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Bangladesh agrees Pakistan cricket tour

Posted by bangladesh

Bangladesh on Sunday agreed to tour Pakistan for a short one 50-over match and one Twenty20 international later this month, reviving international cricket suspended in the country three years ago.

"I am pleased to confirm the tour in which Bangladesh will play a one-day match on April 29 and a Twenty20 game the next day, both in Lahore," Bangladesh Cricket Board president Mustafa Kamal said in a press release.

International cricket has been suspended in Pakistan since a terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team bus in Lahore in March 2009.

The attack left eight people dead and seven visiting players and their assistant coach wounded.

Pakistan's government had promised fool-proof security for the Bangladesh team after their security delegation assessed the situation here last month.

Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Zaka Ashraf said the confirmation is a good sign.

"I am extremely pleased that Bangladesh has confirmed the tour. Obviously this is very important for us and we will leave no stone unturned to ensure that this tour takes place in a befitting manner," said Ashraf.

Pakistan had been a 'no go' zone for international teams as they fear security of the players in a country where the national army is fighting militancy.

Both the countries had started to show signs of bitterness after Bangladesh showed reluctance over the tour and Pakistan threatened to review relations if the tour doesn't take place.

PCB further said the remaining matches of the FTP (Future Tours Programme) tour will be played at dates mutually agreed between the two Boards at venues including Bangladesh.

Bangladesh was due for a full tour of Pakistan under the International Cricket Council (ICC) FTP in 2012.

The ICC said it will need a comprehensive security plan from Pakistan to send match officials.

"The ICC Board were informed that the tour will take place and the Board, having due regard to its duty of care to match officials and other ICC staff, requested that the PCB to immediately provide a comprehensive security plan for consideration," the ICC said.

"Thereafter, the ICC?s Anti Corruption and Security Unit will commission a localised risk assessment to determine whether its officials and staff are appropriately protected by the proposed security plan, before any further decision is taken in relation to their appointment."

Last month, the ICC had announced a "special dispensation" to be made only in "exceptional circumstances" in order to ensure that a bilateral series take place even if the ruling body has determined it "unsafe" to appoint its officials for such series.

This would allow such series to be manned by "non-neutral match officials."

Kamal, who is a joint nominee of Pakistan-Bangladesh for the ICC vice president's post in 2012, said the series will give Pakistani people some cricket.

"The public of Pakistan have been deprived of cricket and we felt that we needed to support them. The reception we received when we toured Lahore and Karachi on our security visit was overwhelming.," said Kamal.

"This tour is taking place after 2009 and this short tour will hopefully demonstrate to the world that cricket should start taking place in Pakistan," said Kamal.

Pakistan last year invited Bangladesh for a three-match one-day series which was later changed to two ODIs and one Twenty20 international. Karachi and Rawalpindi were the other possible venues but Bangladesh have agreed to playing in Lahore only.

Even before the 2009 attacks foreign teams had refused to tour Pakistan since the war on terror began in the wake of 9-11 attacks in 2001 in the United States.

Australia have not toured Pakistan since 1998, forcing them to play in Sri Lanka and Sharjah (2002), 2009 (UAE) and England (2010).

Pakistan had also played their home series in New Zealand in 2009.

'Pak-bound Bachchu Razakar reaches India'

Posted by bangladesh

Abul Kalam Azad, better known as 'Bachchu Razakar', has fled the country and is headed for Pakistan to evade arrest on war crimes charges, Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) said on Monday.

Quoting his sons, RAB said he crossed the border to India.

RAB media wing director M Suhayel told : "His two sons and brother-in-law told us that he fled to India through Dinajpur's Hili border. His destination is Pakistan."

His sons and brother-in-law have been detained by RAB on Monday, he said.

'Bachchu Razakar' left Dhaka on Mar 30 and entered India on Apr 2, Suhayel said family members told them.

The RAB official said Bachchu Razakar travelled by road to cross the border at Hilli in Dinajpur and entered India on Apr 2, a day before the International Crime Tribunal ordered his arrest on war crimes charges.

A former National University teacher named Dr. Yusuf drove Bachchu to the border in his car, RAB said.

The RAB spokesperson said an hotelier named Abul Kashem Azad, who is a friend of Bachchu Razakar, gave him shelter at Hilli before he crossed the border.

RAB said they arrested Azad on Monday.

Law enforcers, however, could not arrest the teacher who helped Bachchu to reach the border.

RAB organised a media briefing on Bachchu Razakar's escape later on Monday night. His two sons – Shah Mohammad Faisal Azad and Abul Kashem Muhammad Mushfiq Billah Zihad – and brother-in-law Kazi Ehteshamul Haque were produced before the reporters there.

Zihad, in RAB custody, told reporters that his father was taken to the Hili border on Mar 30 night from Yusuf's Agargaon residence. Bachchu Razakar had been lying on the back seat of a black car during the journey.

"After he reached India, he talked with my maternal uncle (Ehtesham) through mobile phone on Apr 3. He then came to know that an arrest warrant was issued against him," Zihad said.

Zihad said his father informed Ehtesham that he was safe in India.

International Crime Tribunal-2 issued arrest warrant against Bachchu Razakar on Apr 3 for 'collaborating with the Pakistan occupation forces and committing excesses during the Liberation War in 1971'.

Police conducted raids at various places to arrest him, but failed to find him.

After failing to find Bachchu Razakar in a drive at his Uttarkhan residence, assistant commissioner of Detective Branch of police Sunanda Roy on Apr 3 told reporters he could flee as their were weaknesses in watch.

However, Suhayel on Monday said, "He didn't leave the country legally. And the border is a huge area. So, it was not possible to keep a watch on the whole border."

RAB detained Bachchu Razakar's sons and his brother-in-law from old Dhaka and they will be produced in court on Tuesday, RAB media wing director Suhayel said.

Meanwhile, Bachchu Razakar's daughter on Monday sought an order from High Court asking police to produce her two brothers and uncle alleging they were picked up by law-enforcers on Apr 6 early morning.

The court fixed Tuesday for hearing the appeal.

Pak national 'admitted BPL fixing'

Posted by bangladesh

A Pakistani national detained in Dhaka admitted to detectives that he was involved in match-fixing in the Bangladesh Premier League T-20 tournament, police sources said.

Detectives said they found evidence to prove his involvement and that they were going to seek Interpol's help to get financial transaction data of suspect Sajid Khan's bank account in Pakistan.

Detective Branch (DB) of police on Monday placed Sajid on a two-day remand, a day after the Bangladesh Cricket Board authorities handed him over to Mirpur police in connection with suspicious activities around Mirpur Outdoor Stadium. A cricket board official also filed a case with Mirpur Police Station in this connection.

A senior police official yesterday told The Daily Star that during the remand 35-year-old Sajid admitted that he had contacted several players of different teams to fix matches.

The official said they were preparing to seek the help of Interpol to get the details of Sajid's account with Silk Bank in Pakistan.

Police sources said Sajid came to Dhaka on February 10 posing as an import-export businessman but since his arrival he had always been around some players.

“When the players stayed in a Dhaka hotel, he stayed at a nearby hotel; when the players went to Chittagong, he went there. When the players returned to Dhaka, he also returned,” said a police official.

Hailing from Gulshan Zahur in Karachi, Sajid himself was once a player in the domestic cricket league and he is a close friend of a Pakistani player playing in BPL, sources said. They said Sajid developed connections with other players of the league by using his “friend”.

According to sources, another Pakistani national had also come to Bangladesh for match fixing but he left the country on Friday.