14 February 2004	Saturday	22 Zilhaj 1424

KARACHI, Feb 13: Former Pakistani cricket greats and fans alike called on the Indian government and cricketers not to postpone or curtail their historic tour of Pakistan next month, for which they have waited for so long.

"The whole world is waiting for the series and with just 20-25 days away, there are reports of the tour being put off, cancelled or curtailed," former captain Zaheer Abbas, lamented on Friday.

Another former captain Imran Khan said the Indian government must take a positive stance on the series. "It all depends on Indian government, they have revived the ties and they will decide on the tour and I hope for a positive decision," said Imran.

Pakistan's chief selector Wasim Bari asked: "Nuclear proliferation, what's that to do with cricket?" "Whenever the ties between Pakistan and India are revived, such things come up and I think India must look at the positive side because 90 percent of the Indians want this series to happen," Bari said.

Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Shaharyar M. Khan denied there were any doubts over the tour and ruled out the relocation of the series elsewhere. "They are all media reports and nothing official," PCB boss said.

Pakistan's corporate sector, which had been anxiously looking forward to the series, is prepared to be disappointed. "We have planned a lot of activities but we are now skeptical, in fact the whole corporate sector has gone skeptical over the series," said advertiser Shams Kamal.

And cricket fans are upset. "I have never seen India play here," said Mohammad Amin. "Come on India, and play Pakistan - I don't think India will lose, they stand a good chance of winning," he said. -AFP

Our Correspondent adds from Lahore: Former Test skipper and coach Intikhab Alam has advised Indian government to allow its cricket team to tour Pakistan according to schedule, setting aside all the political aspects of the issue.

Intikhab, who managed and coached the country's World Cup winning team told Dawn that the two neighbouring countries were on course for promoting friendly ties and the forthcoming series could play a vital role in speeding up confidence building process between them.

He said he did not understand why Indian press had been publishing news about the cancellation of tour despite Indian security team still visiting Pakistan to see arrangements.

Intikhab said Pakistan was a safe country and there should be no reservations as the government was taking every possible step to provide security to the guests.

He did not agree to the impression that the 'defeated elements' were forcing India not to send its team to Pakistan but was surprised at Indian government, which had allowed its board to restore cricketing ties with Pakistan just three months ago, and was now showing signs of reluctance.

Intikhab urged Indian Test cricketers to raise voice in favour of tour and said Pakistan went ahead with game in Kolkata in 1999 even after the spactators became so angry seeing their team near collapse that the stadium had to be vacated to avoid any nasty situation.

There should be no objection over senior team's tour after Indian polo and under-19 cricket teams had recently toured Pakistan, he said. He said that PCB could raise the issue with International Cricket Council (ICI), but the body could not do anything if the decision had been taken by the government.