Musharraf to meet ICC about tours

Musharraf will discuss issues surrounding cricket in his country with ICC president Malcolm Gray and vice-president Eshan Mani, the organisation said in a statement on Wednesday.

Several cricket tours to Pakistan have been cancelled in the last 18 months because of the political instability in the region and a bombing in May outside the Karachi hotel where the New Zealand team were staying.

New Zealand cancelled their tour after the bomb killed 14 people, and also pulled out of a triangular one-day tournament scheduled to be played in Pakistan in September. The tournament was eventually moved to Kenya.

Australia also refused to tour Pakistan in October with their matches being played in the neutral venues of Sri Lanka and Sharjah.

West Indies had refused to tour the country in January this year because of an increase in border tensions between

Last year, tours by New Zealand and Sri Lanka were cancelled because of the September 11 attacks on the U.S.

But Gray said on Wednesday that the meeting with President Musharraf would give the ICC "the opportunity to discuss these issues and the steps being taken to address the safety concerns some nations have over travelling to the country.

"Pakistan cricket is dealing with a number of very difficult challenges and the ICC is anxious to ensure that it has a full understanding of the facts and to provide assistance where it is possible," he added in the statement.

"As both the President of the nation and the Patron of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) President Musharraf will be able to help us better understand the challenges facing the PCB and possible areas in which the ICC can assist."

PCB Chairman Tauqir Zia will accompany Gray and Mani to the meeting.

The PCB say they have lost millions of dollars in revenue from the cancelled or relocated tours and have asked the ICC for compensation over the shift of the one-day tournament to Kenya.