Foreign Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has ruled out the possibility of India-Pakistan bilateral cricket match series.
The External Affairs Minister said that no match series was possible even at a neutral venue as the atmosphere was not conducive between both the nations.
Sushma Swaraj mentioned that while the incidents of cross-border firing and ceasefire violations by Pakistan are still continuing, the atmosphere is not a conducive one for a cricket bilateral series.
Swaraj said this to Parliament’s consultative committee on external affairs during a meeting which was also attended by Minister of State for External Affairs MJ Akbar and Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar.
During the meeting, Swaraj also said that she had met Pakistan’s envoy to India and proposed to him that both countries release the prisoners who are above 70 years of age or women or of unsound mind as part of humanitarian aspect of the relationship, a member who was present in the meeting said.
The agenda of the meeting was ‘Relationship with the Neighbourhood’.
She clarified that militancy and cricket can’t go hand in hand, the member said.
Pakistan has been eyeing an India-Pakistan bilateral series for a long time and has also approached the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) but nothing constructive ever came out. Talking about Indian players take on a bilateral series with Pakistan, they have always left it out on the government as India-Pakistan relations is a sensitive issue. The last bilateral series between India and Pakistan held in December 2012 when Pakistan visited India for 3 ODIs and 2 T20s’.