No cricket for Dalai Lama in India as Pakistani tourists object by AFP

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Event:

Pakistan in India 2004/05

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DateLine: 28th February 2005

 

Tibet's exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama will not inaugurate the opening match of Pakistan's cricket tour of India because the Pakistanis were unhappy with his attendance, it was announced here.

 

The Dalai Lama was due to inaugurate on Thursday the three-day match between the tourists and an Indian board president's team in the northern hill resort of Dharamshala where the Tibetan leader's government-in-exile is based.

 

Media reports on Monday said the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Shaharyar Khan had told Indian officials that Pakistan should not be put in an embarrassing position since it enjoys very good relations with China.

 

A statement from the Tibetan leader's office said the Dalai Lama had decided not to accept the invitation by the organisers, the Himachal Pradesh cricket association, to inaugurate the match.

 

"In view of the reservations expressed from some quarters regarding his presence at the match, His Holiness the Dalai Lama has now decided not to inaugurate the cricket match," the statement said.

 

"The general thinking of His Holiness the Dalai Lama is not to cause any inconvenience to any party."

 

Dharamshala has hosted the Dalai Lama since he fled Tibet in 1959 amid a failed uprising against Chinese rule.

 

PCB director Abbas Zaidi was quoted in Pakistani news reports as saying that the team will "not take part in any social activity -- even those involving the Dalai Lama."

 

"We have a clear understanding with Board of Control for Cricket in India about our engagements in India on the coming tour," Zaidi said.

 

"We've conveyed to them the sensitivities involved in our relations with China and that we will not be attending any social function in Dharamshala including those involving the Dalai Lama."

 

The Pakistani team, which arrived in New Delhi earlier on Monday, will play three Tests and six one-day internationals on their first full tour of India since 1999.

(Article: Copyright © 2005 AFP)