Gilani reaches Chandigarh to watch India-Pakistan match with Manmohan Singh

Pakistan Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani talking to mediapersons on arrival at Chandigarh airport, to witness the semi-final between India and Pakistan in the cricket World Cup at Mohali on March 30, 2011. UNI PHOTO

Pakistan Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani reached Chandigarh today to watch the semi-final between India and Pakistan in the cricket World Cup at Mohali near here later in the day along with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Mr Gilani was received at the Chandigarh airport by Union Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology Sachin Pilot, Pakistan High Commissioner in India Shahid Malik and senior Indian and Pakistani officials.

After resting at the Taj Hotel in Chandigarh for some time, Mr Gilani is expected to reach the stadium at Mohali, by when Dr Singh would also have reached the venue of the match.

Mr Gilani has made the trip in response to an invitation extended by Dr Singh last Friday to him to watch the match at Mohali with him.

"I propose to be at Mohali to watch the World Cup semi-final match between India and Pakistan to be held on 30th March," Dr Singh had said in his letter.

"There is huge excitement over the match and we are all looking forward to a great game of cricket that will be a victory for sport. It gives me great pleasure to invite you to visit Mohali and join me and the millions of fans from our two countries to watch the match," he had said.

Dr Singh and Mr Gilani are expected to talk informally during the match and on the sidelines without any structured agenda in an effort to give a boost to the dialogue between the two countries.

Offiicials from the Foreign Ministries of the two countries have been in Chandigarh since yesterday to prepare for the interaction between the two Prime Ministers.

Dr Singh is scheduled to host a dinner for Mr Gilani and his delegation before they fly back to Islamabad after the match.

"Prime Minister Gilani’s presence in Mohali signifies the tremendous enthusiasm of the people of Pakistan for cricket. It also coincides with the resumption of the Pakistan-India dialogue process," a statement from the Pakistan Foreign Office said yesterday.

"The two Prime Ministers are expected to have a conversation on all issues of mutual interest on the sidelines of the cricket match," the statement added.

Mr Gilani himself told reporters before his departure for Chandigarh today that the visit was to "strengthen his resolve that dialogue and interaction can help both the countries resolve all issues in the interest of peace and prosperity of their people."

Mr Gilani is accompanied on the trip by some of his ministerial colleagues, including Minister for Defence Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Firdous Ashiq Awan.

India has used "cricket diplomacy" before in its relations with Pakistan. On February 21, 1987, then Pakistan President Zia-ul-Haq had watched the India-Pakistan cricket Test match at Jaipur at the invitation of Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

On April 17, 2005, then Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf had visited Delhi to watch the last one-day international between India and Pakistan at the Feroze Shah Kotla Ground here.

Today's interaction between Dr Singh and Mr Gilani will take place a day after the two-day Home Secretary-level talks between the two countries ended here yesterday with a commitment by both countries to fight terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. They also reaffirmed the need to bring those responsible for such terrorist crimes to justice.

Both sides agreed to set up a hotline between the Home Secretary of India and Interior Secretary of Pakistan to facilitate real-time information sharing with respect to terrorist threats.

In a Joint Statement issued here after the two-day Home/Interior Secretary-level talks between the two countries, they agreed that it was important for both sides to remain engaged on outstanding issues and henceforth the Home/Interior Secretary-level talks would be held bi-annually.

The Indian delegation to the talks was led by Home Secretary Gopal K Pillai and the Pakistani team by Interior Secretary Qamar Zaman Chaudhary.

The meeting was held in pursuance of the decision taken by the two sides in February this year to resume the dialogue process and in the backdrop of the bilateral meeting between the Home Minister P Chidambaram of India and Interior Minister Rehman Malik of Pakistan in Islamabad on June 25-26, 2010.

The two-day meeting was the first structured bilateral Secretary-level talks between the two sides on counter-terrorism after they decided to resume comprehensive talks.

India had suspended the composite dialogue with Pakistan after the 26/11 attacks. India had sought action against those responsible for the attacks before the dialogue could be resumed.

However, after a meeting between Dr Singh and Mr Gilani at Thimphu in Bhutan in April last year, on the sidelines of the SAARC Summit, the two countries had decided to resume their dialogue.

Since then, the Foreign Secretaries and the Foreign Ministers of the two countries have met. The Foreign Ministers are expected to meet again in Delhi later this year.

In a unilateral confidence-building measure ahead of the Home Secretary-level talks, India had announced on Saturday that it had decided to increase the stay period for persons visiting Jammu and Kashmir on entry permits from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (POK) to six months with multiple entries.

The encounter between the two teams has generated tremendous interest among cricket lovers everywhere. The winner of today's match will meet Sri Lanka in the final in Mumbai on April 2. The Sri Lankans defeated New Zealand by five wickets in the first semi-final in Colombo yesterday.

NNN