15 July,2009 03:01 PM IST | | AFP
Pakistan's cricket chief on today denied boycotting a meeting in India that handed the country's World Cup 2011 matches to co-hosts and called again for talks on winning back the fixtures.
The Central Organising Committee (COC) of the World Cup 2011 met in Mumbai yesterday and redistributed the 14 matches originally given to Pakistan. Eight went to India, four to Sri Lanka and two to Bangladesh.
Pakistan, which was stripped of its matches by the International Cricket Council (ICC) in April over security fears, was invited to the meeting as the fourth co-host but no Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) representative attended.
PCB chairman Ijaz Butt denied Pakistan had refused to go to the event.
"No, we did not boycott the meeting," Butt told AFP. "Since it is a legal matter we do not want to make comment on that, but I can tell you that we are still trying to solve the matter through talks."
Butt said he was due to meet ICC chairman David Morgan on July 27 or 28.
"We are definitely trying to solve the matter out of court and I am going to meet the ICC president soon," said Butt, who last month threatened to sue the ICC, the COC and the IDI (ICC Development International).
Pakistan initiated legal proceedings after the ICC decided to strip it of its World Cup 2011 matches following the attack on the Sri Lankan team bus in Lahore last March.
The attack, which left seven players and their assistant coach injured and eight people dead, ended any immediate chance of Pakistan's hosting international cricket, with teams already refusing to tour over security fears.
A civil court in Lahore has given a stay order until July 30 against the relocation of the World Cup secretariat to Mumbai.
In an effort to resolve the matter through talks, the PCB put legal proceedings on hold and met several times with the co-hosts and ICC.
But a summit in England last month failed to find a solution.
The ICC ruled out the possibility of matches being staged in the United Arab Emirates, where Pakistan has previously played "home" internationals.
The COC yesterday also decided that it definitely wanted to keep the World Cup secretariat in Mumbai, a decision criticised by PCB legal adviser Taffazul Rizvi.
"I would not like to comment on the merit of the decisions made Tuesday because it's a legal matter, but keeping the central office in Mumbai is tantamount to contempt of court and will be brought to the knowledge of the court," Rizvi told AFP.
