Pakistan’s young foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar was quickly on to the front foot as she broached the topic of sports diplomacy during her meeting with SM Krishna on Wednesday. Batting for resumption of cricketing ties, Khar told Krishna that the game had the potential to bring closer the two countries at a time when people were keen on peace. According to an Indian news agency PTI, she made the point that the time was particularly ripe for resuming Test series between the two nations. There has been no bilateral series since the Mumbai attacks in 2008.
In fact, no international team has toured Pakistan since March 2009 when the Sri Lankans were attacked in Lahore by terrorists. Krishna responded, saying India was keen on resuming sporting ties and hoped India would soon host the Pakistani cricket team and vice versa. While cricket did not find specific mention in the joint statement, it was said that the two ministers emphasised on holding sports tournaments.
Khar is also learnt to have pitched for cricket matches between the women’s teams of the two countries. She asked BCCI vice president and Rajeev Shukla to work towards initiating an India-Pakistan cricket series. BCCI vice president Rajeev Shukla is learnt to have assured visiting Pakistani foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar that resumption of an Indo-Pak cricket series would be discussed at the BCCI meeting scheduled for next month. A series is said to be tentatively scheduled for next year but it has not been confirmed yet. The BCCI and the Pakistan cricket board recently held a meeting in Hong Kong on the sidelines of the ICC annual conference in which resumption of bilateral cricketing ties was discussed.
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