'Ministry yet to receive attack report from PCB'

The Pakistan Sports Ministry on Friday said it has not received any report from the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on the terrorist attack on Sri Lankan team in Lahore last year.

The PCB had recently said that it was awaiting clearance from the government before sending the report to the ICC after allegations that the Board was dragging its feet on the issue.

Former ICC president Ehsan Mani had said that PCB is not doing any good to the game by delaying the submission of the report.

"As far as I know they had sent us a report on the sad incident but that was sometime back and it was for our information. After that they have not approached us to get clearance from other ministries to send the report to the ICC," an official from the Sports Ministry said.

The PCB, on its part, said they would seek permission directly from the relevant ministries as it is not necessary to seek permission via the Sports Ministry.

"The inquiry report has been circulated to concerned ministries," a PCB official said.

Mani claimed that the PCB is delaying sending the report to the ICC despite several reminders and that it is a huge block in the way of resumption of international cricket in Pakistan.

The ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat also confirmed that they have not got any report on the attack.

The Sports Ministry official said that it is their responsibility to forward any query or request from the PCB to other ministries including the interior and foreign affairs ministries.

"It is true that the PCB requires permission from some ministries before it can send the official inquiry report to anyone but our ministry has not got any such request as yet," he said.

International teams have flatly refused to tour Pakistan since the tragic incident in which six Pakistani policemen and a van driver were killed and five Sri Lankan players wounded.

Since then Pakistan has been forced to play all its home series abroad at neutral venues.

Image: Around a dozen gunmen attacked the Sri Lankan team bus as it drove under police escort to the Gadaffi stadium in Lahore in March last year.

Photograph: Reuters