Lahore's Gaddafi Stadium sealed, unsealed in three hours

Excise and taxation officials of Pakistan Punjab, accompanied by police, sealed the Gaddafi Stadium here on Thursday, claiming to be acting in accordance with the orders of the Lahore High Court pertaining to application of property tax.

Following the unseemly haste, the stadium main gate was, however, unsealed by the same officials about three hours later and Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) officials filtered into their offices to resume their daily routine after another hour's delay.

Since on PCB's appeal, the court had only allowed property tax from 2002 to 2004, instead of 1996-2004 which was the Excise and Taxation Department's original plea, fresh notices calculated in terms of the Lahore High Court judgment were yet to be issued.

Also the judgment had not been signed till after the stadium was sealed.

"We shall abide by the verdict of the court after our legal department has gone through the detailed judgement. The PCB is a law abiding organisation which duly pays all its taxes," PCB Chairman Shaharyar Mohammad Khan said

"We are perhaps the most taxed sports organisation in the entire country. To the Punjab government, the PCB pays tens of millions as commercialisation fee annually at the rate of 20 percent of revenue."

The chairman added that: "At the moment PCB is engaged with Zimbabwe Cricket and Zimbabwe is about to become the first team in six years to visit this country. The revival of international cricket in Pakistan is the desire of every Pakistani.

"At such an auspicious occasion, sending such a negative signal to the international cricketing community is not in consonance with promoting the national cause."

Zimbabwe will tour Pakistan to play three One-Day Internationals (ODI) and two Twenty20 Internationals in May. International cricket was stopped in Pakistan following a terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team's bus here in 2009.

Gaddafi Stadium will host all five matches.