An air of complacency

Faras Ghani, a Pakistani journalist, has contributed this special post to Line and Length on the need for the Pakistan Cricket Board to wake up to their slack security.

How can Ijaz Butt, chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board, defend the security measures – not the security officials – in his country when he didn't see what I saw? While I wasn't in Lahore for the aborted second Test, I was in Karachi for the first where security seemed to become toned down as the match progressed.

Although security officials still outnumbered spectators, there was an air of complacency. From day two, I could see no snipers stationed atop the water towers, body searches became faint touches and most personnel positioned to search belongings would smile and wave you on.

See, I'm a cricket freak. Not an enthusiast, but a freak for only a freak would dismiss all safety concerns, defy the financial gloom and fly across the continents to spend the last drops of his holiday allowance watching Pakistan take on Sri Lanka at home in their first Test for 14 months. Even the most fervent of followers queried my love for such a dour encounter, but as I told them: it could be the last series to be played in Pakistan. Little did I realise how true that prediction might be.

SecurityThe dullness of the Karachi Test allowed me to wander about the stadium with my camera. While not questioning the desire, and the right, of officials to be photographed, the sheer numbers hassling me for one became rather worrying. Being complimented for looking nice with a red tee failed to ease my worries and nor did the number of napping police officials in the stands.

I had to go through three checks from the gates to my destination but the whole act seemed superficial. Inside, perhaps fully confident in their colleagues' abilities on the gates, security officials seemed more interested in watching Younis Khan crawl to a world record, pleading for photos of them to be printed on the front pages or sharing a cigarette than keeping a watchful eye on spectator behaviour, especially in the backdrop of the prevailing law and order situation. Some even rested in bunches under the shade outside, surrounded by leftover biryani and the sense of false security.

After Lahore's debacle – deemed the farewell to international cricket in Pakistan by my good friend Hafsa Adil – how can we expect tours in six to nine months after this? Step out and smell the teabag and powered milk chai Butt sahab.

© Faras Ghani 2009
Published on The Times Online Mar 13, 2009.