No cricket series with Pakistan , says Sushma Swaraj

Those cricket lovers who dream of an India-Pakistan series as of now can keep that on a shelf , because the continued ceasefire violations by Pakistan is forcing the Indian government to take a strong action against its neighbor. The government believes that the cross-border firing violations by Pakistan do not provide a conducive atmosphere for the sporting exchange.

Foreign minister Sushma Swaraj indicated the government’s thinking at a meeting of the consultative committee attached to the ministry that offered a review of relations with neighbours. Foreign secretary S Jaishankar was also present at the meeting.

Responding to a query whether sporting exchange between both nations can ease the tense situation, she said that the high number of cross-border firings did not set the tone for engagements such as a cricket series.Swaraj said also said that there had been suggestions on humanitarian lines such as the release of women and elderly detainees and prisoners.

Pakistan has visited India twice without India playing the reciprocal series. In the normal course, India and Pakistan would play at least one bilateral series and also smaller limited format engagements in case of smaller windows being available.

Swaraj is understood to have pointed out that there were over 800 cross-border violations this year. Though violence in Jammu and Kashmir has come down after the high it registered after security forces shot dead Hizbul leader Burhan Wani in 2016, relations remain unsettled.

The recent bad blood over the visit of Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav’s wife and mother has only soured ties further. The two women who met Jadhav in the Pakistan foreign ministry office in Islamabad were treated in an insulting manner, being asked to remove their mangalsutras, bindis and bangles and also change their clothes. The meeting was closely controlled with Jadhav mouthing tutored lines of his alleged complicity in terror activities in Pakistan and his mother prevented from conversing with him in their native Marathi.