Yeah, Peshawar's always been, well, somewhere I've been very wary of. England cricketers writing about being allowed to leave hotels only with armed guards and all. Most of the rest of Pakistan doesn't seem anywhere near so bad though.
It's pretty much exactly like that.
Have to be well read to become an extremist these days?
You're also more likely to die slipping on a wet floor and hitting your head on a sharp corner than you are sitting on your sofa and having a piano be dropped through the roof of your house on top of you.
Certainly it can happen anywhere, and I was of the view Australia should have toured Pakistan this year.
Why?
Right, because England is a volatile country where there's been unrest in one form or another for a while. Comparing what's basically a one off with Pakistan is ridiculous. There are obviously different levels of threat involved. I'm not saying Pakistan is extremely volatile mind you, but it's not the UK.
What does that mean for a tourist party though? You won't be touring northwest Pakistan, the rest of the country is safe, and cricketers are never targetted anyway.
Right, but who is targetted? Is there some sort of plan the rest of us don't know about that means something will never happen where people who weren't supposed to be killed get killed? The incident with the NZ team years back indicates that things do happen and you can be in the wrong place and end up involved. If something does happen is there a get out where we can miraculously undo whatever damage occurs?
Yes but for the players and their decision to go or not, what matters here is perception, not the facts so much. You're pretty much right and there's a whole lot of cricketers who tour the country that are still in possession of all their arms and legs. Conversely, when it comes to perception, England and Australia have a larger extremist element than they'd care to admit too.
I agree. I don't blame the individual players.
Sure, and if you feel that way as an individual, it's your right not to go. But I'd say that a western touring team in England might be at least as much danger of a terrorist attack than one in Pakistan, as in the subcontinent, cricket unites like little else.
If you're talking Pakistan as a whole compared to England or Australia as a whole, sure. But, as with everything in the news, the extreme examples are what people based their decisions on because when it comes to one's life, people don't want to play the percentages but are looking for certainties I guess. And, without putting too fine a point on it, you're a private citizen and not privy to threat assessments by intel agencies (neither am I any more so I'm not criticising). The perception is that the more dangerous parts of Pakistan are far worse than the more dangerous parts of England/Australia and it's hard to argue with that.
Can't speak for the ECB but CA's position has generally been informed by DFAT (who inform all travel warnings for Australia) and then the decision regarding whether to go is fed back to them from the players. You can question DFAT's info as much as you like but they are the government department who deals directly with this, getting feeds from ASIO, ONA and FedPol who are tasked with collecting this info. For CA to ignore any of that would be the height of irresponsibility.
But you're not going to the Pakistan-Afghanistan border to play cricket as far as I know.
Very interesting. From the DFAT:
Height of irresponsibility?
Mate, you're preaching to the converted here; I'm with you, if some of the Aussies would just do a bit of reading and talk to the right people, they'd see it's probably going to be okay. I'd go if I was playing. But I'm also not about to mess with someone's individual choice.
Nah, DFAT put out different warnings, certainly stronger ones than that for Pakistan generally. That one wouldn't be considered a warning to avoid the country altogether. Contrast that with the warning for Pakistan;
Subtle difference perhaps but the Indian one is considered a lower-level warning whereas the Pakistan page is essentially saying "Avoid travelling here at all."
Interestingly Aus played NZ in 2003 @ Nehru Stadium, Guwahati..which has the same level warning as Pakistan rite now..and would have been even more in 2003 considering there was more violence their during the last 10 yearshttp://www.cricketweb.net/australia/content/ground/58114.html