LAHORE / KARACHI: The Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) chief met the country’s foreign secretary on Monday to raise “serious concerns and alarm” over the delay in Pakistani fans and journalists’ visas for the ongoing World Cup in India.

Meanwhile, Zainab Abbas — one of the three Pakistanis to have been granted the Indian visa along with former cricketers Waqar Younis and Ramiz Raja as broadcasters — left India amid a cloud.

Zaka Ashraf, chairman of the PCB’s interim Management Committee, also requested the foreign secretary to take up the issue with India’s Home Ministry through Pakistan High Commission office in New Delhi, the PCB said in a press release.

Despite the tournament having started on Oct 5, no Pakistan-based fan or journalist has been granted the visa to respectively cheer the national side and cover the 50-over showpiece. In fact, the Indian High Commission (IHC) has not so far allowed for the visa applications to be submitted.

ICC presenter Zainab Abbas leaves India amid cloud

Reportedly, the IHC is waiting for a green signal from the Indian home ministry to do so with Pakistan’s high-octane clash against the hosts and archrivals nearing fast. Hence, in its attempt to help expedite the process, the PCB reached out to the Pakistan foreign office.

The board said Mr Ashraf has also taken “serious not­ice” of the security threats being reported in Indian media and requested the government to evaluate players’ security in the country.

“He emphasised that the well being and safety of the Pakistan squad was of paramount importance,” the PCB statement read.

“PCB is extremely disappointed to see that journalists from Pakistan and fans are still facing uncertainty about obtaining an Indian visa to cover Pakistan games in ICC World Cup 2023.

“In the meantime, PCB has again reminded ICC [International Cricket Council] and BCCI [Board of Control for Cricket in India] of their respective obligations and terms and conditions stipulated in the Host agreement to guarantee visas for fans and journalists of participating teams.”

Late on Sunday, the ICC in its media advisory asked journalists from Pakistan to send their questions for team’s Monday’s pre-match press conference — ahead of their fixture against Sri Lanka — on Whatsapp to one of their officials.

Presenter leaves

Ms Abbas, who was to be a presenter for the ICC’s digital coverage of the world event, had been facing a social media backlash after a complaint filed by an Indian lawyer with the BCCI, India’s cricket governing body.

The complaint by Vineet Jindal was based reportedly on “derogatory and provocative” social media posts about India and Hindu religion that Ms Abbas is alleged to have made in the past.

Dawn could not independently verify the veracity of the tweets attributed to Ms Abbas, and reached out to her for comment, but did not receive a response.

According to the Press Trust of India, Ms Abbas had been facing a backlash on social media over the alleged anti-India posts. Reports in Indian media also claimed that she had been deported, but in a statement, an ICC spokesperson insisted that this was not the case. Rather, they said, she had left the country due to personal reasons.

Our correspondent in New Delhi also contributed to this report

Published in Dawn, October 10th, 2023