The Hindu : Sport : Banerjee complains of ill-treatment

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Dec 20, 2005

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Banerjee complains of ill-treatment

Sports Reporter

— Photo: R.V. Moorthy

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED: Captain Baichung Bhutia and other team members return with the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Cup.

NEW DELHI: Former Indian football captain and Padma Shri awardee P.K. Banerjee who arrived here on Monday expressed shock and dismay over the way the Pakistani authorities treated him at Karachi airport on Sunday.

"They were very rude, though not abusive. Any which way I tried to explain the situation to them, the airport personnel wouldn't care and literally threw me out," said Banerjee, who was the manager of the Indian team that won the SAFF football championship on Saturday.

Banerjee had planned to leave a day earlier than the team to make it to his daughter's convocation ceremony in the U.S. He had collected his boarding card and was proceeding for the rest of the formalities when he was stopped by security personnel and told that his visa had required daily police reporting and he had not fulfilled the requirements.

"I showed them the gold medal we had won and also told them that I had been honoured by Pakistan Prime Minister at the SAFF championship award ceremony a day before, but I was asked to shut up," Banerjee said.

After the fiasco, he returned to the hotel and checked the visas of all the players only to learn that they too had only ordinary visas just like he had. "We immediately contacted the Pakistan Football Federation and somehow managed to get a letter that helped when the team reached the airport on Monday," Banerjee said.

However, Indian referee S. Suresh, who had been to Karachi to officiate on an invitation from the organisers, was stopped on Monday and subjected to the same treatment that Banerjee underwent on Sunday.

"We couldn't do anything for him and he had to return to the hotel," Banerjee said.

AIFF's fault?

How the All India Football Federation (AIFF) allowed the entire team to proceed with visas that required daily police reporting will remain a mystery.

"The President (Priya Ranjan Das Munsi), has spoken to the Ministry of External Affairs and the case of Mr. Suresh is being handled at the diplomatic level," said the AIFF General Secretary, Alberto Colaco.

Banerjee said that given the fact that they had only an ordinary visa which none realised till he was stopped at the airport, he could understand the stand taken by the airport personnel. But he said he expected at least some representative from the Pakistan federation to see him off in order to avoid any such problem. "When any foreign team comes here, we see to it that they are well taken care of," he said.

Banerjee, an Asian Games gold medallist, was also critical of the Indian High Commission saying no official from the High Commission made a visit to the team while they were there for 10 days. "The High Commission gets into overdrive soon after any cricket team lands in Pakistan, but us footballers are always neglected," Banerjee said.

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