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Prepare a 'green carpet' welcome for Pak cricket team: Thackeray

Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray, in a sarcastic tone, has appealed to the Sainiks to prepare a ''green carpet'' welcome for the Pakistani cricket team on their arrival and stop their pitch-damaging tactics as the country needs the Pakistani team more than a ''nationalist generation''.

Stating this in his party paper Saamna, Thackeray was sarcasm personified. He said that the need of the time is to have a Pakistan team play in the country and appealed to all the chief ministers of the states in which the team will play to severely punish all the Sainiks who try to damage cricket pitches.

''The pitches are more important than the life of these young nationalists and they should be given appropriate punishment for their crime of being an Indian in a Pakistani country,'' he stated.

The reaction was a repercussion of strong criticism arising from all quarters when the Firozshah Kotla ground pitch in New Delhi was damaged by the Sainiks following the opposition voiced by the Sena chief against the Pakistan team playing at different venues throughout the country. It was followed by former prime minister H D Deve Gowda's demand that the Sena be banned.

Reacting to the allegations, Thackeray stated that the Sainiks should now make preparations for a grand welcome of the Pak team and lay out green carpets for the same inviting ''men like Sharad Pawar to blow trumpets for their welcome''.

Thackeray also appealed to the Sainiks to keep in mind that the ruling coalition partner and ally, Bharatiya Janata Party also runs the government at the Centre and said that they should abstain from doing anything which might have bad repercussions on the Centre.

He lambasted the BJP saying that the bitter Hinduism practised by the BJP should be supported since ''they are our allies and in power at the Centre. International relations are more important than national relations,'' he quipped.

He further said that the Sainiks should not ''disrupt stadiums'' and the government should appoint Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agents to look after the stadiums to protect them from ''anti-national'' elements like the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Bajrang Dal and Shiv Sena.

He also said that Deve Gowda should be appointed to handle the hoteling and other necessary factors regarding the stay of these ISI agents. Lastly, he said that the dream of ''Akhanda Hindustan'', as dreamt by fools, should be dropped and a new dream regarding one complete Pakistan should be dreamt to save the country from the nationalists.

''Cooperate with the Centre and let the cricket matches be played in safety,'' he concluded.

UNI

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