Sport plays role in India-Pakistan summit

Some 15 years ago, South Asia saw its own version of "ping-pong diplomacy" when the then military ruler of Pakistan, General Zia-ul-Haq, sat through a cricket test match in India.

The gesture is widely believed to have averted a war between the estranged neighbours.

Cricket diplomacy could play a crucial role again in this weekend's India-Pakistan summit, the first between the nuclear-armed nations in two years.

As both countries prepare for the summit starting on Saturday in Agra, fans and officials on both sides are hoping the discussions will at least restore bilateral cricketing ties which were snapped late last year.

Although the focus of the talks between Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf is expected to be Kashmir, officials say cricket will also be on the agenda.

"Apart from other things, we also expect cricket to be discussed in the talks," an Indian sports ministry official, who did not want to be identified, told Reuters.

Last month, Indian Sports Minister Uma Bharti said she would like the summit to start with resolving cricketing ties. "There can be nothing better than sport to start a new, healthy relationship," she told reporters.

IMPROVING ATMOSPHERE

Lieutenant General Tauqir Zia, president of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), told Reuters from Lahore that cricket was a small issue. "The summit should improve the all-over atmosphere and cricket falls into it.

All bilateral cricket between the two traditional Asian powerhouses of the game has been suspended since India cancelled a proposed test tour of Pakistan last year.

India last played a test match in Pakistan nearly 12 years ago and the Pakistan team last travelled to India in early 1999, a few months before an undeclared war in northern Kashmir strained Indo-Pakistani relations further.

Since that conflict, India and Pakistan have played cricket against each other only at the Asia Cup in Dhaka in May 2000.

Though India allowed its volleyball team to travel to Pakistan recently, it was firmer when it came to cricket.

It said cricket, which has a huge following in both countries, aroused national sentiments and inflamed passions when India played Pakistan.

"Cricket between India and Pakistan invokes a feeling of war," an Indian official told Reuters. "Sentiments flare up in India during a cricket match and create a volatile atmosphere."

The passion aroused by such meetings is so intense that on at least two occasions after matches troops from the losing side have opened fire across the ceasefire line dividing Kashmir.

India and Pakistan have always played tense, gruelling matches with close finishes and fans in both countries feel they have been robbed of the excitement since cricket became a victim of regional politics.

"There's nothing like playing a cricket match with Pakistan," says a former Indian test cricketer. "The tension and excitement is unparalleled. No quarter is asked for and none given."

MEMORABLE GAMES

The teams have played some memorable matches.

In 1986, former Pakistan captain Javed Miandad hit a last-ball six in the final against India to help his side win the inaugural Australasia Cup at Sharjah, a venue which has been seen as a neutral battleground between the neighbours.

A year earlier, India beat Pakistan in an international final in Sharjah after defending a meagre total of 125 in what has been described as one of the greatest one-day matches.

In another nail-biting game, Pakistan beat India in Madras by just 18 runs in the first test of the 1999 series.

But the home side levelled the series in the second test in New Delhi after leg-spinner Anil Kumble captured all 10 second-innings wickets to equal England's Jim Laker's world record.

"More matches should be played between the two countries, series like the Ashes can be played, tri- and quadrangular series are needed, umpires could be exchanged for domestic tournaments," the PCB's Zia said.

He said he was happy the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had confirmed its participation in an Asian Test Championship match in Karachi this September.

The BCCI has agreed as the tournament is not bilateral and also involves Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. But the Indian government has yet to give its approval.

Their decision awaits the outcome of the summit.

(Additional reporting by Aamir Ashraf in Karachi)

Mail Cricket Editor