|
 |
 | | | You are in: Cricket |
|
| | Saturday, 7 December, 2002, 12:13 GMT India insists boycott must stay  Pakistan had hoped to play their arch-rivals next year India have rejected a plea from Pakistan's president to play cricket there, claiming the sport and cross-border terrorism cannot go together. Sports Minister Vikram Verma refused to lift a ban against the Indian cricket team from touring Pakistan. "How can we send the cricket team to play in Pakistan, when they are supporting terrorist activities in Kashmir?" it quoted the minister as saying. On Friday, President Gen. Perez Musharraf called for the Indian team to play in Pakistan.
The rivals last played in June 2000 in the Asia Cup Test tournament in neighboring Bangladesh - a match won by Pakistan. India had been due to play a Test series in Pakistan last year. But the Indian government cancelled the tour as military and political tensions escalated in a decades-old territorial dispute over the Himalayan region of Kashmir. The two nuclear-armed rivals almost went to war earlier this year. India accuses Pakistan of sponsoring Islamic terrorists, a charge Musharraf denies. India's team will play the Pakistanis in next year's World Cup on 1 March at Centurion Park, South Africa. The Indian team is currently touring New Zealand while the Pakistan side is in South Africa. | |
Internet links:  The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites Top Cricket stories now: Links to more Cricket stories are at the foot of the page. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|  | | | | | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |
|  E-mail this story to a friend |
| |
| Links to more Cricket stories |
| | | ||
 | ||||
 | | Back to top
| ||
| ------------------------------------------------------------ BBC News >> | BBC Weather >> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- © MMIII | News Sources | Privacy |
