ISLAMABAD – Pakistan on Saturday decided that Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani will visit India on March 30 (Wednesday) at the invitation of his Indian counterpart Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to watch the ICC World Cup semi-final at Mohali, an Indian city adjacent to Chandigarh that serves as the capital of two states, Punjab and Haryana.
The Indian prime minister had invited President Asif Zardari and Prime Minister Gilani to watch the mega cricket event with him. Though Pakistan had accepted the invitation in principle, Presidential Spokesman Farhatullah Babar said that the final decision was taken in a two-hour meeting between the two leaders late on Saturday night.
According to the organisers at the stadium in Mohali, where the match is scheduled for March 30, tickets were sold out soon after it became apparent that India might play Pakistan in the semi-final. The stadium can hold 28,000 people of which, Indian officials said, 16,500 tickets were sold in record time. The rest had been bought by the International Cricket Council for its guests and officials.
A private TV channel reported that Prime Minister Gilani would meet his Indian counterpart informally during the match and a formal meeting might be held after the match. During the (formal) meeting, bilateral matters would come under discussion, the channel quoted an unidentified official as saying.
