'Dilshan's comments on Pakistan insensitive'

Former leg-spinner Abdul Qadir and ex-Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board, Lt General (retd) Tauqir Zia, have lashed out at Sri Lankan captain Tillakaratne Dilshan for saying he does not want to tour the troubled country again.

Dilshan has upset the Pakistani cricket community with his comments after the Sri Lanka Cricket turned down an invitation to play a scheduled Test series here later this year.

Dilshan was a member of the Sri Lankan team that was attacked by terrorists in March, 2009. The attack on the Lankan team bus claimed seven lives including that of the bus driver and left five of the visiting players injured.

Welcoming the decision of his board to not travel to the country, Dilshan on Thursday told reporters in Cardiff that he would never go back to Pakistan.

"I don't think so. It was a bad experience for me as a cricketer in Pakistan. As a player, I don't want to go through the same experience in the future. My personal view, I don't want to go back to play cricket there," Dilshan said.

Zia, who led the PCB from 1999 to 2003, said Dilshan's comments were insensitive to the problems being faced by the Pakistani people on Friday.

"I don't think he had any business airing his personal views on a public forum like this. Once the Sri Lankan board had turned down our invitation there was no need for such comments," Zia said.