Security beefed up for Sri Lanka team following suicide bombing in Islamabad
Rawalpindi (PTI): Security has been beefed up for the visiting Sri Lankan cricket team following terror attacks in Islamabad and Wana with the island nation's High Commissioner also given assurance that the touring players are being treated as "state guests".
The security issue was taken up at a meeting between the Sri Lankan High Commissioner, Admiral (retired) Fred Seneviratne, Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Mohsin Naqvi and government officials in Islamabad.
Sources said that Naqvi, who is also the Federal Minister for Interior affairs, had earlier also met officials of the Sri Lankan team and assured them of fool-proof security.
"Security has been beefed up with Pakistan Army and the paramilitary rangers now deputed to monitor the visiting players and officials," the source said.
During Wednesday's meeting, the security situation was discussed in the presence of top police officials of Islamabad.
Naqvi assured Siriwiratnay that the visiting team players and officials were state guests in Pakistan. The High Commissioner, after the briefing, expressed satisfaction with the security arrangements.
Pakistan has blamed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) for the terror attacks.
On Tuesday, a suicide bomber detonated himself outside a judicial complex in Islamabad killing 12 people and injuring scores, while in Northern Pakistan's Wana area a terror attack on the Wana Cadet College was foiled by security forces and around 300 students were safely evacuated.
Federal Minister for Information, Ata Tarar said if security forces had not acted swiftly, Pakistan could have witnessed a bigger incident like the Peshawar school attack in 2018.
Three years back the New Zealand team cancelled a white-ball series in Rawalpindi and returned home without playing a match after receiving creditable intelligence information about a possible terror attack targeting the visitors.
"That is why Mohsin Naqvi personally went to the stadium and met with the visiting team members and assured them they would be safe and secure," the source said.
In March 2009, TTP terrorists had attacked the Sri Lankan team bus close to the Gaddafi stadium, resulting in the closure of international cricket in Pakistan for nearly 10 years as foreign teams refused to visit the country due to security concerns.
Sri Lanka, after playing three ODIs in Rawalpindi, will then take part in a T20 triangular series also involving Zimbabwe from November 17 to 29.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
