World Cup 2023: PM Shehbaz forms committee to decide on Pakistan's India visit

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday constituted a 14-member committee, headed by Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, to decide the Pakistan cricket team’s participation in the World Cup to be held in India this year, ARY News reported.

The committee, headed by the foreign minister, includes the interior minister, the law minister, the Inter-Provincial Coordination minister, the information and broadcasting minister, the adviser on Kashmir affairs, the adviser on Establishment, the foreign secretary, PSPM and representatives of secret agencies and sensitive departments.

The committee has been authorised to consider Pakistan’s participation in the World Cup, say sources.

The committee would present its recommendations regarding the participation of the Pakistan team in the ODI World Cup in India to PM Shehbaz, who will then take the final decision.

The development comes days after the PCB wrote a letter to Pakistan prime minister Shehbaz Sharif and the interior and the foreign ministry to seek an official clearance to travel to India for the ODI World Cup in October-November.

In the letter, the PCB shared Pakistan’s schedule with the government, which says the team will play its nine league matches in five cities, including the big clash against India in Ahmedabad on October 15.

The ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 will begin on October 5 with holders England taking on New Zealand at the world’s biggest cricket stadium in Ahmedabad, which will also host the final.

Pakistan will clash with arch-rival India on October 15 in the tournament in Ahmedabad.