A Pakistani court on Monday issued a stay order against the relocation of the World Cup 2011 secretariat from the country's cultural capital to India on security grounds.
"The civil court of senior judge Mohammad Younis Anees issued a stay order against the relocation of the World Cup secretariat from Lahore to Mumbai until June 2, 2009," said Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) legal adviser Taffazul Rizvi.
The PCB's civil case against moving the World Cup head office is one of a series of protests Pakistan has made against the International Cricket Council (ICC) decision late last month to strip the country of its World Cup matches.
The decision to relocate Pakistan's 14 matches cited "uncertain security" in the nuclear-armed country, where Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked militants have killed more than 1,800 people in extremist attacks since July 2007.
The Cup Organising Committee (COC) also moved the World Cup 2011 secretariat out of Pakistan in its meeting held in Mumbai on April 28.
The PCB earlier this month mounted a legal challenge against the ICC and wrote to request international arbitration in the matter.
Pakistan also sued the ICC, IDI (ICC Development International) and the COC World Cup 2011 in Lahore last week, saying the World Cup secretariat cannot be moved until the legal notice was resolved.
Rizvi said an ICC representative also attended Monday's hearing.
"The ICC President David Morgan requested PCB chairman Ijaz Butt not to have a one-sided decision against the ICC. The ICC representative requested for an adjournment of the case," Rizvi told AFP.
As the ICC decision stands, India will now host 29 matches, including a semi-final and the final, Sri Lanka 12 matches with one semi-final and Bangladesh eight matches and the opening ceremony.
The Lahore court order stops any operations on the World Cup 2011.
"The fact raised by the petitioner (PCB) needs consideration," said the order, a copy of which was obtained by AFP.
"The World Cup tournament director is restrained from operating the secretariat from any other place in any other city/country till the next hearing."
The ICC said last week it had not decided to remove the PCB as a joint host, but only that matches assigned to the PCB should be played outside Pakistan.
ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat said: "We are naturally disappointed that the PCB has chosen to pursue its grievance with the ICC through legal channels but, having received correspondence from its lawyers, we have now responded.
"We used our response to clarify inaccuracies and misunderstandings in the PCB's claim, including confirmation of the fact that the matter relating to the World Cup 2011 was on the agenda of the meeting."
The PCB has said it was given no prior warning of the decision, made at a meeting on April 17.
"We also pointed out that the ICC Board agreed only that the matches should be moved away from Pakistan, not that the PCB should be removed from its position as a joint host of the event itself," Lorgat added.