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Security tight ahead of Pakistan, India tie in volatile Karachi

When India and Pakistan open their one-day match in Karachi this weekend as part of India's first full Test tour of Pakistan in more than 14 years, the focus will be more on security than the pitch action.

The first of five one-day matches will be played at the National Stadium in the violence-hit southern port city Karachi today.

As the Indian team arrived in Karachi from Lahore hundreds of armed airport security personnel surrounded the plane.

While the Indian players disembarked the other passengers were kept waiting for half an hour inside the aircraft. Earlier the flight's departure was also delayed for 35 minutes as part of the security plan.

The team drove to the Sheraton Hotel in a bus heavily escorted by armed police.

"This is a big responsibility for us but we are up to it and hope that people will enjoy cricket as we have not only finalized all the arrangements but also had drills," provincial police chief Syed Kamal Shah said.

"Around 5,500 policemen and 1,500 paramilitary troops have been deployed in and around the stadium and from airport to hotel and all 14 gates at the stadium will be under control of senior police officials."

An evacuation plan has already been rehearsed for the match -- a landmark in thawing relations between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan.

Surveillance cameras have been installed at all the stands while the fully cordoned-off ground and adjoining area will also be watched by helicopters.

The troubled city has been a no-go area for international teams since two suicide car bomb blasts in 2002. One of them went off outside the five-star hotel where the New Zealand team was staying in May 2002, killing 11 French naval engineers and three Pakistani bystanders.

The blast forced the Kiwis to abandon their tour and prompted refusals by South Africa and New Zealand to play there late last year when international cricket returned to Pakistan.
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