New Delhi: India and Pakistan are trading diplomatic barbs over cricket in the latest setback to efforts to improve relations between the two nuclear rivals, who have had strained ties since the 2008 Mumbai attacks. An auction of players at the Indian Premier League (IPL), the world's richest cricket tournament, ended with no bids for 11 Pakistanis this week amid fears Indian teams could have visa problems for the Pakistani cricketers.
Pakistan, always sensitive to any hint of a snub by India was furious. Some of the Pakistani players who failed to get a bid from the Indian sides are considered world class, such as all-rounder Shahid Afridi.
Indian TV stations aired pictures of straw effigies of IPL chief Lalit Modi burning on Pakistani streets on Thursday. "I want to make it clear that whether it is India or any other country in the world, their citizens would have to face (the) same behaviour as meted out to our people," Pakistan's Interior Minister Rehman Malik was quoted by Pakistan's state-run APP news agency as saying on Wednesday.
The Indian Government dismissed Pakistan's concerns, saying visas had been issued to 17 Pakistani players. "Pakistan should introspect on the reasons which have put a strain on relations between India and Pakistan, and have adversely impacted on peace, stability and prosperity in the region," a foreign ministry statement said.
Tensions have mounted in recent weeks following a spate of border skirmishes and a spike in separatist violence in Indian Kashmir by Pakistan-based militant groups.
The deterioration comes at a bad time for the region. India's and Pakistan's foreign ministers are both due to attend a meeting in London next week where leading Western powers will focus on a new plan for Afghanistan. "The IPL gives Pakistan an additional issue to prepare its ground that India is unfriendly, and such things will vitiate the atmosphere (of the London meeting)," said BG Verghese, a professor with the New Delhi-based Centre for Policy Research.
The United States is trying to get India and Pakistan, which have fought three wars since their independence from Britain, to reduce tensions so Islamabad can concentrate on fighting al-Qaeda and Taliban militants on its western border.
But improvements in ties between the South Asian rivals remains limited as India refuses to resume five-year-long peace talks unless Islamabad reins in militants on its soil blamed for carrying out the Mumbai strikes that killed 166 people.
Many Pakistanis say their country is making progress against the militants, and see India's reluctance to engage Islamabad as unhelpful for the region. While many Pakistanis remain obsessed with New Delhi's every move, a section in India is simply not as bothered with their rival as in the past as the Asian giant becomes more focused on the expanding the $1.2 trillion economy and ties with China.
A new war is unlikely. It would benefit neither nuclear power and open their increasingly globalise economies to a risk of huge investor uncertainty. But US Defence Secretary Robert Gates warned on Wednesday a second strike like Mumbai could provoke retaliation from India.
Cricket has often been a source of strengthening ties. In the past, politicians from both sides have turned to cricket to reduce tension and tried to boost cultural links in what experts have called "Track-II Diplomacy" at times of intractable diplomacy.
"The IPL saga brings home the fact that a lack of progress on political dialogue will cast a shadow on areas where we have done relatively well like culture and sports," said Lalit Mansingh, India's former foreign secretary.
Pakistani cricketers, the current world T20 champions, played in the inaugural edition of IPL in 2008, but were denied permission by Islamabad last year due to tensions between the rivals following the Mumbai attacks.
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