FM Qureshi rules out 'immediate' chances of Pak-India cricket series

MANCHESTER: Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has said Pakistan and Indian teams should play bilateral cricket in the larger interest of the sports and for the good of cricket.

Talking to the media upon his arrival at the Old Trafford stadium on Sunday to watch the Pakistan-India match, he said cricket is very popular in the sub-continent and Prime Minister Imran Khan gave a new identity to the game in Pakistan.

About chances of the revival of cricket with India, Qureshi said there is no immediate chance of cricket ties as India is shying away from talks with Pakistan these days.

He expressed the hope that India would play cricket against Pakistan, adding that it was vital for the promotion of the game in the region as well as across the globe.

In an interview to a Russian media outlet during his visit to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit, Prime Minister Imran Khan had expressed the hope that tensions with India would decrease.

Pakistan was looking for any kind of mediation, because it believed that progress came with peace, he said.

“And when you have tensions with your neighbours, it detracts from resources that could be spent on human beings. They end up getting spent on unproductive things like arms. And so we believe in peace with all the neighbours, especially with India. We’ve had three small wars with India, and they damaged both the countries. Because in the Indian subcontinent we probably have the greatest amount of poverty in the world,” Khan said.

“It is my belief that the money should be spent on getting people out of poverty, like China got millions and millions of people out of poverty. And so our emphasis should be peace, resolving our differences through dialogue.”