Miandad to get diplomatic passport for easy travel to China

Karachi: To facilitate his travel to China as a cricket ambassador, Pakistan Interior Ministry has decided to issue a blue diplomatic passport to newly-appointed - Cricket Board Director-General Javed Miandad.

The Chinese authorities are keen that Miandad start working on a program to establish good infrastructure for the sport in China and to start grooming their players," the official said.

"Miandad is a big name and respected figure in Pakistan and his role as cricket ambassador to China will help further cement ties between both the countries," he said.

Meanwhile, Miandad said he was extremely happy to get this honour and sincerely believed China had the potential to become a force in international cricket in the coming years.

"They are a organised and disciplined nation. It will be easier for them to start improving once they are given proper guidelines, training and infrastructure for cricket."

The former Pakistan captain conceded that the issuance of a blue diplomatic passport will also help him in travelling to other countries to convince them that Pakistan is a safe place for international sporting events.

"The Cricket Board will shortly start an aggressive campaign and lobbying to deal with the issue of some teams refusing to tour Pakistan because of security concerns.

"In current situation we also need to start working on inviting alternate teams for series because we need to keep the sport alive in the country," he said.