Witnessing India-Pakistan semi-final: Indian HC welcomes Gilani's decision

Indian High Commissioner Sharat Sabharwal on Sunday welcomed Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani's decision to accept the invitation of his Indian counterpart Dr Manmohan Sindh to visit India to witness the semi-final cricket match between India and Pakistan at Mohali.
Talking to media persons during a friendly match between Indian High Commission and Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) here, Sabharwal said that the acceptance of the invitation by Prime Minister Gilani will create a goodwill all around.
"What else I want to add here is that PM Gilani has accepted the invitation to visit Mohali to witness the match, which will create a goodwill all around," he said, adding that the dialogue process between the two countries is going to start shortly, as the meeting of the home secretaries is being held in Delhi for this purpose.
Terming the semi-final between India and Pakistan a big match, he said that cricket is the flavour of the season now and the match will be a great victory for the support of cricket for which the people of both the countries are waiting anxiously.
"As you know our national teams are going to play the semi-final in Mohali during the coming week and that will be a big match; whichever team win or loses, is not the issue," he said, adding that it will be a big game because both of the teams are very good and have come through doing very well in the league matches.
About the issuance of visas to Pakistanis, the Indian High Commissioner said that the visas are being processed. However, he added that there were some issues of tickets but the process will continue to entertain the visa applications even on the last day.
To a question, he said semi-final is an important event and such events will create great understanding between the people of the two countries.
Earlier, talking to Business Recorder, Rajinder Kumar Sharma, Counsellor and Head of Economic and Commercial Division, hoped that the match played between Indian High Commission and LCCI will help increase interaction with the business community of Pakistan. He further said that such interactions would also have direct impacts on boosting the trade between the two countries.
Iftikhar Ali Malik, Vice-President SAARC Chamber of Commerce and Industry, speaking on the occasion, said that this kind of interaction will have positive impacts on increasing the people-to-people contacts.
He further said that the friendly match was a message of peace between the two countries and will also help to bring people of the two countries closer.
Vice-president of the Confederation of Asia Pacific Chambers of Commerce and Industry and former president of (SAARC CCI) expressed the hope that all the outstanding issues between the two countries will be resolved within next three years.
He further said that the cricket-diplomacy had worked out in the past when two former presidents General Zia-ul-Haq and General Pervez Musharraf visited India to witness cricket matches between the two countries that helped eased tensions.
Former Minister for Health Makhdoom Shahabuddin said that the friendly cricket match was meant to defuse the unnecessary hype created by media ahead of the big semi-final match in Mohali. The friendly match between the Indian High Commission and LCCI was won by the latter by ten wickets.