Indian tennis players want safety guarantees before they travel to Islamabad for their Davis Cup tie against Pakistan, captain Mahesh Bhupathi said on Wednesday.

Pakistan last week asked India's ambassador to leave, suspended bilateral trade and all public transport links with India after New Delhi's recent move to revoke the special autonomy status of occupied Kashmir.

Read: Pakistan suspends trade ties with India, asks Indian envoy to leave

Bhupathi said security was his main concern for the team.

"We just want guarantees on safety," he told Reuters by email.

The All India Tennis Association (AITA) said on Wednesday they had written to the sport's governing body once again asking them to shift the tie to a neutral venue or to postpone it for a couple of months until tensions simmer down.

The International Tennis Federation (ITF) has already responded to a previous AITA request, saying they were satisfied with the current safety plan in place in Islamabad.

"The recent developments have resulted in an atmosphere which is not conducive for a happy friendly tie between the two teams which have immense respect for each other," AITA General Secretary Hironmoy Chatterjee wrote to the ITF in an email seen by Reuters.

"Whether or not there is a security threat in Islamabad, the moods of the two nations are deeply affected and there is an undercurrent of tension which is perhaps not being taken into account by the Security Agency of ITF in their assessment."

The India association have also asked the ITF to share the security reports from its assessment of the situation in Islamabad and to set up a call between their respective security consultants.

The AITA has named a six-member squad under Bhupathi for the September 14-15 tie.

An Indian tennis team last went to Pakistan in 1964 for a Davis Cup tie, defeating the hosts 4-0, while Pakistan lost 3-2 on their last visit to India in 2006.

Pakistan was forced to host Davis Cup ties at neutral venues for more than a decade as teams refused to travel to the country because of security concerns.

They played their first home tie after a gap of 12 years against Iran in 2017, while Hong Kong was relegated and fined by the ITF after they refused to travel to Pakistan the same year.

India's cricket team have not toured Pakistan since 2007 and bilateral ties between the countries have remained suspended since 2008, although they have met in international competitions.

India's sports minister Kiren Rijiju has said the government would not prevent the team from playing the Davis Cup tie in Pakistan as it was not a bilateral series and was organised by a world governing body.

Editorial

10 Aug, 2026

Genuine governance

ON the surface, the Punjab cabinet’s decision to allocate funds for local government elections is a welcome step...
10 Aug, 2026

Failed by the state

THE 1,914 cases of child abuse across Pakistan in the first six months of 2026 should spark outrage. The figure ...
10 Aug, 2026

HIV crisis

PAKISTAN’s presence among countries with the fastest-growing HIV epidemic in Asia is a matter of shame. Globally,...
Updated 09 Aug, 2026

Makkah agreement

IN the midst of a gruelling war between the US and Iran — currently at a stalemate — the signing of the Makkah...
09 Aug, 2026

Conflicting priorities

THERE is a reasonable argument that the democratic process must go on regardless of prevailing conditions; that...
09 Aug, 2026

FIFA controversy

FIFA PRESIDENT Gianni Infantino is at the centre of a storm of his own making. Even after a crisis meeting in...