Sri Lanka minister ‘to complain’ to ICC

The sports minister in Sri Lanka says he will lodge an official complaint with the International Cricket Council (ICC) over the ‘ill-treatment’ of Sri Lankan VIPs by the Indian officials.

Minister Mahinda Aluthgamage said the Sri Lankan ministers were subjected to harassment by the Board of Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) when they visited Mumbai to watch the World Cup final on 02 April.

He insisted that his grievances are not against the government of India.

Sri Lanka, India and Bangladesh were the co-hosts of the 2011 cricket World Cup.

“Although I am the minister of sport in Sri Lanka, I myself had to buy tickets for the final,” he told BBC Sinhala service, Sandeshaya.

All the Sri Lankan cabinet ministers were forced to sit outside VIP lounge despite repeated requests to the BCCI for VIP facilities, he added.

“When we hosted World Cup matches we provided foreign VIPs with VIP facilities,” Minister Aluthgamage told BBC Sinhala service.

“The Malaysian president, for example, visited Sri Lanka with a group of 25 delegates. We provided all of them seats in the VIP lounge and other facilities.”

The cabinet ministers, he said, were forced to wait for hours in the sun in front of Wankhede stadium and had to go through “many security check ups”.

“I myself was checked. When the VIPs visited Sri Lanka, we did not check them. We gave them the due respect but I am not happy with the way BCCI treated us,” the minister added, BBC reports.