Former leg-spinner Abdul Qadir and ex-Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board, Lt General (retd) Tauqir Zia have lashed out at Sri Lankan captain Tillakaratne Dilshan for saying he does not want to tour the troubled country again.
Dilshan has upset the Pakistani cricket community with his comments after the Sri Lanka Cricket board turned down an invitation to play a scheduled Test series later this year.
Dilshan was a member of the Sri Lankan team that was attacked by terrorists in March, 2009. The attack on the Lankan team bus claimed seven lives including that of the bus driver and left five of the visiting players injured.
Welcoming the decision of his board to not travel to the troubled country, Dilshan on Thursday told reporters in Cardiff that he would never go back to Pakistan.
"I don't think so. It was a bad experience for me as a cricketer in Pakistan. As a player, I don't want to go through the same experience in the future. My personal view, I don't want to go back to play cricket there," Dilshan said.
Zia, who led the PCB from 1999 to 2003, said Dilshan's comments were insensitive to the problems being faced by the Pakistani people on Friday.
"I don't think he had any business airing his personal views on a public forum like this. Once the Sri Lankan board had turned down our invitation there was no need for such comments," Zia said.
The former PCB chief felt the matter needed to be taken up with the Sri Lankan board as Dilshan's comments will only hurt any remote chances that Pakistan might have of hosting an international event again.
"The invitation sent by Pakistan was based on an improvement in the security situation in the country until the Osama bin Laden incident took place. No country is immune to terrorism these days. Dilshan's comments were insensitive," he added.
Qadir, who has also remained a chief selector, said the batsman's comments didn't reflect the history of good ties between Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
"Pakistan has always been a big supporter of Sri Lankan cricket. We went and played there regularly even when Sri Lanka was in a state of war.
"We went and played there even when other teams refused to play in Sri Lanka during the 1996 World Cup. I don't think this guy (Dilshan) has any inkling even of what Pakistan and Sri Lanka have done for each other in the past," Qadir said.
He added Dilshan had no business expressing his personal views in public.
"Even if he does not want to come and play in Pakistan, it's fair enough. We can understand that Sri Lankan players will be reluctant to come after the incident two years back. But to portray Pakistan as a country where international players would not like to play is unfair on us," he said.
The PCB has not reacted officially to the refusal but officials here admit they were expecting it given the spate of terrorist attacks in the country since the death of Osama bin Laden.
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