After the Black Caps abruptly cancelled their Pakistan tour, fans and officials were left reeling. Laura Walters looks at what government security agencies told NZ Cricket before, during and after the matches were dramatically abandoned.
A Pakistan cricket tour 18 years in the making was called off after intelligence agencies received “specific and credible” information that terrorists were planning an attack against the scheduled matches, government documents reveal.
About 8am on September 17, the Security Intelligence Service received information through its Five Eyes intelligence sharing network that there was “attack planning against the New Zealand Cricket team”.
It was this information that led to the national cricket team calling off the tour and leaving Pakistan on a late-night chartered flight to Dubai.
Three days later, Britain – also a member of Five Eyes – cancelled England's upcoming cricket tour to the South Asian country.
The decision to abandon the tour ahead of the Black Caps’ first game in Pakistan in 18 years created diplomatic issues for both the Government and New Zealand Cricket.
The cancellation of a high-profile sporting event – in itself a form of diplomacy – has the ability to impact a country’s international reputation.
The incident led to a call between Jacinda Ardern and Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, himself a star former cricketer.
Pakistan’s Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said the threat was a conspiracy from another country, and “an attempt to damage our efforts for peace in the region”.
At the time, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) referred to a “specific and credible threat”, but government documents, obtained by Stuff under the Official Information Act, reveal the nature of that threat.
Reporting reveals the Five Eyes network as the source of that threat information. This gives further justification to the team’s decision to leave.
NZ Cricket Players’ Association chief executive Heath Mills said fans and officials were understandably upset at the decision to leave. The lack of publicly available details left an information vacuum, which fuelled frustration.
Pakistan's Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed at a press conference after NZ abandoned its cricket tour of Pakistan over security concerns.
Mills was happy to add context to the decision, saying it showed how committed New Zealand was to the tour.
“Everyone in the cricket world feels very sorry for Pakistan,” Mills said.
“We all need each other … the schedule and the programme work on a bilateral basis, where everyone helps each other.”
He backed the initial decision to tour Pakistan, and the call to leave after the government obtained information about terror attack planning against the team.
NZ Cricket refused to comment, referring Stuff to comments made at the time.
Furthermore, the wording in government correspondence casts doubt over the decision to tour the country in the first place.
Ahead of the tour, the MFAT noted the tour would progress “despite the [high] threat level”.
The ministry explained to NZ Cricket that its current travel advice to Pakistan reflected the high threat level, and indicated that future terrorist acts were expected, including against Western targets.
This information was provided to NZ Cricket’s trusted head of security in Pakistan, Reg Dickason, and the board.
“I should be clear that decisions regarding the tour and team's travel were entirely a matter for New Zealand Cricket,” SIS Director-General Rebecca Kitteridge said.
Mills said tour decisions did not solely rely on government security information.
If NZ Cricket had confidence in the security plan, and ability to implement it, the tour would go ahead.
These assessments and security plans were carried out ahead of every tour, but the security in Pakistan was particularly tight.
Black Caps captain Tom Latham speaks about the team's departure from Pakistan following a security threat.
New Zealand had not toured Pakistan since 2003, due to long-held security concerns after a 2002 suicide bomb attack outside their Karachi hotel, while in 2009, the Sri Lanka team's bus was attacked in Lahore.
The security plan covered the airport, hotel, grounds and transit. There were full road closures when the players travelled, and their hotel was under military guard.
Mills said the rhetoric that New Zealand never wanted to go to Pakistan was incorrect.
At the time, former Black Caps all-rounder Grant Elliott said NZ Cricket owed angry Pakistan fans and officials transparency over how it came to the decision to abandon the tour.
Elliott, who played in Pakistan’s domestic Twenty20 league, said Pakistan fans and officials were angry because they had been left in the dark.
“I am not sure what happened in Pakistan, but as a player you always have to put your trust in the decision makers around player health and wellbeing,” Elliott told Stuff.
At the time, former Black Caps all-rounder Grant Elliott said NZ Cricket owed angry Pakistan fans and officials an explanation of its decision to abandon the tour.
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At the time, former Black Caps all-rounder Grant Elliott said NZ Cricket owed angry Pakistan fans and officials an explanation of its decision to abandon the tour.
“I have been on many tours, which get checked around security levels by NZCPA and NZC. The players trust this process and there are pretty amazing levels of security that the players experience, so they can feel safe playing,” he said.
After NZ Cricket called off the tour, players and management faced criticism and harassment online.
