Visa delays for Pakistanis travelling to India: PCB raises 'serious concerns and alarm'

PCB boss Zaka Ashraf has raised "serious concerns and alarm" about the continuing delay in visas being issued to Pakistan cricket fans and journalists to travel to the World Cup in India. Disquiet over the delays has been rumbling for a while in Pakistan, and the board has written to the ICC about the issue, but this is the first public statement since the tournament started. Pakistan have proactively played one game at the World Cup - against Netherlands in Hyderabad - and play their second against Sri Lanka on Tuesday at a similar scene. Furthermore, on October 14, they take on India in Ahmedabad in maybe the most expected game in the competition's association stage. As of now, however, it appears as though it might have basically no Pakistani presence in the stands and the press box, as has been the case up until this point. Ashraf has met Pakistan unfamiliar secretary Syrus Sajjad Qazi, mentioning him to take the issue up with India's service of home service. "The PCB is very frustrated to see that writers from Pakistan and fans are as yet confronting vulnerability about getting an Indian visa to cover Pakistan games in ICC World Cup 2023," an assertion from the board said. "Meanwhile, PCB has again helped ICC and BCCI to remember their individual commitments. "The PCB has likewise taken serious notification of safety dangers being accounted for in Indian media and mentioned the public authority to assess players security in India. The prosperity and wellbeing of the Pakistan crew was of central significance." The ICC had said on Friday that it was working with the BCCI to push for visas for up to 60 columnists from Pakistan, certify by the ICC for the inclusion of the occasion. There is, in any case, no lucidity on the number of fans from Pakistan that may at last have the option to cross the line. Addressing a free columnist in Pakistan, previous PCB executive (and ICC president) Ehsan Mani said that the ICC and BCCI had ensured that visas for Pakistani nationals wouldn't be an issue. "Any country that has an ICC occasion joins to a facilitating understanding that plainly says the host nation will work with the visas of the group, authorities, columnists and fans," Mani said. "The ICC ought to have guaranteed before the occasion begun that the visas were given. Somewhere in the range of 2019 and 2021, I referenced in executive gatherings to both the BCCI and the ICC that visas ought to be worked with. Both guaranteed that this would be no issue. "It is an ICC occasion, and they ought to have guaranteed this was all settled before the World Cup began." The Pakistan cricket crew's visas for the competition were likewise given just a day prior to they were planned to fly out, driving them to drop a pre-World Cup instructional course in Dubai. The group has been in Hyderabad, where they were given a warm gathering on appearance, since September 27.