Pak cricketers not welcome: Thackeray

MUMBAI, NOV 20: The scheduled visit of Pakistani cricket team to India had the makings of erupting into yet another row between Bal Thackera...

MUMBAI, NOV 20: The scheduled visit of Pakistani cricket team to India had the makings of erupting into yet another row between Bal Thackeray and Deputy Chief Minister Gopinath Munde with the Sena chief reiterating today that the team from across the border will not be allowed to play in this country.

“This is my Government. My intentions are clear and I don’t worry about the consequences,” Thackeray told reporters when asked about Munde’s statement in Delhi that Pakistani cricketers will be provided protection by the State Government.

“Staunch Hindus should boycott the Pakistan team. Don’t allow Pak cricketers’ feet touch your sacred motherland,” Thackeray said while inaugurating the Tiger Safari Project at Sanjay Gandhi National Park in Borivli. “How can they (Pakistan) be allowed to play here when thousands of innocent Hindus are being massacred in Jammu and Kashmir,” the Sena chief asked.

Asked how he would prevent the Pakistan team from playing in India, Thackeray said, “I will not disclose my strategy.”

On the State Government’s stand on the scheduled tour, Chief Minister Manohar Joshi, who is president of the Mumbai Cricket Association and vice-president of the Indian Cricket Board, said, “If Balasaheb is opposing then they will not come.”