Pak welcomes cricket invitations from Manmohan Singh

Lahore: Pakistan has welcomed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s invitations to his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani and President Asif Ali Zardari to watch the semi-final of the World Cup cricket match between India and Pakistan at Mohali on March 30.The Pakistan government will take a decision later today, reports from Islamabad said quoting Pakistan Presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar. “Pakistan government will decide on the matter today. We welcome the invitation,” Mr Babar was quoted as saying.”Prime Minister Gilani is out of the country and a decision will be taken once he is back,” the spokesman added.Pakistan had last night confirmed having received the invitations from Prime Minister Singh.”Invitations for President Zardari and Prime Minister Gilanifrom Dr Singh to watch the World Cup semi-final match to be held at Mohali on March 30 have been received at the Foreign Office,” the Pakistan Foreign Office said in a brief statement. The statement, however, did not say whether the two Pakistani leaders had accepted the invitation.Prime Minister Singh had yesterday extended an invitation to Mr Zardari and Mr and Mrs Gilani to come to Mohali and watch the semi-final. Officials here described Prime Minister Singh’s invitations to the Pakistani leaders as “statesman-like” and said it once again emphasised India’s belief that war could be no solution to the long-standing problems between the two countries. “Ultimately we have to sit across the table,”a senior official of the Prime Minister’s Office said. This is not the first time that any Indian leader has invited a Pakistani leader to watch cricket match. ‘Cricket diplomacy’ has been an important factor in India-Pakistan relations. On February 21, 1987, the then Pakistan President Zia-ul-Haq watched the India-Pakistan cricket test match at Jaipur’s Sawai Man Singh stadium at the invitation of his Indian counterpart Rajiv Gandhi. The Indian cricket team went to Pakistan in 2004 for a cricket match, which was described as ‘Friendship Series’.On April 17, 2005, the then Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Singh watched the last one-day International cricket match at the Feroze Shah Kotla grounds in Delhi.