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Pakistan regrets India's pulling out of one-day cricket series |
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August 12, 2000
CALCUTTA (AP) - A Pakistani cricket official on Friday regretted the financial loss the cricket authorities and the sponsors will suffer because of India's decision not to play against Pakistan in a one-day cricket series in Canada. "This decision by India is very unfortunate. Cricket authorities in both countries and the sponsors would be facing financial losses," said Mohammed Naeem, treasurer of the Pakistan Cricket Board, in Calcutta, the capital of India's West Bengal state. Naeem is visiting Calcutta to attend a meeting of the Asian Cricket Foundation. The Indian government on Thursday decided against allowing the cricket team to play against Pakistan in Toronto, Canada, in early September as political tensions mounted over the disputed Kashmir. "How can we play a friendship series against Pakistan when that country is indulging in killings in Kashmir," Indian Sports Minister Sukhbir Singh Dhindsa said on Thursday. The Indian government's decision also cast a shadow over the Indian cricket team's scheduled tour to Pakistan in November to play a test series. "It is too early to rule out the tour," Naeem said. India had refused to play against Pakistan in Toronto last year as well following a confrontation between the armies of the hostile neighbors in the Kargil sector of Kashmir. On Thursday, nine policemen and one photojournalist were killed in a powerful car bomb blast in Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu-Kashmir state. A pro-Pakistan Hezb-ul Mujahedeen group claimed responsibility for the attack. India said the killings were carried out at the behest of Pakistan. India accuses Pakistan of training and arming Muslim militants fighting a secessionist war in Indian-held Kashmir since 1989. Pakistan denies the charge and says it only offers moral and diplomatic support to the Kashmiri militant groups. |