High Court delays Bangladesh’s tour of Pakistan

Reuters: Bangladesh’s cricket tour of Pakistan later this month has been delayed by four weeks by a Bangladesh court after a legal challenge, a lawyer said on Thursday.

Bangladesh had agreed to play a one-day international and a Twenty20 match on April 29 and 30 in what would have been the first full internationals in Pakistan since March 2009 when Sri Lankan cricketers and officials were attacked by gunmen in Lahore.

“The court by an order has restrained the Bangladesh government and the Bangladesh Cricket Board from going ahead with the national cricket team’s tour to Pakistan for four weeks,” said lawyer Hasan Azim, representing the two people who challenged the tour.

University lecturer Didarus Salam and a senior Supreme Court lawyer Kamal Hossain had jointly filed a petition in the Dhaka High Court earlier on Thursday, seeking an adjournment of the tour and asking why it should not be declared illegal.