Published: Sep 28, 2015, 11:14 AM (IST)
Edited: Sep 28, 2015, 11:14 AM (IST)
Cricket Australia’s officials are in Bangladesh and will be meeting members of security and intelligence on Monday to assess the future of the two-Test series between the sides. After Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and national security organisation ASIO informed the cricket board about “reliable information to suggest that militants may be planning to target Australian interests”, the side’s trip got postponed. Cricket Australia’s Anti-Corruption and Security Manager Sean Carroll, support team manager Gavin Dovey and security manager Frank Dimasi are currently in Dhaka for a meeting with the top officials to decide the fate of the tour, Cricket Australia’s official website reported. Bangladesh Home Minister rubbishes Australia’s security concern
According to the website, CA’s ACS manager Carroll met Bangladesh Cricket Board’s (BCB) President Nazmul Hassan, Vice-President Mahbubul Anam and chief executive Nizam Uddin Chowdhury at Australian High Commission. Cricket Australia hopeful of Bangladesh tour taking place
“They have information that Australian interest is under threat but that is not confined to Bangladesh, it is also in other neighbouring countries,” Hassan told. “This is their concern. But I have told them that Bangladesh is one of the safest places for cricket, especially now. I don’t belong to the security or the intelligence agencies. I told them, ‘If you need a clearer picture, you please talk to the intelligence.’” Australia need security assurances for Bangladesh tour 2015
Cricket Australia’s team are slotted to meet Bangladesh’s Directorate General of Forces Intelligence, National Security Intelligence, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal and police departments, such as the Special Branch and Detective Branch. Michael Clarke ‘quite sure’ Australia players want to tour Bangladesh
Speaking about the meeting, Cricket Australia’s general manager of performance, Pat Howard, said, “This is not one of the ones you want to get wrong. We want to make sure we do this properly and are not panicking. Today is a big day, we have a lot of meetings, a lot of people on the ground. We want to make sure we are not under-reacting, but also not over-reacting.”
“The advice we got was pretty direct against Australians and we want to make sure we’re doing our due diligence. You just can’t take these things lightly. We’ve bought ourselves 72 hours, but Cricket Australia is not going to put the players at risk.”
Howard remembered Australia’s previous tours to Bangladesh and sounded satisfied with the reception. He said, “We toured Bangladesh in 2014 for the World Twenty20 tournament and it was a fantastic tour. There’s nothing wrong with Bangladesh, it’s just this threat we’ve got over the last couple of days.”
“We have a track history of not forcing people to go. When the time comes and we’ve laid it all out and if people are still very nervous, we’ll be wary of that,” Howard concluded.
