Criticising the terror attack in Punjab's town near the Pakistan border, Thakur said that internal security of the country cannot be compromised at any cost, putting in doubt India's proposed series against Pakistan in December this year.
The chances of resuming India-Pakistan cricket ties have taken a beating with the Gurdaspur terror attack on Monday. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Anurag Thakur made it clear that "cricket and terror cannot go hand in hand".
Criticising the terror attack in Punjab's town near the Pakistan border, Thakur said that internal security of the country cannot be compromised at any cost, putting in doubt India's proposed series against Pakistan in December this year.
"We can't play cricket till the terror attacks stop. Terrorist attacks and cricket matches cannot go hand in hand. India has been made a target again and again. As an Indian, I feel that safety of our fellow-Indians is more important, cricket can take place later," said Thakur, who is also a BJP MP from Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh.
"Earlier also there was no such decision that the series will take place. Only the PCB has reached out to the BCCI. We were talking on those lines, but when you see such attack on India time and again, the Jammu region, now the Punjab, where Indians are losing their lives, as an Indian I don't see a possibility to that.
"I think, before we step onto the cricket field, it's important to clear the issues between the two Boards and the two counties. If we don't clear those issues, it would not be possible to enter that territory," added the BCCI secretary, also a leading industrialist in Punjab.
Pakistan were supposed to host India at a neutral venue as part of the six-series MoU signed between the two Boards till 2022 under the new Future Tours Program (FTP) of the ICC. The series was to include three Tests, five ODIs and two T20s.
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