Gill not in favour of Pakistan tour
Saturday, 13 December 2008
India's sports minister, MS Gill, has said India should not tour Pakistan in the wake of the terror attacks in Mumbai. While voices on both sides of the border have lobbied for and against the tour, Gill's statement is the first direct statement on the issue by a member of the Indian government.
"Is it possible for one team to arrive in Mumbai and indulge in mass murder, and have another team go and play cricket in the winter afternoon sun at Lahore, immediately after?" Gill told PTI. Sporting contact, he said, was meant to enhance friendship, and the cricket series was not a commercial drama to go ahead under the surveillance of thousands of security personnel.
The final decision, as he pointed out, rests with the government.
Gill's statement came on a day when PCB chairman Ijaz Butt arrived in Chennai for a meeting with Asian Cricket Council (ACC) officials and ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat, with the hope of salvaging the series. However, Butt said he was here for a different meeting and wasn't "prepared to comment on the government of India's decision".
India are scheduled to tour Pakistan from January 6 to February 19 for three Tests, five ODIs and a Twenty20 international. However, doubts over the tour emerged after evidence linked some of the terrorists in the Mumbai attack to Pakistan. -Cricinfo
"Is it possible for one team to arrive in Mumbai and indulge in mass murder, and have another team go and play cricket in the winter afternoon sun at Lahore, immediately after?" Gill told PTI. Sporting contact, he said, was meant to enhance friendship, and the cricket series was not a commercial drama to go ahead under the surveillance of thousands of security personnel.
The final decision, as he pointed out, rests with the government.
Gill's statement came on a day when PCB chairman Ijaz Butt arrived in Chennai for a meeting with Asian Cricket Council (ACC) officials and ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat, with the hope of salvaging the series. However, Butt said he was here for a different meeting and wasn't "prepared to comment on the government of India's decision".
India are scheduled to tour Pakistan from January 6 to February 19 for three Tests, five ODIs and a Twenty20 international. However, doubts over the tour emerged after evidence linked some of the terrorists in the Mumbai attack to Pakistan. -Cricinfo