New Zealand CWG chief urged to seek independent analysis on security

AUCKLAND - New Zealand’s Commonwealth Games president Mike Stanley has been urged to ignore promises of foolproof security from Indian officials ahead of this year’s event in New Delhi.

The New Zealand Cricket Players’ Association chief Heath Mills said nobody with a stake in the Games should be relied upon to give unbiased information and asked for an independent security analysis.

Mills’ calls have come after the bomb blast at a German Bakery in Pune on February 13, which killed 14 people, including two foreigners.

In the wake of the blast, an Al-Qaida-linked militant Ilyas Kashmiri has also threatened sporting teams planning to attend the Hockey World Cup, Indian Premier League’s third season and the Games.

Indian Government has already launched an urgent review of security for sports events, but Mills said that was not enough.
“It’s massively important to seek independent advice on issues of security. I can’t emphasize that point enough. Any analysis or supposed guarantees you get from the organizers of any event is clearly going to be conflicted,” Stuff.co.nz quoted Mills, as saying.
“They are entirely motivated to make sure the event goes ahead for political reasons as well as having a commercial interest in it. When it comes to our Black Caps going overseas, we feel it’s vitally important to have independent people who can go in there and review the security management plans that event organizers put in place,” he added. (ANI)