NEW DELHI, Sept 8: The Indian government on Monday cleared the national junior cricket team’s tour of Pakistan in November, raising hopes of a revival of a cricket series between the arch-rivals at the senior level.

The foreign office okayed a visit to Pakistan by the Indian under-19 team to take part in a four-nation tournament also featuring Bangladesh and Sri Lanka from Nov 1 to 9, an official statement said.

The government also cleared the Pakistan second-string team’s participation in a limited-overs tri-series in India from Dec 13 to 21 that includes Sri Lanka.

Along with the junior cricket tours, the government has also allowed Pakistan to compete in the inaugural Afro-Asian Games to be held in the southern city of Hyderabad from Oct 24 to Nov 1.

“These steps have been taken in continuation of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s (peace) initiative and as part of promoting people-to-people contact and cultural exchanges,” the government statement said.

The junior tournaments will be the first clash between Indian and Pakistani cricketers in the sub-continent since the senior teams met in the Asia Cup in Bangladesh in May 2000.

The Indian government banned bilateral cricket matches with Pakistan after the 2000 Asia Cup due to political tensions, but allowed the teams to play in multi-nation events like the World Cup.

India played against Pakistan in the preliminary league of the World Cup in South Africa in March, a game that passed off without incident.

India have not played a Test match in Pakistan since 1989, while Pakistan played three Tests in India in 1999-2000 despite threats from Hindu fundamentalists to disrupt the tour.

The Tests in Chennai and New Delhi went off peacefully, but the third at the Eden Gardens in Calcutta ended in front of an empty stadium after police were forced to clear the stands following crowd trouble.

The BCCI is still awaiting word from the government for the resumption of bilateral games with Pakistan at the senior level following the recent upswing in diplomatic relations.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has invited India for a Test series in March next year.

Indian Sports Minister Vikram Verma said recently it was too early to accept the BCCI proposal on senior-level games.

“We will assess the overall situation and observe to what extent the relations have improved before taking a decision,” the minister said last month.

Verma, however, acknowledged there was a perceptible change in the government’s stance towards playing bilateral cricket matches against Pakistan.— AFP