Karachi, June 23: At a time when the Pakistan Cricket Board is fighting hard to have its 2011 World Cup hosting rights restored, the Pakistan government has advised the sports ministry to avoid hosting international events because of security reasons.

According to a report in the Dawn newspaper, the country’s interior ministry has advised its sports counterpart against holding any international events due to tense security situation with the military fighting Taliban in the north-west part of Pakistan.

"The sports ministry sought the advice of the interior ministry when some federations offered to invite foreign teams for indoor sports activities," the report said quoting an unnamed government official.

"We have advised them (sports ministry) not to hold international events, even the indoor activities, because the interior ministry would not be able to provide foolproof security to the visiting foreign teams," the official said.

"We are engaged in providing security to our citizens including sensitive installations therefore it will be a difficult task to safeguard visiting foreign teams, players and officials from any possible terror threat."

The report also quoted PCB officials as saying that they didn’t believe Pakistan winning the Twenty20 World Cup would make their task of getting back hosting rights of 2011 World Cup matches any easier.

— PTI