A lot more needs to be done, says Pakistan

“A lot need to be done. Our concern is that when our athletes come they should be comfortable,” Pakistani High Commissioner Shahid Malik said after visiting the CWG village on Monday.

Pakistan’s 75-member team for the CWG-2010 is likely to reach Delhi by Wednesday. Malik also met the officials of the CWG Organising Committee and enquired about the arrangements for security and stay of the sportspersons and officials.

Asked to specify the inadequacies he noticed while visiting the CWG Village; Pakistani High Commissioner said: “I cannot pinpoint (the problems)”.

Islamabad sent a senior federal police official Ahmad Mukarram to review the security arrangements in and around the CWG village and the venues of the sport-events.

Malik’s remark came soon after several Pakistani sports-officials exuded solidarity with India’s CWG Organising Committee and said that they were satisfied over the OC’s attempts to stage the Games successfully between October 3 and 14.

Pakistan Olympic Association chief Syed Arif Hasan said that he had received complete assurance from the CWG OC for the security of the sportspersons as well as green signal from the Pakistan security liaison officer Mukarram. He said Pakistan had no security concern.

Though Hasan said that it would have been better had the village been completely ready for the sportspersons and all arrangements been in place well ahead of the time, he also added that the efforts of the CWG OC and other agencies of the Indian Government were weighed down by the heavy rain in and around Delhi over the past couple of weeks.

Chaudhary Muhammed Asghar, the secretary of the Pakistan Wrestling Federation, rather alleged that some western countries were complaining about the Delhi CWG preparations as they had never been happy with successful staging of any international event in the sub-continent, be it in India or Pakistan.

Pakistani High Commissioner, however, said the Delhi CWG was going to be a very big event and expressed hope that the India would “do all (to ensure successful conduct of the Games)”.