New Delhi: The India-Pakistan cricketing rivalry is set for a brief resumption at next month's Asia Cup but the mere announcement of it has triggered an avalanche of criticism on social media and a question. Can the sports ministry have a say in the matter? Emotions are still running high after 26 people were gunned down by Pakistan-sponsored terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir's popular tourist hub of Pahalgam in April. The gruesome killings even led to a brief military showdown between the old foes. Months later, the cricket teams of the two nations will clash in the Asia Cup.
"As of now, the BCCI does not come under the purview of the sports ministry as the National Sports Governance Bill is still to be passed. So, the ministry doesn't have a say, but we will wait and see how the BCCI responds to public sentiment," a sports ministry source told PTI.
Lieutenant General (Retd) KJS Dhillon, who served as the Director General of Defence Intelligence Agency, is among the prominent voices who have called for a boycott of any cricketing ties with Pakistan. However, former BCCI President and captain Sourav Ganguly, while condemning terrorism, has stated that "sport should go on".
The sports ministry has maintained that any bilateral sporting engagement with Pakistan is "out of question" at this point.
But in multilateral contests, it would go by the Olympic Charter, which prohibits any discrimination based on political issues, which is why the government has stated that it would not stop Pakistan from coming to India for international events.
Adherence to the Charter is crucial to India's ambitious bid to host the 2036 Olympics.
Cricket too is part of the Olympic movement now and is set for a Games debut in 2028 in the T20 format. However, the eight-nation Asia Cup is not an ICC event and will be conducted by the Asian Cricket Council (ACC), which is currently led by Pakistan Cricket Board chief Mohsin Naqvi.
The tournament features a scheduled India-Pakistan clash on September 14 with the potential of two more clashes later in the tournament. Crores are riding on these games as broadcasters expect high viewership and in turn high advertising rates.
Sony Network has secured the eight-year broadcast rights from the ACC for USD 170 million.
It is reliably learnt, that unless there is mandatory India-Pakistan engagement in the continental showpiece, the channel would end up incurring heavy losses which also ends up affecting ACC's revenue projections.
The losses, while not hurting the cash-rich BCCI significantly, would have a cascading effect on the revenue of the remaining 24 ACC members, most of whom are developing cricket nations.
What the bill says
The National Sports Governance Bill has a provision for the sports ministry to step in and "impose reasonable restrictions" on the international participation of Indian teams and individual athletes when necessitated by "extraordinary circumstances" and in the "national interest." The bill was tabled in the Parliament last week but it is still some time before it becomes an act as it would need the approval of both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha before the Presidential assent.
The ministry has stated that the BCCI will come under its purview once it becomes an act.
"The scenario changes when that happens. But as of now, it is status quo. It is the BCCI's call," the source said.
India and Pakistan have not engaged in the hugely money-spinning bilateral clashes since the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks in which Pakistan-backed terrorists killed more than 150 people.
But they have almost always faced off in multi-national events such as the World Cup and the Champions Trophy, generating high viewership both on ground as well on TV and online platforms.
(Except for the headline, this article has not been edited by FPJ's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)
