ISLAMABAD/NEW DELHI, 14 February 2004 — Pakistan officials have warned that the cancellation or postponement of the visit by the Indian cricketers to Pakistan will have negative impact on bilateral relations between the two countries.
Shaharyar Khan, former diplomat and presently the chairman of Pakistan Cricket Board, said that the cancellation of Indian tour will
negatively affect the normalization process between Pakistan and India.
The Pakistani and Indian cricketing authorities decided to hold the cricket series after the meeting between President Musharraf and Prime Minister Vajpayee on the sidelines of SAARC summit early this year.
As a result of the understanding reached in the meeting the Pakistani and Indian Foreign Secretaries will meet on Islamabad from Feb. 16 to 18 for bilateral talks.
But the statement by a government junior minister that India has been forced to re-think about the tour, which was set to go-ahead in March has created a furor on the either side of the border.
The Indian government could stop next month’s cricket tour of Pakistan if there are any doubts over player safety, a minister said in New Delhi yesterday. “Our main concern is security,” Deputy Home Minister Swami Chinmayanand, said. “There can be no compromise on that issue.”
“Till we are satisfied with security, we will not give our opinion in favor of playing. We are telling this to the Indian cricket board.”
Chinmayanand’s comments cast fresh doubt over whether India’s first Test tour of Pakistan in 14 years would go ahead.
Several newspapers reported yesterday the Home Ministry wanted the tour postponed until at least after an early national election, expected by the end of April. The tour, which begins in March, consists of three Tests and five One-Day matches.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said any move to cancel, delay or relocate the tour could damage the thaw in relations between the two countries.
“I feel if the tour is not held on schedule, the damage would not be limited to cricket,” Khan said in Karachi.
“If they don’t come, we stand to lose around 450 million Pakistan rupees ($7.8 million) worth of sponsorship deals...and someone will have to compensate us for this loss.”
Khan added that the PCB could seek compensation from the International Cricket Council (ICC) or the Indian board. “We will try to sort out this matter in a friendly but persuasive manner. But if we are treated unfairly than we have our options open to us,” he said.
He ruled out any switch to a third country, but said the PCB would be flexible if the Indian board wanted to avoid any Pakistani venue.
Indian players have raised security fears and a three-member Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) team is touring Pakistan under guard to assess the situation.
“The peace process between the two countries is happening,” Chinmayanand said. “If something happens to any player, it will become a huge obstacle in that. We desire play happens between the two countries and our ties are strengthened, but the safety of the players is the most important thing.”
Indian political analyst Prem Shankar Jha said players would face serious threats from militants. “It’s like putting a goat out and waiting for the tiger,” Jha told Reuters. “The Home Ministry is absolutely right. The security problem here is intertwined with the domestic political crisis in Pakistan. Handing them your national icons, a bomb goes off in a team bus and there can be war with India.”
But top Indian athletes and a team of blind cricketers will visit Pakistan as scheduled, officials said yesterday. The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) confirmed it will send a 400-stong contingent for the South Asian Federation Games in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad from March 29 to April 7.
A team of blind cricketers will leave for Lahore by road next Wednesday to play five matches against their Pakistani counterparts who won the World Cup for the blind in India last December.
The Economic Times reported in a front page story yesterday that it had been told by Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Lal Krishna Advani that his ministry was against the tour for security reasons.
