PCB unaware of SOP implementation

PCB are still to confirm if a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) security plan was enforced during the series.
"The Board must be asked if the SOP security plan for visiting teams was implemented by the Police for the Sri Lanka Test series," a former official of the Pakistan Cricket Board said today.

Shafqat Naghmi, the former chief operating officer of PCB, confirmed that the board had signed a SOP with the government last year pertaining to security arrangements for visiting teams.

"The SOP was prepared after inputs from the International Cricket Council security consultants and after several discussions between the board, its security manager, the ICC security consultants and the law enforcement agencies," he said.

Butt declines to comment

PCB Chairman Ijaz Butt ducked the question on the implementation of the SOP during the Sri Lanka series yesterday, stating that the police officials should be asked if the system was implemented.

Butt, however, was of the view that the security arrangements for the Sri Lankan team were adequate and was the responsibility of the local police.

According to him, the security was same as for other visiting teams and refused to comment on speculations about possible security lapses before a investigation report was ready with the PCB.

But despite Butt's confidence, events of the last 24 hours since the attack on the Sri Lankan team on Tuesday morning indicate that there has been a security lapse on part of the police, who lost five commandos during the ambush of the unidentified terrorists.

Several questions have already been raised about the incident by security experts, critics, the ICC match referee, Chris Broad and now by even some of the Sri Lankan players.

SOP not followed properly

According to a copy of the SOP document, it is clear that some procedures were not followed for the Sri Lankan team.

According to the SOP guidelines, the route should have been completely sealed off with blockade of arteries leading to the road where the team were to travel.

Special Branch police should have swept the 200 yards area leading to the route with sniffer dogs and electronic gadgets.

Special Branch personnel should have been deployed well in advance in the dwellings close to the proposed routes to gather Intel.

Sharp shooters should have been deployed on all high rises on route and around the stadium.

Inspite of the lapses, the Punjab police senior officials were insisting that adequate security was present for the visiting team or there would have been casualties in the team bus.

However, match referee Broad had another story to tell at his press conference after reaching London yesterday. He said the security arrangements were neither adequate nor as promised by the PCB and authorities in Pakistan.

"We were left like sitting ducks by the police," Broad said.

Blame game on in PCB

Sources in the PCB say the lapse occurred due to a combination of things. Firstly, the present board set up perhaps didn't bother to follow up the implementation of the SOP with the local police as done in the past.

"The reason for this being officials who used to coordinate with the local authorities have all recently been sacked by Butt," one source noted.

"There is a tendency in the present set-up to disregard all work done by the previous PCB set up as useless and this probably led to this problem."

He added that in the Punjab government itself the senior police officials, who were aware of the SOP, were also transferred from their positions after the imposition of governor rule in the province.

Warnings of an attack were given

A letter sent by the CID Punjab branch to higher authorities warning of an attack on the Sri Lankan team while traveling from the hotel to the stadium was also carried by 'The News' daily and raises more questions as to whether the police had taken enough protective measures for the Sri Lankans and match officials.

"The combination of the above factors along with an apparent over-confident attitude on part of the police that no one would target the Sri Lankans led to this tragedy," one well-informed source said.

More seriously Pakistan cricket is likely to face more pressure about its security arrangements after the statements of Broad, Muttiah Muralitharan and even Tillekaratne Dilshan, who said security for the one-day series in January was far more stringent and better.