Bangladesh court suspends cricket team's tour of Pakistan for four weeks

The Dhaka High Court has ordered a four-week suspension of the Bangladesh cricket team's tour of Pakistan, scheduled to take place next week. It also ordered that in the interim period the sports secretary, the National Sports Council chief and Bangladesh Cricket Board chief Mustafa Kamal justify the decision for the tour. The implications of the decision - whether it can and will be challenged - are not immediately known but the decision has added to doubts over whether the tour will indeed go ahead. The court order was delivered by Justices Farid Ahmed and Sheikh Hasan Arif on Thursday afternoon. A PCB statement, however, noted the news "with extreme concern." The order was on a writ petition filed in the morning by a university teacher and a Supreme Court lawyer who challenged the BCB's decision to send the team at the end of April for a three-day tour. The petitioners cited security concerns for their injunction plea. Azim, one of the lawyers for the petitioners, said: "The ICC asked for a security plan from PCB. They have still not given it." He continued, "Pakistan is not safe for any foreign teams now. Their own media says so. For that reason, no country agrees to play there. Under the same circumstances, we should not go there also." Bangladesh are scheduled to play a one-day game and a Twenty20 at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore on April 29 and 30.

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