New Delhi, July 1 (IANS) Cricket matches between India and Pakistan can resume soon if both governments give the go-ahead, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said Thursday after becoming president of the International Cricket Council (ICC).
The recent visits of Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao and Home Minister P. Chidambaram to Pakistan was ‘a welcome sign’, Pawar told CNN-IBN in an interview.
‘If our first experience is that bilateral cricket series can improve the relationship and if the government permits, we will be happy to go ahead with that,’ he said when asked whether he was positive about resuming the India-Pakistan cricket series.
‘Both governments have to give clearance,’ Pawar said. ‘Yes, ICC wants the India-Pakistan series to resume.
‘Due to certain unfortunate incidents both governments decided to stop it,’ he said, alluding to the November 2008 Mumbai terror attack that led to the suspension of dialogue between India and Pakistan.
Pawar underlined that the current initiative to resume the dialogue could be goods news for subcontinental cricket.
‘But I think as the process of dialogue between two countries is on, it may pay some dividend to cricket,’ he said.
