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Besides Kashmir, Pakistan's military ruler Gen Pervez Musharraf will take up the issue of deteriorating cricket relations between India and Pakistan during his forthcoming visit to New Delhi, Pakistan's Sports Minister S K Tressler said in Islamabad.
"Although the issue of Kashmir will top the agenda, the chief executive will also talk about the cricket relations between the two countries," Tressler told local mediapersons on Wednesday night.
The immediate issue, according Tressler, would be the much talked about India-Pakistan Test match to be held in Pakistan in September this year as part of the Asian Test Championship.
Last week, the Indian Board agreed to play the Test in Pakistan, the first after a gap of 12 years. The commitment to play the match was given in writing by Board of Control for Cricket in India chief A C Muthiah at Asian Cricket Council (ACC) meeting in Lahore.
Muthiah's commitment was explained to be part of the Indian government's policy not to restrain its team from playing against Pakistan except in bilateral series and at non-regular venues.
Doubts have arisen now about the match to be played in Karachi from September 13 to 17 after Sports Minister Uma Bharti publicly pulled up BCCI for agreeing to play in Pakistan without taking the government's consent.
Musharraf, an ardent lover of cricket, and who has time and again expressed his wish to see normalisation of cricket relations between the two countries, was expected to take up the issue with the Indian leaders during his forthcoming visit to New Delhi.
The military ruler has said a number of times in the past that cricket between the two countries provided great entertainment to people on both sides of the border and offered the best way out for nomalisation of relations between the two nations.
Earlier this year, cricketing relations between the two countries appeared heading for a complete breakdown, when reports of the government's decision not to allow the Indian team to play Pakistan in Sharjah last April evoked strong reactions from Pakistan Cricket Board chief Lt Gen Tauqir Zia.
The army official threatened to severe all cricket links with India in retaliation.
But Zia, a serving Corps Commander and a close confidant of Musharraf, appeared to have mellowed down after the military ruler reportedly asked him to tone down his anti-India rhetoric.
When India later said it would not play against Pakistan in any bilateral series, PCB expressed its happiness over India's decision to play in multi-lateral tournaments against Pakistan.
Referring to the government's sharp reaction to BCCI's announcement, Tressler said Bharti's statement further complicated the issues between the two countries.
He said there appeared to be no co-ordination between BCCI and the Indian government making it difficult for others to accept or reject their proposals.
Tressler said Muthaih, who took part in the ACC meeting had shown a letter from the Indian Sports Ministry, confirming India's willingness to participate in all tournaments in which besides Pakistan and India at least one more team takes part.
"What's happening in India? First, the BCCI officials show a letter from their government confirming their team's participation in the Asian Test Championship and then, they start saying something else," he said.
"On one hand, the government has given permission to its Board to play against Pakistan and, on the other, it is rebuking BCCI over confirmation of India's participation in the ATC," Tressler said.
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