Bilateral ties to get boost as govt clears Pakistan cricket team tour.
Signalling another major thaw in Indo-Pak relations, the Centre on Tuesday cleared bilateral cricket series that had come to an abrupt halt after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.
The Union home ministry, in talks with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), cleared Pakistan team’s tour to India for an ODI series and a couple of T20 matches, and assured foolproof security to the visitors.
A delegation of the cricket board led by vice President of BCCI and IPL chairman Rajiv Shukla met union home secretary RK Singh on Tuesday. After the meeting, Shukla said, “We have discussed all security aspects. The tour is on.”
As a goodwill gesture, the liberal visa regime that has already been signed by the two countries, is likely to be made operational before the start of the cricket series on December 25, sources said.
“We have conveyed this to the Pakistani authorities and will soon announce the operationalisation of the visa regime,” sources said.
The new visa regime would facilitate easy access of cricketing venues to Pakistani cricket lovers wanting to come to cheer their team.
For the cricket series, the home ministry has given separate clearance for visas to Pakistani spectators and dignitaries.
Under the new regime, tourists are allowed to travel to five cities on a single trip and choose different cities as entry and exit points. It also allows visa on arrival at Wagah and Attari border points, the popular road link between Lahore and Delhi.
The new visa regime may come in handy for Pakistan cricket enthusiasts for easy movement to five cricketing venues: Chennai, Kolkata, New Delhi (all for one day international matches), Bangalore and Ahmedabad (for Twenty20).
After talks with the Pakistan cricket control board for almost a year, the BCCI had in July this year decided to resume bilateral cricketing ties by inviting the neighbouring country for a short series in December 2012-January 2013 but it was awaiting clearance from the union home ministry.
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