NEW DELHI, May 16: India’s participation in cricket’s World Cup next year was thrown in doubt Thursday after sports minister Uma Bharti again refused to sanction matches against Pakistan, a news report said.

“If Uma Bharti has her way, India and Pakistan may never play cricket again — anywhere, anytime and in any tournament,” the Today reported.

“Tuesday’s militant attack in Jammu has led the sports minister to harden her stance, barely hours after she had approached Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to discuss resumption of cricketing ties with Pakistan,” the Delhi-based afternoon paper said.

“When they are playing with blood, how can we play cricket with them. The nation will not accept this,” the paper quoted Bharti as saying.

The two cricket-mad neighbours last met on a cricket field in May, 2000, just before the Indian government put a blanket ban on playing cricket against Pakistan.

Bharti was reportedly considering a request by India’s cricket chief Jagmohan Dalmiya to permit matches against Pakistan at neutral venues and had even met the prime minister to discuss the matter.

But the militant attack in Jammu “changed her stance unequivocally,” the newspaper said, adding the consequences could be far-reaching.

“Bharti’s latest statement could not only throw the International Cricket Council’s ambitious 10-year Test calender in jeopardy, but also dangled a question mark over India’s participation in prestigious tournaments like the World Cup and the Champions Trophy in Sri Lanka in September,” the paper said.

India is scheduled to play a league match against Pakistan in the World Cup in South Africa in February-March next year.

The two countries have, however, been drawn in separate groups in the Champions Trophy, but will have to face each other if they make the final.

The newspaper said that Dalmiya, under pressure from the world governing body, was meeting Bharti regularly to change the government’s stance.

The government appeared to have softened its stance lately, but Tuesday’s attack scuttled any plans to revive cricketing ties, the paper added.—AFP