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Pakistan will organize a first major cricket tournament in almost three decades on Wednesday in a move greeted as a benchmark only a few years after the country has been prohibited due to security fears.
The staging of the Champions Trophy in three cities in the next two and a half weeks will be a huge boost to the reputation of the South Asian nation if the authorities can manage smoothly and safely.
“To convince the world that Pakistan is a safe country and that it is capable of offering such a global event from an administrative point of view has taken hard and convincing work,” the former president of the President told AFP Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), Ramiz Raja.
“The world finally understood our point of view,” said Raja, under the regime of which the event was awarded in 2021.
The construction was not without problems after the neighbors and the rivals of India refused to play Pakistan for longtime political tensions.
A power of sport on and off the field, India will rather play its matches in Dubai, but the other seven countries will be based in Pakistan.
The country has intensified security, especially in Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi host cities, even if attacks in big cities are increasingly rare.
Pakistan was to host the Champions Trophy, the first ODI event after the World Cup in 2008.
Rather, it was organized in South Africa a year later due to a security crisis which spread from the war in neighboring Afghanistan after the September 11 attacks.
Pakistan has become an area prohibited for international teams in 2009 after Islamist armed men attacked a bus carrying the Sri Lanka team in Lahore, injuring several players and killing eight police officers and civilians.
But since a radical military repression that started in 2014 and lasted several years, security has improved considerably.
Test Cricket returned to Pakistan in 2019 and Australia, England, New Zealand and South Africa then tour in the country, helping the candidacy in Pakistan to welcome the tournament.
These teams will all be in Pakistan for the Champions Trophy.
– “Terrorism has taken everything” –
For the 77 -year -old businessman Haji Abdul Razzak, a world event that returns to Pakistan is like another anniversary.
The last time Pakistan organized a major cricket international tournament was as co-animators, with India and Sri Lanka in 1996.
Razzak raised the Sri Lankan flag on March 17, 1996 at the Gaddafi stadium in Lahore when the Icelanders beat Australia to win the title.
Twenty-nine years later, the cricket fanatic will attend the champions trophy in Karachi on Wednesday between the holders of Pakistan and New Zealand.
“It’s fresh in my mind,” said a razzak with tearful eyes to AFP. “My country was booming at the time and cricket was in everyone’s mind.”
He added: “Terrorism has taken everything away. I am delighted to see a world event come back to our country and I have the impression that it will be my birthday.”
Although activism is still a threat to Pakistan, violence is almost entirely limited to distant border regions from north to south, far from stadiums.
With the capital that Islamabad was placed in locking, Pakistan recently organized a summit of the Shanghai cooperation organization and a global meeting on girls’ education, enhancing its profile on the international scene.
As a test for its preparation, Pakistan organized a trial last week with New Zealand and South Africa and the crowds rushed to the recently renovated stadiums of Lahore and Karachi.
Raja, a former Pakistani captain who played during the 1987 World Cup organized by Pakistan and India, said that the holding of the Champions Trophy has a huge meaning that goes beyond sport.
“This champions trophy is a crucial step towards normalizing its position in the global cricket community,” he said.
“It is also national pride and sending a strong message on resilience and determination.
“This is the commitment of young people, cultural promotion and the construction of a global image.
“Now it is on us to deliver.”
SH / ECL / PST
