With the ICC World Cup just around the corner, the Pakistan Cricket Board(PCB) has expressed its concerns to the International Cricket Council (ICC)regarding what it perceives as “significant delays” in the issuance ofIndian visas for the national cricket team.
Umar Farooq, the spokesperson for PCB, informed Dawn.com that they haveformally communicated their apprehensions to the ICC, emphasizing that theybelieve Pakistan is being treated unfairly in this regard and reminding theICC of its obligations concerning the World Cup.
The PCB spokesperson expressed disappointment at the uncertainty faced bythe Pakistan team so close to such a major tournament. He revealed that theboard had been reminding the ICC about these visa-related obligations forthe past three years, but the issue has only escalated in the final daysleading up to the tournament.
Due to these delays, the original plan to conduct team-building exercisesin Dubai before heading to India had to be abandoned. The PCB had toquickly revise its plans, reschedule flights, and make new arrangements,all contingent upon the issuance of visas.
ESPNcricinfo reported that visa applications were submitted more than aweek ago, but as of less than 48 hours before the team’s scheduleddeparture to India, visas had not yet been granted. This has already led tothe cancellation of the pre-World Cup team bonding event in Dubai.Remarkably, Pakistan is the sole participating team among the ninetraveling to India for the event that has not received its visas.
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The team is scheduled to depart from Lahore to Dubai on September 27, withwarm-up matches against New Zealand on September 29 and Australia onOctober 3 in Hyderabad, India, before their first official match againstthe Netherlands on October 6.
Visa applicants, including fans and journalists planning to attend thetournament, faced difficulties accessing the Indian High Commission’swebsite, which was reportedly inaccessible. Consequently, many applicantshad to resort to using agents to complete online forms, adding anunnecessary layer of complexity to the process.
In response to these visa accessibility issues, there were calls for theIndian High Commission to consider accepting hand-filled visa applications,especially for media personnel accredited with the Board of Control forCricket in India and the ICC. With the clock ticking down to the start ofthe mega event, there is a pressing need to facilitate visa processing forall involved parties.
