Bilateral cricket: India may issue 5,000 visas to Pakistani fans

Fans may also get multi-city visa for visiting all five venues where matches are to be played.


Web Desk November 02, 2012

NEW DELHI: Cricket fans who wish to see the Pakistan-India series to be played in the neighbouring country may get to do so after India said it may issue around 4,000 to 5,000 visas to Pakistani fans, Times of India reported Friday.

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)

Cynical | 11 years ago | Reply

@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.

Hukum Singh | 11 years ago | Reply

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.

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