Resumption Of Bilateral Ties Between India-Pakistan Unlikely Until Terrorism Stops: Sushma Swaraj

Any hopes of seeing India resuming its bilateral tie with Pakistan in recent times have taken further blow after Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj, on Monday (January 1), made it clear that the resumption of cricketing ties is unlikely unless Pakistan stops cross-border terrorism and firing. The cabinet minister made her statement to Parliament’s consultative committee on external affairs during a meeting which was also attended by Minister of State for External Affairs MJ Akbar and Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar.

According to one of the members who attended the meeting, Mrs Swaraj clarified that terrorism and cricket couldn’t go hand in hand. The arch-rivals have not played a full bilateral Test series since 2007 when Pakistan visited India for three Tests and five One-Day Internationals. They played a short series of three ODIs and two T20s in India in December 2012, but otherwise, both have faced each other only in the ICC organised events or the Asia Cup.

Meanwhile, the PCB has decided to sue its Indian counterpart on the ground that the latter did not honour the MoU signed in 2014. The boards had signed the MoU for six bilateral series to be played between 2015 and 2023 with Pakistan hosting four of them. Recently, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), opposed the Asian Cricket Council’s decision to give Pakistan the hosting rights for the next Asian Emerging Nations Cup cricket in April next year. The decision was taken at a meeting in Lahore which was not attended by the Indian board.

The BCCI has also not kept Pakistan in its Future Tour Programmed for 2019-2023 cycles, snubbing the neighbouring country amongst its six proposed opponents for the World Test Championship beginning in 2019.

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