da cassino： Unhappy at the “unilateral announcement” that India would playPakistan at Karachi during the Asian Test Championship (ATC) inSeptember, the Sports Ministry has conveyed its displeasure to thePresident of the Board of Control for Cricket in India
28-May-2001Unhappy at the “unilateral announcement” that India would playPakistan at Karachi during the Asian Test Championship (ATC) inSeptember, the Sports Ministry has conveyed its displeasure to thePresident of the Board of Control for Cricket in India AC Muthiah overthe issue.Taking exception to the reported assurance given by the BCCI to thePakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on the Indian cricket team’sparticipation in the ATC, Sports Minister Uma Bharti said the SportsSecretary has already conveyed the Ministry’s displeasure on this toMuthiah.”They (BCCI) should not take so much liberty in making suchannouncements,” she told reporters.”To play in Pakistan, the Board has to first give a written proposalto the Sports Ministry which in turn would forward it to the Ministryof External Affairs. The final decision rests with the MEA,” Bhartisaid.”No such proposal for the Indian cricket team’s tour to Pakistan inSeptember to participate in the ATC has been received by theMinistry,” she said asking “where is the question of my reaction tothe Pakistan Board’s announcement that India will play against it’steam in Karachi.”Asked about reports about India making some sort of goodwill gestureon the eve of Gen Parvez Musharraf’s visit, Bharti said “there is nosuch proposal with her Ministry now. The MEA will take a decisionabout bilateral ties in the changed scenario and obviously cricketingties would also figure in that,” she said adding “When the tiesthrough sports are to be discussed, the views of the Sports Ministrywould be taken into account. Beyond this, whatever is being written inthe media is a matter of pure speculation,” she said.However, she stressed that like arts and culture, sports too had arole in promoting bilateral ties of two countries.Asked whether the Government’s decision not to play cricket withPakistan in a bilateral series had contributed to further souring ofrelations, the Sports Minister said “The bilateral cricketing ties hadnothing to do with the souring of the relations between the twocountries. It was the souring of the relations which resulted in thesnapping of bilateral cricketing ties,” she added.