New Delhi, Feb. 18: After a virtual warning to cricket bigwigs in the subcontinent to be prepared to shift 2011 World Cup venues from Pakistan, the International Cricket Council made a hasty retraction saying that such a move would be "premature".

"I think it would be premature to start talking of alternative venues for the event. In due course we will appoint an independent security assessor as is normal procedure and we will make a decision," chief executive Haroon Lorgat was quoted as saying in the ICC press release said on Tuesday night.

This statement, though, was in sharp contrast to what he had said just few hours earlier following an emergency meeting of the 2011 World Cup organising committee in the capital: "We have asked the organisers to keep alternate venues, if the situation so demanded.

Pakistan’s situation is one that is always under consideration. It’s something that we have to give attention to, keeping the World Cup in mind."

The governing body is said to be keeping a close watch on developments in the neighbouring nation, particularly after stripping Pakistan of its rights to host the 2009 Champions Trophy on security grounds.