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Islamabad keen on Manmohan visit

B. Muralidhar Reddy

Invitation to be extended if Prime Minister expresses desire to watch cricket matches

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Thursday said in case the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expressed desire to watch any of the cricket matches between India and Pakistan beginning on January 13, an official invitation would be extended.

Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson, Tasneem Aslam, dismissed as speculative reports in a section of the media that Dr. Singh is likely to reciprocate President Pervez Musharraf's cricket diplomacy by making an appearance at the second One Day International to be hosted at Rawalpindi on February 11.

"Well in April 2005 Gen. Musharraf travelled to India to watch a one-day cricket match between India and Pakistan. A section of the Pakistani media has logically concluded that Dr. Singh would reciprocate the gesture", Ms. Aslam told The Hindu hours before the Indian team arrived at Lahore for the cricket series.

Asked about the possibility of an official invitation to Dr. Singh, the spokesperson said at the moment she was not in a position to comment on the subject. When reminded that India extended an invitation to Gen. Musharraf after he expressed a desire to watch one of the matches, Ms. Aslam countered with a question, "Has a similar desire been made by India?"

The response of Pakistan Government to media speculation on possible presence of Dr. Singh at one of the matches in the series clearly suggests that Islamabad is keen on visit of Dr. Singh as part of cricket diplomacy as well as for bilateral interaction.

So far Pakistan has extended an official invitation to Dr. Singh thrice for a visit to the country and made it a point to flag itat every conceivable occasion that visit of Indian Prime Minister is long overdue. Gen. Musharraf is an ardent advocate of frequent interactions at the highest level for progress on contentious issues between the two countries.

Islamabad seems to think that cricket could be a good occasion for Dr. Singh to travel to Pakistan and engage in bilateral talks at the highest level for further movement on contentious issues like Kashmir and Siachen.

However sources in the Indian High Commission insisted that so far the issue of possible travel of Dr. Singh for any one of the cricket matches in the next few weeks has not been discussed at the level.

Political observers wonder if Pakistan has deliberately chosen neither to confirm nor deny media reports on possible presence of Dr. Singh's visit . "In a way it conveys the government's own strong desire for such a development," said a senior official.

After all, the invitation to Gen. Musharraf last year for a cricket match came after a "casual remark" by Pakistan President was picked up by the media, which subsequently became an issue. It all started with a remark by Gen. Musharraf in an interview that he would never go to another country without an invitation.

He was responding to a question whether, as a fan of cricket, he intended to travel to India to watch one of the matches like his predecessor, Zia-ul-Haq. After his remark New Delhi had little option but to extend an invitation to Gen. Musharraf.

Initially, the signals from New Delhi were that it would be purely cricket centred travel and would not be treated as a bilateral visit. But it ended as one of the longest bilateral visits in recent years with Gen. Musharraf spending five days in India.

His bilateral engagement with Dr. Singh led to joint statement where both sides made a determination that the peace process between the two countries was "irreversible". Pakistan perhaps intends to make use of the new cricket series in the same manner.

Pakistan English daily, Dawn, in a front-page report, speculated that the last minute rescheduling of first and second ODIs on the request of Indian security team suggests that the venue and date of the second ODI is being tailored to fit the Indian Prime Minister's schedule.

The first ODI was to be played at Peshawar on Feb 6 and the second at Rawalpindi on Feb 8. The two matches were rescheduled last week and the venue for the first was switched to Rawalpindi to be followed by a fixture at Peshawar on Feb 8. It was announced that the change was being made in view of the shortage of the security staff in Peshawar.

The itinerary was changed yet again just three days ahead of Indian team's arrival in Pakistan to move the venues back to the original plan. But this time an unusually long gap was allowed between the first and the second ODI to accommodate hosting of the second game at Rawalpindi on Feb 11.

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