How the PCB is treating Karachi and the National Stadium is no secret. It is neither organising international matches here nor domestic ones.
More than 4 million ru pees is spent monthly on salaries and other expenditures of National Stadium Karachi (NSK), although there has been no cricket at the ground for a long time.
Why is this money being spent when it is not benefiting local cricketers and millions of cricket lovers?
The PCB chairman made the Rangers operation questionable when he said that due to law and order situation international cricket could not be organized here.
Chief Operating Officer Subhan Ahmed and Asad Mustafa who belong to Karachi were transferred to PCB headquarters in Lahore at Gaddafi Stadium on the basis of some allegations when former Test captain Majid Khan was the PCB chairman. Why not transfer everyone else too and declare the stadium a museum or use it for some profit-generating activity
He said that foreign cricketers were unwilling to visit Karachi but he failed to give any name.
There has been almost no terrorist activity in Karachi since the success of Rangers operation. And there have been two bomb blasts in Lahore.
Would it not be better to shut the National Stadium as it would save the PCB precious money?
Sethi’s statement was insensible, to say the least. No sensible person at such a high position would say such a thing!
Karachi has been peaceful for the last couple of years.
It is either prejudice against Karachi and Karachiites or stupidity. Lay men and common cricket followers know that a number of world class cricketers will be ready to play in Karachi if PCB asks them to.
Top military authorities should take notice of the statement of Sethi. He should have talked to Sindh Governor, Core Commander Karachi, DG Rangers, and IG Sindh before issuing such a statement.
No less than three times have bids been called for maintenance and development work at NSK, but every time the process has been postponed
To many it seems that he never actually talked to foreign cricketers about playing in Karachi.
Why won’t foreign cricketers play in Karachi when they are being offered close to a hundred thousand dollars? Spending so much money and then restricting the matches to one city mean the country remains unsafe.
Most surprising thing is that the political leaders who claim to be the saviours of the city haven’t done anything in this respect. None of them has uttered a single word against this wrongdoing. It seems the MNAs, MPAs, and the Mayor Karachi do not know how much Karachiites love cricket and what the importance of NSK in cricketing world is.
Karachi has become an orphan as its political leadership is divided into three factions.
It is not just the matter of international cricket in Karachi. The overall situation is that PCB has put all Karachi-related cricket issues on the back-burner, including NSK development work, appointment of director at the regional academy, and KCCA’s election.
Karachi, the biggest nursery of cricket in the country, has one of the historic cricket stadiums but lately the state of this National Cricket Stadium is as bad as one could imagine.
No less than three times have bids been called for maintenance and development work at NSK, but every time the process has been postponed.
When time will have passed the same PCB chairman will say that PSL matches cannot be organized due to the poor condition of NSK.
KCCA has already been paralyzed. Its elections have been delayed and the interim committee consists of PCB’s favourite people which is violating all rules and regulations. The man responsible for all this is none other than the PCB chairman Najam Sethi.
Around one year ago the Hanif Muhammad cricket academy at NSK was inaugurated but the PCB hasn’t appointed any director yet.
The NSK is being destroyed. Score Line has highlighted its issues repeatedly but it seems that no one cares.
Chief Operating Officer Subhan Ahmed and Asad Mustafa who belong to Karachi were transferred to PCB headquarters in Lahore at Gaddafi Stadium on the basis of some allegations when former Test captain Majid Khan was the PCB chairman. Why not transfer everyone else too and declare the stadium a museum or use it for some profit-generating activity.