Head of Pakistan Cricket Board Ramiz Raja tweeted: “Walking out of the tour by taking a unilateral approach on a security threat is very frustrating. Especially when it’s not shared!! Which world is NZ living in?? NZ will hear us at ICC”.
Pakistan tour correspondence by Laura Walters
Meanwhile, players were openly criticised by people at the hotel in Islamabad, and were approached by an armed member of the military.
This is in addition to players receiving death threats and bomb threats over social media before the tour, and following the cancellation.
NZ Cricket said the threats were assessed by security and intelligence experts, and were deemed not credible.
There was increased anxiety and hesitancy among the players ahead of the tour, which led to additional safety briefings.
While much of the specific security information was withheld from the documents obtained by Stuff, they did give a clearer picture of the correspondence between the Government and NZ Cricket ahead of the tour, and the steps taken to mitigate fallout after the threat was received.
Ahead of the tour, the NZSIS Combined Threat Assessment Group (CTAG) carried out threat assessments and the Major Events Security Committee briefed NZ Cricket. The MFAT advice that New Zealanders should not travel to Pakistan was also reiterated.
After the threat information was received on September 17, a watch group was gathered and a meeting was convened by the Officials' Committee for Domestic and External Security Coordination (ODESC).
Meeting minutes showed government officials discussed possible threats to New Zealanders in Pakistan, threats to those attending games – should the tour continue – and potential domestic fallout.
NZ Police highlighted the risk to New Zealand’s Pakistani community should the tour be cancelled, or if an attack were to happen.
Police noted the ongoing sentiment following the September 3 LynnMall terror attack.
Police also developed a contingency plan, which included “targeted reassurance patrolling and outreach”, should the tour continue.
Meanwhile, MFAT said its travel advice was clear. However, it decided to reissue its advice, and update the Safe Travel website to include “sporting events” in the list of potential targets for terrorists.
The players' association’s Mills said there was heightened interest in Pakistan, because the Black Caps hadn’t been here for so long.
What the public didn’t see was that the same security processes were followed, no matter what country the team was travelling to.
Sometimes this meant the Black Caps toured countries or cities with a high threat level, as long as everyone was confident in the security plan.
Other times, there were last-minute venue changes, cancelled practices, or cities scrapped from the tour schedule.
Mills said NZ Cricket tried really hard to make the tour happen.
“And we were comfortable – we were there for five days. We were about to play a game that night.”
The outcome left him with a “sense of sadness”.
“It was absolutely the right thing to do, and we’d do it every day of the week. But you still feel for the people of Pakistan.
“There’s lots of good people there who just want to get on with their lives and watch some cricket, so you just feel sad.”
NZ Cricket said it would fulfil its tour obligations with Pakistan, as soon as possible.
Timeline:
21 July 2021: The Combined Threat Assessment Group (CTAG) provides a verbal threat assessment about New Zealand Cricket's Tour to Bangladesh and Pakistan to the Major Events Security Committee. MFAT later revealed the threat level was “high”.
22 July: CTAG issues a threat assessment regarding the tour. The document includes an assessment of the threat from terrorism and violent protest in Bangladesh and Pakistan, as well as threat assessments specific to the proposed tour. The document was sent to a variety of organisations, both within NZSIS, and the wider national security sector, including MFAT and DPMC.
5 August: CTAG and DPMC plan for a meeting with a NZ Cricket regarding the threat assessment.
Pakistan announces the tour and schedule.
6 August: CTAG emails DPMC to confirm that the planned meeting with the NZ Cricket employee is still going ahead on August 10.
DPMC advises the NZ Cricket Board had not made a decision, and that the briefing from CTAG would help inform any decision.
10 August: Representatives of CTAG, MFAT and DPMC meet with the NZ Cricket.
12 September: Black Caps arrive in Pakistan for their first tour in 18 years.
17 September, 8.28am: CTAG identifies new intelligence reporting (received in CTAG holdings at approximately 8am) regarding a specific and credible threat against the cricket matches between Pakistan and New Zealand.
17 September, 9am: MFAT are advised that CTAG would be issuing a threat warning related to the tour, and that the threat level was being moved upwards.
17 September, 9.14am: CTAG issues threat warning regarding attack planning against the New Zealand cricket team.
17 September, evening: Black Caps call off the tour on Friday evening, just minutes before play was due to start.
18 September: Black Caps fly out of Pakistan on charter flight to Dubai, late on September 18, arriving on the morning of September 19.
19 September: NZSIS communications team liaises with DPMC and MFAT regarding media enquiries about the tour.
20 September: CTAG issues a threat insight on potential threats from the cancellation of New Zealand Cricket's tour of Pakistan.
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