11 January 1999
India may shift venue of first match with Pakistan
AFP
NEW DELHI, Jan 11 (AFP) - The venue of the first India-Pakistan
cricket Test to be played here this month may be shifted to the
country's south to protect visiting players from Hindu militants,
reports said Monday.
The United News of India (UNI) quoted Delhi's Chief Minister Shiela
Dikshit as saying that it would be difficult to provide adequate
security for the match scheduled to start on January 28.
The date coincides with India's annual Republic Day celebrations on
January 26, for which tens of thousands of police and para-military
troops are deployed across the sprawling city.
Dixit said after inspecting the cricket ground that the authorities
may not be able to provide "security personnel in sufficient strength
... in the midst of Republic Day and related functions."
UNI said the first Test could, instead, be played in the southern
Indian city of Madras.
There was, however, no official confirmation of the report, and an
Indian cricket official asserted he was not aware of any change of
venue.
"As of now the match is to be played (in New Delhi)," said C.K. Khanna
of the Board of Control for Cricket in India.
Dixit spoke as the New Delhi police continued a crackdown on activists
of a Hindu militant party which has vowed to sabotage the match to
protest against alleged Pakistani support for Indian insurgents.
The party, the Shiv Sena, is a member of India's coalition government
of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, a Hindu nationalist who has
vowed to provide foolproof security for the match.
Shiv Sena members dug up the cricket pitch at the stadium here last
week in a bid to prevent the match.
Indian authorities also beefed up security for Pakistani diplomats
after discovering two threatening letters near the Pakistani embassy
here allegedly sent by the Shiv Sena.
On Monday, the party denied it had threatened the diplomats.
"Our intention is only to disrupt the match. We will not cause any
harm to the diplomats," a Shiv Sena leader in the Indian capital told
the Press Trust of India.
The Pakistani team, which last played a Test in India in March 1987,
is to arrive here January 21 for a two-Test series, the Asian Test
championship opener against India and a triangular one-day series also
featuring Sri Lanka.
In 1991, Hindu fanatics vandalised the pitch at Bombay's stadium just
days before Pakistan were to start a limited-overs series in India.
Pakistan cancelled that tour, and two more in 1993 and 1994, because
of security fears. They played in India during the 1996 World Cup and
the Independence Cup the following year without any problems.
Source :: AFP