India’s cricketers arrived in Pakistan amid heavy security on Wednesday for their first full tour of the country in over 14 years — the latest sign of thawing ties between the nuclear-armed rivals.
Leaders from both countries hope that the tour, rekindling one of the greatest rivalries in the sport, will help maintain momentum toward a lasting peace after the neighbors came to the brink of a fourth war in 2002 over the disputed Kashmir region.
Hundreds of police and paramilitary troops surrounded Allama Iqbal airport in the eastern city of Lahore where the Indian team arrived.
Pakistani authorities have promised tight security after several international cricket visits were cancelled or curtailed over the last two years because of violence linked to Islamic militants.
Syed Masood Shah, chief of police in the province of Punjab, where Lahore is located, said this week that 3,500 police officers would be deployed at Rawalpindi stadium for the second one-day match next Tuesday.
“We have looked into all security aspects in minute detail and in all places, and inshallah (God willing) they will come and leave happily from here,” he told reporters.
India will play a warm-up match in Lahore, close to the Indian border, on Thursday before traveling to the southern port city of Karachi for the first of five one-day internationals on Saturday.
Win games, and hearts
“Play the game in the spirit of the game, and win hearts also,” Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee told the 15-member Indian team before it left New Delhi.
“May you be the victors,” he told the team before presenting them with a bat at his residence.
But that could prove a tough task. India has never won a test match in Pakistan, having lost five and drawn 15 of their previous encounters.
The two countries, with a combined population of more than one billion people, revere both cricket and their leading players.
The Indian government last year lifted a ban on home and away matches against Pakistan imposed following tensions over the disputed Himalayan state of Kashmir.
New Delhi banned cricket links with Pakistan three years ago due to tensions over Kashmir, the trigger of two of the three wars between the neighbors since independence from colonial rule in 1947.
India accuses Pakistan of fomenting violence in Kashmir by arming and training Muslim militants fighting New Delhi’s rule in the region since 1989. Pakistan denies the charge and says it has done all it could to stop the Islamic guerrillas.
Bus, train and air links have been restored since the peace process began in April last year, peace talks are underway and in Islamabad on Wednesday talks between the two sides on a new bus service concluded with an agreement to meet again.
Police used force last week to control fans queuing to buy tickets for the opening game in Karachi. When sales resumed on Monday, 21,000 tickets were snapped up in hours. Thousands of Indian fans are expected to travel to Pakistan for the series.
India will play five one-day internationals between March 13 and March 24, and begin the first of three tests in Multan on March 28. The tour ends on April 17.
