PCB eyes Indian tour prospects

India are scheduled to play three Tests and five one-day internationals in Pakistan from December to February 2001. It will be India’s first Test tour to its rival neighbour since 1989-90. But the tour has been thrown into doubt after the selection of the Indian team for next month’s Sahara Cup series against Pakistan in Toronto was put off indefinitely Monday amid speculation the government would cancel the trip.

Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee last week blamed the Pakistan-backed Lashker-e-Toiba rebel group for a series of massacres which claimed nearly 100 lives in Kashmir. Islamabad has denied any involvement.

Indian Sports Minister Sukhdev Dhindsa said the government was still undecided whether to clear the team’s participation in the five-match Sahara Cup. "We have to review the situation keeping in mind the recent killings in Jammu and Kashmir by militants and see whether such a tour would be in the national interest," he said.

The Indian government refused to play against Pakistan in last year’s Sahara Cup series in Toronto in the wake of the two-month Kargil conflict between Indian and Pakistan-backed forces in Kashmir. "It’s India’s internal affair and we do not want to comment on that," Saeed said about the deliberations in New Delhi. "We will go to Toronto as per our agreement no matter what is decided."

Wasim Akram led a Pakistani team to India last year to play three Tests and a triangular series, which was marred by threats from Hindu fundamentalists. Matches between the two cricket-mad countries are often cause for artillery exchanges along the unofficial border separating the Indian and Pakistan.