PAK Vs SL ODI Series 2025: Pakistan Increases Security For Sri Lanka Team After Deadly Blasts In Delhi And Islamabad

Rawalpindi: 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.

(Except for the headline, this article has not been edited by FPJ's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)