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The upcoming tour to Pakistan by the Zimbabwe Cricket team will generate a lot of interest around the world because it would be for the first time that a full International Cricket Council member plays in that terror prone country since 2009 when gunmen attacked a bus carrying the Sri Lankan cricket team.

From that time, Pakistan has been playing its “home” matches in Dubai as other ICC members avoided the country in fear of a repeat of the terrorist attacks.

All eyes will be on the Zimbabwe tour because other ICC member countries would want to see whether it was now safe for their teams to visit Pakistan and if the Pakistani government can provide adequate security.

The conditions surrounding the Zimbabwe tour provide a conducive environment for terror organisations to launch an audacious attack to raise their profile.

A successful attack on the visiting Zimbabwean (or any other team for that matter) team would make headlines across the world.

Terrorist groups thrive on publicity to raise their cause.

The Pakistani government might claim that it has put in place adequate arrangements to ensure the safety and security of the visiting team but we have to remember that we are dealing with terrorists who use guerilla tactics and take no prisoners.

It has been previously claimed that security agencies in most Asian countries battling Taliban terrorists have been infiltrated and some of their members work with terror groups.

Despite assurances of heavy security presence, the ZC team can still become victim to an insider attack.

For this reason, ZC should reconsider its stance and cancel the tour until absolute security is guaranteed.

The cricket mother body is cash strapped and the tour provides an opportunity to earn money through lucrative TV rights but should lives of innocent players be sacrificed because of cash?

There might be peace in Lahore, the match venue, today but in the terrorists’ world, situations are fluid and things change quickly.

No amount of money should be worth the life of a Zimbabwean.

The country’s sports governing body, the Sports and Recreation Commission, should be decisive over the matter and tell ZC to cancel the tour.

Already, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has advised that it was not safe to visit Pakistan at this moment in time.

“We have consulted on the security situation in Pakistan with particular reference to your intended cricket tour of the country and have been advised that it would not be safe for the team to travel to Pakistan at this point in time,” wrote SRC director-general Charles Nhemachena to ZC chief executive officer Wilfred Mukondiwa.

It would be scandalous and suicidal if ZC ignores such intelligence and decides to proceed with the trip.

We understand that the ZC board is desperate to play against a credible opposition but it should not put the lives of its most important asset, the players, at risk.

If ZC insists on undertaking the trip, players should consider pulling out.

Some media reports indicate that players have taken life insurance worth $500,000 in case something happens to them on this trip.

Surely, their lives are worth more than $500,000.

Whatever the ZC board decides concerning the trip, we believe that SRC, as the sports mother body, should take leadership and have the final say where the safety of Zimbabwean athletes is at risk.