As a follow up to the talks between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani, India has decided in-principle to resume bilateral cricket ties with Pakistan.
Government sources said the time of the visit, the venues of the matches and other logistical issues would be decided by the cricket boards of the two countries. They said if everything went according to plans, the Indian cricket team will visit Pakistan first and the cricket team of that country will pay a return visit.
However, there is no slot available for the Indian team to visit Pakistan in the near future. According to the future tour schedule prepared by the International Cricket Council, Pakistan should visit India for a three-test and five-one day international series in March 2012. When contacted, BCCI Vice-President Rajiv Shukla and Chief Administrative Officer Ratnakar Shetty said they were not aware of any decision to resume bilateral cricketing ties.
India last played against Pakistan at an Asia Cup match in June 2010 at Dambula in Sri Lanka. The last bilateral cricket series between India and Pakistan was held in 2007-08 when the Pakistani team had visited India.
No international cricket team has visited Pakistan to play any match after the terror attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team on March 3, 2009, when six members of the visiting team were injured. Six Pakistani policemen and two civilians were also killed in the incident. The security situation in Pakistan continues to be a source of serious concern for international cricketers. Plans to launch a premier league and invite Sri Lanka to play in a series later this year have been put on hold.
Officials in the Pakistan Cricket Board have confirmed that other boards had in recent meetings in Sri Lanka made it clear that their players were reluctant to travel to the crisis-torn country for the Pakistan Premier League (PPL) Twenty20 competition because of security fears.
Sources said New Delhi has not lost its sight of key issues like existence of terror infrastructure in Pakistan and infiltration from across the border and would continue to vigorously pursue with Islamabad to take action on that front.
“India wants to engage Pakistan and improve relations. Cricket is one of the issues which have immense popularity in both the countries. But if there is a terror strike in India emanating from Pakistan, we would be forced to suspend all our initiatives,” sources said.
Sources said the fresh impetus to improve bilateral relations has been given after the two prime ministers met in Mohali on the sidelines of the India-Pakistan cricket match and the home secretary level talks last month.
Pakistan has already moved the Lahore High Court challenging a lower court decision rejecting pleas to hand over to India the voice samples of 26/11 Mumbai terror attack.
The neighbouring country had also released Indian prisoner Gopal Das last week and decided to release nearly 100 fishermen in next two days.
India is also releasing around 40 Pakistani prisoners and fishermen by Friday. The second batch of prisoners and fishermen is likely to be released by both the countries by April 21.
“We have not forgotten the Mumbai attacks and it is still our priority to bring into justice the perpetrators of the crime. We need at least six months’ time to see Pakistan’s sincerity to act on that front to improve bilateral relations,” sources said.
After his talks with Gilani at Mohali, Singh had said “the beautiful game of cricket” has been a “uniting factor” in bringing together the two prime ministers.
Singh had said “whatever be the differences between our two countries, we have to find ways to resolve them”.
