March 27, 2002	Wednesday	Muharram 12, 1423

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KARACHI, March 26: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) reacted with caution to India’s announcement that its official will discuss the resumption of cricketing ties during the forthcoming SAF Games meeting in Islamabad.

But the PCB was firm in saying that it was keen to play cricket and added that it was determined not to mix sports with politics.

“It’s the first positive signal we have received from across the border. But so far, there has been no official information either from the government or Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI),” chairman of the PCB Lt Gen Tauqir Zia said from Lahore.

A top Indian sports official said on Monday he would discuss resuming cricketing ties with Pakistan during a regional meeting in Islamabad later this week.

The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president Suresh Kalmadi said he has received positive signals from authorities to use a meeting on the South Asian Federation (SAF) Games on Friday to talk to Pakistani cricket officials.

Kalmadi is due in Islamabad on Friday morning for the three-day SAF Games deliberations that begin later that day. He is scheduled to return Monday evening.

Tauqir said candidly that it was for Indian government and BCCI to decide if they wanted to play cricket with Pakistan.

“Our policy is straightforward and unchanged. But the Indian government and BCCI have to decide if they want to play with Pakistan.

“Besides, according to ICC’s 10-year plan, India has to visit Pakistan in April 2003. So the ball is in their court and they have to decide if they are willing to undertake the tour,” he said.

Kalmadi told Reuters: “The idea is to start sporting ties again through Olympic sports,” he said. “We are also looking at bilateral exchanges in hockey, tennis and athletics,” he said.

Kalmadi, a former federal minister and currently an upper house lawmaker from the main opposition Congress party, said federal sports minister Uma Bharti has asked him to start a dialogue on resuming normal sporting ties, including cricket.

The two sides have not met since an Asian one-day tournament in Dhaka in April-May 2000. The Indian government has refused permission for any bilateral matches against Pakistan until the tension eases.

The government has said cricket, which has a huge following in both countries, aroused national sentiments and inflamed passions when India played Pakistan, and wants to avoid it.

India pulled out of its first Test tour of Pakistan in almost 12 years in 2000 and then refused to travel for an Asian test championship game last year.