Indian PM pledges to save Pakistan cricket tour (15 January 1999)

15 January 1999

Indian PM pledges to save Pakistan cricket tour

AFP

NEW DELHI, Jan 15 (AFP) - Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee vowed Friday to prevent Hindu militants disrupting the planned Pakistani cricket tour of India later this month.

"We won't allow them to disrupt the games," Vajpayee told a delegation of top sportsmen seeking his guarantee the tour would go ahead.

The tour has come under threat from the militant Shiv Sena party, which has vowed to disrupt the games in protest at Pakistan's support for Moslem rebels in the disputed region of Kashmir.

Shiv Sena activists have already caused the venue of the first Test due to begin January 28 to be changed, after they dug up the pitch at the original venue in New Delhi.

Vajpayee made a personal appeal to the militants to halt their campaign.

"I say to them that you have protested. Now your purpose is solved and you should do no further harm. If you really want to fight, you should go and fight on the border instead of digging up pitches at night," he said.

While pledging government action to save the Pakistan tour, the prime minister also urged the cricket-mad Indian public to put pressure on the Shiv Sena.

"The public has to urge these people that matches, be they of cricket, hockey or any other sport, should be played in their true spirit and should not be disrupted."

Pakistan cricket officials said Thursday they were confident of victory on the Indian tour, though the final decision on whether to go ahead with the sensitive trip was down to the government.

It would be the first Pakistan tour on Indian soil since 1987.

Source :: AFP