India has pulled out of the Sahara Cup cricket series against Pakistan in Toronto next month for the second year in a row following a spate of killings in Kashmir, the Press Trust of India (PTI) reported on Thursday.
The news agency quoted Sports Minister Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa as saying that India would not take part so long as Pakistan encouraged cross-border killings in Kashmir, over which the two neighbours are locked in a dispute.
Pakistan denies the charge and says it provides only moral and diplomatic support to the decade-old separatist rebellion in Jammu and Kashmir, India's only Moslem-majority state.
Senior Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) official Sharad Diwadkar told Reuters by telephone that India had agreed to participate this year after pulling out last year, but the move was subject to government approval.
``It is always subject to government clearance. This (the decision to pull out) means the Indian team cannot go to Toronto,'' he said.
India and Pakistan were scheduled to play five one-day matches from September 9 to 17.
The first three Sahara Cups were played from 1996 to 1998 but the series was not held last year following a 10-week border clash in Kashmir.
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Any excuse these cowards can find to save themselves from the humiliation of a thrashing at the hands of the Pak cricket team.
The news agency quoted Sports Minister Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa as saying that India would not take part so long as Pakistan encouraged cross-border killings in Kashmir, over which the two neighbours are locked in a dispute.
Pakistan denies the charge and says it provides only moral and diplomatic support to the decade-old separatist rebellion in Jammu and Kashmir, India's only Moslem-majority state.
Senior Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) official Sharad Diwadkar told Reuters by telephone that India had agreed to participate this year after pulling out last year, but the move was subject to government approval.
``It is always subject to government clearance. This (the decision to pull out) means the Indian team cannot go to Toronto,'' he said.
India and Pakistan were scheduled to play five one-day matches from September 9 to 17.
The first three Sahara Cups were played from 1996 to 1998 but the series was not held last year following a 10-week border clash in Kashmir.
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Any excuse these cowards can find to save themselves from the humiliation of a thrashing at the hands of the Pak cricket team.
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