KARACHI (Reuters)
West Indies have agreed to tour Pakistan early next year after being reassured over safety concerns, Pakistan officials said.

"The West Indies Cricket Board informed us today that the itinerary is acceptable to them, thus they will be touring as per schedule from January 25," Pakistan Cricket Board director Brigadier Munawwar Rana told Reuters.

"We are pleased this has happened, because our perception of the situation in Pakistan was totally different to that projected by the international media."

The West Indies tour, scheduled to take place from late January to the first week of March, had been in doubt since the US military action in Afghanistan following the September 11 attacks in New York and Washington.

New Zealand cancelled their scheduled tour in September and Sri Lanka pulled out of a replacement one-day series in October.

West Indies, currently touring Sri Lanka, will play three Tests and three one-day games on their 43-day tour of Pakistan.

Tour itinerary
28-30 January, three day game, Rawalpindi
2-7 February 1st Test Rawalpindi
11-15 February 2nd Test Faisalabad
19-23 February 3rd Test Lahore
28 February 1st ODI Lahore
3 March 2nd ODI Multan
6 March 3rd ODI Karachi

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