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Pak players pose security headaches

The special security squad provided to the Pakistan cricket team will be one delighted bunch, the day the team entrusted to their care goes back across the border.

The younger players in the Pakistan side have a reputation for being happy campers, as interested in the night life as in their deeds with bat and ball. And when you are out to sample what the night has to offer, the last thing a young man wants is to have a stengun-carrying security staffer breathing down the back of his neck.

So, in the manner of inmates of a particularly strict hostel, the Pak players have been taking a special delight in evading their security.

On Saturday night, the Vishakapatnam Cricket Association had hosted a dinner in honour of Pakistan and Sri Lanka, the two teams that were involved in the Pepsi Cup one-dayer, earlier that day, at the Indira Priyadarshini Stadium.

The Pakistan team landed up in strength -- but after a brief appearance, Shahid Afridi, Saqlain Mushtaq, Shoaib Akhtar, Shahid Nazir and Azhar Mehmood, with a local acquaintance in tow, slipped out of the Taj Hotel.

By the time the special cops got wind of what was happening and rushed out, it was all too late -- Shoaib Akthar was already at the wheel of a Hyundai Santro, belonging to a local, and readying to drive out of the hotel compound.

The security personnel did their best to persuade the Pakistan stars to wait till they could fetch a security car and accompany them, but the request cut no ice. The Pakistan players in fact seemed to find the whole thing a lark, and kept laughing at the harassed security personnel.

To make a bad situation worse, the hotel's security service got into officious mode, brushing the special cops aside and demanding that they leave the players alone.

The security personnel, in the face of such chaos, had no option but to telephone the District Commissioner of Police and inform him about the breach of security. A similar act by the Lankan team would not have been so worrisome -- however, given the political situation, the Pakistan players had been put under maximum security and to have them wandering about unaccompanied was to invite trouble.

To make matters worse, Shoaib Akthar was driving without a valid Indian license, which could have created major problems in case of an accident.

On receipt of the SOS, the DCP rushed to the hotel, hit the phones and finally, had his men trace the truant Pak players to Ramadevi Talkies, a local movie house that had the Kurt Russell-starrer Soldier on show.

The group returned to the hotel around one am, much to the relief of the security corps. And quite a few recriminations as well.

It will be recalled that when Pakistan last toured South Africa, Saqlain Mushtaq and Mohammad Akram had got into a fracas at a nightclub, the incident causing considerable friction between the touring Pakistan side and the hosts.

A similar incident here would have had even more far-ranging repercussions, given the enormous amount of political tensions underlying bilateral relations between the two nations. Thus, for the Pakistan stars to have gone off on their escapade without security cover was an act of irresponsibility.

Hotel staff recall that when the Australians were there last, they were very co-operative, asking for and ensuring that they got security cover each time they ventured out of the hotel. And when it comes to threat perceptions, the Aussies are not in the same league as the Pakistan stars.

Hopefully, the players have been spoken to by the team management, and better sense will prevail.