Politics clouds India-Pakistan World T20 match

"Many incidents have taken place in recent past, like Pathankot attack,"

"Soldiers from Himachal lost their lives in J&K.

If our war veterans don't want Indo-Pak match to be held in Dharamsala,

Himachal cricket association should accept their condition."

Dharamsala is set to host eight matches in the World T20, including two Super10 games:

Australia v New Zealand on March 18

and the India-Pakistan game the next day.

Objection was only limited to the March 19 match.

"They are not opposing holding of matches," the Himachal chief minister said.
[size=11pt]
"They are against Pak team playing in Himachal Pradesh."[/size].

Thakur, a member of parliament with the ruling BJP central government, said Singh

was only playing mischief, and that it was inappropriate to mix sport and politics .

Thakur, the son of former Himachal chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal :

gave the example of the recent South Asian Games, which included Pakistan as one of the

participating countries.

"If Assam can host the South Asian Games, and 100-plus athletes from Pakistan can participate,

then why is it not possible for Himachal government [to host the WT20 match]?

I think there should not be any politics. It is a matter of pride for the country."

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has threatened pulling out of the World Twenty20 if they did not get a clear message about the security situation from the Indian government. Shaharyar Khan, the PCB chairman, called for India to publicly acknowledge Pakistan's participation in the tournament and to also promise full security to their cricket team.

While I can understand that the PCB are more worried over security than the other countries, I'm not sure why they felt that India had to publicly acknowledge the fact that they was there.

I'm sure it's already common knowledge who's in the tournament, so surely India assuring all the teams that their security is important was enough. Why do the PCB have to threaten to pull ou?

This is just petty politics by the opposition leaders in order to make things awkward for Thakur, since he is a BJP leader. Nothing much will come out of it; if not the state government the central government will take care of the security.

Just empty threats from Pakistan; they know that they are going to be the real losers if they pull out. And in the end they don't have a valid reason to pull out since no independent authority has said that the security will not be enough.

I dont think they are wanted in Dharamsala .