The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has made it clear that the Pakistan cricket team’s participation in the upcoming ICC World Cup will be treated as per the norm, just like any other team.
India is hosting the tournament from October 5.
“The Pakistan cricket team will be treated just like the cricket team of any other country participating in the ICC World Cup,” External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said.
Recently, Pakistan voiced their advocacy for enhanced security measures for its cricket team. The concerns were raised with hopes of bolstering the safety patrols and surveillance systems around their players during international tournaments.
Addressing the issue, the spokesperson said, “Of course, we would hope that all necessary security will be provided not just to them but to all other participating teams.”
“I hope there is a good match and I hope this is not war as it appears to be made out to be,” Bagchi said when asked about Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s reported comments that Islamabad does not mix sports and politics, which is why the team was sent to the tournament and defeat India in India.
The much-anticipated India-Pakistan game will take place in Ahmedabad on October 14.
When asked about Bhutto Zardari’s reported claim that India decided to hold the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit virtually because of his visit to Goa to attend a ministerial meeting of the grouping, Bagchi said it would be “presumptuous” of anyone to believe that one factor or one person played a role in that.
On July 4, India hosted the SCO summit virtually.
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russia’s Vladimir Putin were among those who joined the summit presided over by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Ministry of External Affairs had said that the decision to hold the annual summit in the virtual format was taken considering a number of factors.
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