Australian Cricketers Association (ACA) president Darren Lehmann said Monday he would not send a delegate on a pre-tour security inspection of Pakistan due to safety concerns.
Cricket Australia and the ACA will meet with foreign ministry officials in Canberra on Wednesday for the latest information on the security situation in Pakistan amid a recent spate of suicide bombings there.
But former Test cricketer Lehmann said he would not be allowing any of his employees to go to Pakistan because he did not think it was safe to do so, and because the players' board have voiced their disapproval.
ACA chief executive Paul Marsh had been scheduled to join Cricket Australia representatives on a mid-March advance trip to Pakistan ahead of Australia's tour, which is scheduled to begin on March 29.
Lehmann is convinced CA will push ahead with plans for the tour unless it is made patently clear the trip cannot proceed.
He said he and the players would require plenty of assurances to sway them from their stance.
he said.
A weekend suicide attack at a gathering of tribal elders in insurgency-hit northwest Pakistan killed 43 people, officials said Monday.
The blast took place on Sunday in Zarghon village near the tribal town of Darra Adam Khel, where Pakistani troops were involved in violent clashes with Islamic militants earlier this year.
The attack was the third in as many days in Pakistan, posing an immediate challenge to the country's incoming government.
Hundreds of people have died across the northwest of the country in recent months in clashes between pro-Taliban militants and security forces and in a wave of suicide attacks blamed on the extremist rebels.
Cricket Australia and the ACA will meet with foreign ministry officials in Canberra on Wednesday for the latest information on the security situation in Pakistan amid a recent spate of suicide bombings there.
But former Test cricketer Lehmann said he would not be allowing any of his employees to go to Pakistan because he did not think it was safe to do so, and because the players' board have voiced their disapproval.
ACA chief executive Paul Marsh had been scheduled to join Cricket Australia representatives on a mid-March advance trip to Pakistan ahead of Australia's tour, which is scheduled to begin on March 29.
Lehmann told reporters on Monday."We're not sending Paul Marsh on the pre-tour visit and that's basically because we as a board don't feel comfortable sending one of our employees there at the moment,"
"At the moment our advice is not to, and I don't feel comfortable sending anybody to be perfectly honest, and the (players') board doesn't.
"There's been a lot of things going on in Pakistan -- hopefully it settles down, but only time will tell."
Lehmann is convinced CA will push ahead with plans for the tour unless it is made patently clear the trip cannot proceed.
He said he and the players would require plenty of assurances to sway them from their stance.
"On Wednesday we'll meet with the government departments and see what is really out there,"
"We'll get our advice from them, security issues, any other problems we have with Pakistan.
"I think they'd need a lot of assurances along the way."
The blast took place on Sunday in Zarghon village near the tribal town of Darra Adam Khel, where Pakistani troops were involved in violent clashes with Islamic militants earlier this year.
The attack was the third in as many days in Pakistan, posing an immediate challenge to the country's incoming government.
Hundreds of people have died across the northwest of the country in recent months in clashes between pro-Taliban militants and security forces and in a wave of suicide attacks blamed on the extremist rebels.
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