Bilateral cricket: India may issue 5,000 visas to Pakistani fans
After getting approval from the Indian home ministry, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the schedule of the much-anticipated, but brief, limited-overs series against Pakistan.
Better still, the fans may also get a multi-city visa – a move that will enable them to visit all five venues where the matches will be played.
The Indian government has set up a high-level special committee for the whole visa process which will frame guidelines and work out modalities for granting visas.
Meanwhile, owing to reservations from different political parties, the BCCI is planning strict security arrangements to ensure safety for teams and spectators.
The committee panel, comprising officials from India’s home ministry and security agencies, will reportedly have its first meeting on Monday and the final decision will be taken by November 10.
"The effort will be to have a strict monitoring system in place before granting them visas so that the visitors can be tracked once the cricket series is over," an official said.
"We don't want to take any chance and therefore the ministry has already sensitized all states where matches are to be played between December 25 and January 6," the official said.
According to the schedule, the Pakistan team will reach Bangalore on December 22 ahead of a 16-day tour that includes two Twenty20s and three ODIs.
Bangalore will play host to the opening Twenty20 on December 25 before the archrivals move to Ahmedabad for the second game on December 27.
COMMENTS (20)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
1714558558-0/It-Ends-With-Us-(1)1714558558-0-165x106.webp "article")
1734857121-0/Untitled-design-(59)1734857121-0-270x192.webp "k p launches kurram peshawar helicopter service amid tensions")
@G. Din 'Sir, keep your highmindedness to yourself! I resent your posture!
Sir, I respect you right to resent. Not sure about being 'highmindedness', to me it's common decency, thanks to good teachers, good parental grooming and the company of friends who are neither morally, nor intelectually challenged. Thank you for a civil response unlike @Atyachar.
@Nitish Deb ,i will suggest you ,dont go for personal attack.He(indian) is entitled to his own views.will you stick to your own rather imposing your views upon him. Which part of my comment is personal attack? or is it more personal than calling a whole population 'beast' fit to be collared? He has a view, he expressed it. I have a counter-view, I expressed it. Difference is I dIdn't compare humans with animals. I may have an opinion that you belong to a certain four-legged variety, but I will never express it in a public forum. People have right to views, not to abuse. You felt imposed because of the weight of my argument. I didn't even try. I am not the government, I am not the law and we are not in physical proximity of each other. How can I impose? Words are powerful, used carelessly can make all of us look stupid.
@Atyachaar 'we should look at beasts like the beasts they are. You can't, because are not a beast. Only a beast can effectively engage another beast at eye level. Ask any wildlife expert in your vicinity, he will explain.
I support the easing of visa regime. The Hindus are living a suffocating life in a very fundamentalist Islamist system. If lives of Pak Hindus become miserable, they should be able to leave Pakistan and come to India easily. Same way if Indian Muslims want to go and settle in Pakistan, they should be free to. Some Sikhs from India might want to visit their holy places in Pakistan. Otherwise I don't see very many Hindus (or Christians or Jains) from India visiting Pakistan as tourists. Indian Muslims are most likely to go to Pakistan for visiting because they are used to Islamic restrictions.
@Deb;India: Deb ,i will suggest you ,dont go for personal attack.He(indian) is entitled to his own views.will you stick to your own rather imposing your views upon him.
@Deb;India: to Indian "You are as despicable as one can get." Sir, keep your highmindedness to yourself! I resent your posture!
@Deb;India. As someone who agrees with Indian, Let me reiterate, we should look at beasts like the beasts they are.
and they cant issue to 15 bodybuilders seriously indians
@Indian
'Indian gov should arrange 5000 collar codes immediately.'
You are as despicable as one can get. Is that all, that your teachers, parents, elders taught you? I hope not. And you think that by making an utterly disgusting and tasteless comment such as this, you are securing the borders and doing a great service to your country. If a Pakistani, perfectly sensible and tolerant, till he comes across your comment and turn thereafter into an indian hater; I honestly will think twice before blaming him for that.
And, calling yourself an Indian, doesn't make you one. You are light years away from the spirit and ethos of India.
@Cool Dude: Why cant you people understand,india is secular and liberal for indian muslims ,not for you.For you ,we r always religiously biased.
@BruteForce: Yes i completely agree with you.
GOI is bound to take such action.Last time pakistani citizen who visited india for the purpose of watching matches actually didnt go back .They r still in india.There is a confirm data of missing 8000 pakistani citizen.However actually number can be many more.
All the goodwill and soft power from the games will be lost by the protests by the local people against the team. Since Kasab is a Pakistani citizen and his role in 26/11 is proven. It will be very helpful if Government of Pakistan or some NGO apologize to people of Mumbai and world for their pain and suffering due to actions of Kasab and his fellow conspirator by taking out full page ad. This will show that Pakistan does not condone terrorist action and is willing to share the pain and suffering of people of Mumbai.
I am dreaming and dreams are just dreams.
@BruteForce: True face of so-called liberals, always confusing religion with almost everything including sports and entertainment.
@BruteForce: True face of so-called liberals, confusing religion with almost everything including sports.
here comes the TROUBLE...
Unbelievable......how can ET let these comments through. ET doesn't have to embrace disgrace and humiliation to demonstrate impartiality
Horrifying prospect
Bad move.
One way out of it is to issue visas to only non-Muslims of Pakistan. This ensures that they get another loophole to escape into India easily and will reduce the risk of Terrorists infiltrating into India posing as tourists or Cricket lovers.