICB is concerned over security for their players in acountry in the middle of the continued United Statesmilitary action in Afghanistan, its neighbour to the west,and the more recent threat of war with adjoining India tothe east,” he says in his Dec 24 letter to the PCB.He added: “My personal commitment to my players is to ensurewe conduct the proper due diligence before proceeding on anytour to allow them to be free from stress and able to giveunreservedly of their best,” Hall says in his Dec 24 letterto the PCB chairman.According to The Trinidad Express newspaper, Hall’s lasttelephonic conversation with the PCB chariman was on Sundayin which the General put his board’s contention that it wasstill safe to hold the series in Pakistan. “But I reiteratedour position that we had genuine concerns about security,especially since the increased tensions on the border withIndia have compounded the unsettled situation inAfghanistan,” Hall was quoted as saying in The TrinidadExpress newspaper said.The PCB has already released the itinerary of the 41-daytour scheduled between Jan 25 and March 6. Strangely,Peshawar has been allocated a Test. However, when the PCBreleased the tour programme, WICB claimed it had notapproved it and the tour was not a certainty.The situation in Pakistan is also dependent on Clive Lloyd’sreport who is due to arrive in city Wednesday on way toIslamabad where he will be coaching Youth World Cup-boundcricketers.In the meantime, Cricketers Benefit Fund Series (CBFS) vicechairman Abdur Rehman Bukhatir has offered the PCB to shiftthe series in the desert city of Sharjah but has ruled outMoroccan city of Tangiers because of poor weather.