‘Cricket diplomacy’ to go a long way in improving frosty Indo-Pak ties: Pak official
March 30th, 2011 - 1:34 pm ICT by ANI
Islamabad, Mar 30(ANI): The ‘cricket diplomacy’ over Wednesday’s high-voltage Indo-Pak World Cup semi-final clash will go a long way in overcoming the differences in the frosty relationship between India and Pakistan, a Pakistan Foreign Ministry official has said.
The official said that the meeting between Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani would go a long way in improving the overall atmospherics that had suffered heavily after the November 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.
“If today Prime Minister Gilani has accepted invitation of his Indian counterpart, tomorrow, it wouldn’t be easy for him (Mr Singh) to turn down a similar request sent by the government of Pakistan,” the Dawn quoted the official, as saying.
Both diplomacy and sport will be at their peak when Gilani and Dr Singh will sit side by side at the Mohali stadium to watch their teams play in the highly anticipated World Cup semi-final on March 30 (today).
It will be the third round of the so-called ‘cricket diplomacy’ between the two countries, after similar trips to India by the then military rulers General Zia ul Haq in February 1987 and General Pervez Musharraf in April 2005, but a first involving the elected leader of Pakistan.
When Dr Singh sent an invitation to both President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Gilani- though Islamabad decided on sending only the prime minister- to join him in bucking up their respective cricket teams in Mohali, political pundits termed it a major policy shift in India.
But on their domestic fronts, both prime ministers are facing increasing political hostility, which requires them to show results without being seen as being soft to each other.
Therefore, independent observers think that even if they want, Gilani and Dr Singh will have to move mountains to make a real difference in the overall outlook of ties between the two countries. (ANI)
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