Pakistan team insured for 445,000 dollars for Ahmedabad match by AFP

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Ground:	Sardar Patel Stadium, Motera, Ahmedabad
Event:	Pakistan in India 2004/05

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DateLine: 4th April 2005

 

Organisers of a one-day cricket match in a communally-sensitive western Indian city have insured the touring Pakistan team for 445,000 dollars as security cover, officials said.

 

India and Pakistan will play the one-dayer on April 12 in Ahmedabad, the commercial capital of Gujarat state where at least 2,000 people, mostly Muslims, were hacked, burnt or shot to death in 2002 following the death of 59 Hindus in a train carriage fire blamed by state authorities on a Muslim mob.

 

Pakistan had initially declined to play a five-day Test match in Ahmedabad but later agreed to take part in a one-dayer after the Indian cricket board and local officials guaranteed them high-level security.

 

Gujarat Cricket Association president Narhari Amin said Monday each of the 16 Pakistan cricketers and support staff will be insured for 22,000 dollars for the two-day duration of their stay in Ahmedabad.

 

"This insurance is to safeguard us against any eventuality," said Amin, adding this was the first time cricketers were being insured for security reasons.

 

Some 15,000 police and security personnel will be on hand to guard the cricketers at the hotel and the 47,000-capacity Gujarat stadium where the match will be played, Amin said.

 

Spectators will have to show documents proving their identity before they are allowed into the stadium and will be barred from bringing in food packets and placards.

 

Pakistan are currently touring India for the first time since 1999.

(Article: Copyright © 2005 AFP)