BCCI warns Pakistan: Cricket and terror cannot go hand in hand

Board of Control for Cricket in India secretary Anurag Thakur sent a stern warning to neighbours Pakistan, following the terror attack in Gurdaspur on Monday, saying there is no scope for cricket between the two nations till cross-border terrorism stops.

"We can't play cricket till the terror attacks stop," said Thakur, who is also a Bharatiya Janatar Party MP.

"Terrorist attacks and cricket matches cannot go hand in hand," he added, while blaming Pakistan for promoting terror attacks against India.

"India has been made a target again and again. As an Indian I feel that safety of our fellow-Indians is more important, cricket can take place later," he added.

In the first major terror strike in Punjab in eight years, heavily-armed terrorists in army uniform sprayed bullets on a moving bus and stormed a police station on Monday morning, killing seven persons, including a Superintendent of Police, and injuring eight others in Gurdaspur bordering Pakistan.

"Earlier also there was no such decision that the series will take place. Only the PCB has reached out to the BCCI. We were talking on those lines, but when you see such attack on India time and again, the Jammu region, now the Punjab, where Indians are losing their lives, as an Indian I don't see a possibility to that," Thakur told a television channel.

The Hamirpur MP condemned the attack in Gurdaspur.

"I condemn the terrorist attacks, specially in the Gurdaspur region. If you talk about cricket with Pakistan, we must understand that life of every Indian is very important to us. As I see my responsibility as BCCI secretary, as a parliamentarian, life of every Indian is very important to me. It's not only about cricket, it's about my country."

He made it clear that unless the situation improves, the two Asian neighbours won't play cricket.

"I think, before we step onto the cricket field, it's important to clear the issues between the two Boards and the two counties. If we don't clear those issues, it would not be possible to enter that territory," he said.

In May, Pakistan Cricket Board chief Shaharyar Khan had a series of meetings with Board of Control for Cricket in India president Jagmohan Dalmiya and Thakur during which resumption of cricketing ties between the countries was discussed.

As part of a Memorandum of Understanding signed between the two Boards last year, Pakistan was ready to host India in a series, involving three Tests, five One-dayers and two Twenty20 internationals, in the UAE in December.

Since 2007, India hasn’t played a proper bilateral Test series with Pakistan mainly due to political reasons, particularly the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks which led to suspension of cricketing ties.

The two countries played a short series of three ODIs and two T20s in India in December 2012, otherwise they have faced each other only in ICC-organised events or the Asia Cup.

Photograph: Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images