Pakistan to deploy 12,664 officers as security for Champions Trophy 2025

The Punjab police (Pakistan) have started extensive security measures for the Champions Trophy 2025 starting February next month.

According to the Pakistan publication Geo News, a total of 12,664 officers have been deployed for the tournament. 7,618 of them have been allocated in Lahore while 4535 police personnel will handle security at Rawalpindi. In addition to this 411 officers will improve operations from Special Branch.

“Aerial monitoring will be conducted with support from the Pakistan Army and Rangers to strengthen surveillance. Routes to the venues will be monitored via Safe City cameras, providing real-time surveillance to prevent any incidents,” the publication quoted.

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Neutral Venue

After much delay, the International Cricket Council (ICC) on Thursday announced that India’s matches at next year’s Champions Trophy would be held at a neutral venue instead of Pakistan, the designated host for the tournament. As part of the solution, Pakistan will also not visit India for any ICC tournament until 2028, with its matches scheduled on neutral turf instead.

While the Champions Trophy is set to be held between February 19 and March 9, the schedule has not been announced due to the impasse over this issue. The PCB had categorically opposed the hybrid model but eventually agreed to it on reciprocal grounds.

This is the first major decision since former BCCI Secretary Jay Shah took over as ICC chair. This hybrid model, for all events until 2028, is expected to prevent any logjam ahead of major events over the next few years.

“This will apply to the upcoming ICC Men’s Champions Trophy 2025 (hosted by Pakistan), set to be played in February and March 2025, as well as the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025 (hosted by India) and the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 (hosted by India and Sri Lanka),” the world body said in a release.

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“It was also announced that the Pakistan Cricket Board has been awarded hosting rights of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in 2028, where neutral venue arrangements will also apply,” it said.

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