5,000 Pakistani spectators get Indian visas for the ICC World Cup 2011
The Indian government has finally issued 5,000 visas to Pakistani spectators allowing them to visit the country in order to watch the ICC World Cup 2011 matches which are to be hosted in India. This also includes watching the final in Mumbai.
According to the Indian media, all the visas were allotted after thorough security checks by the immigration office and other security agencies of India. The same security check was applied on all the Pakistanis who had applied for a visa to watch the knockout
stages of the World Cup.
When an Indian government official was asked to speak on the matter, he said, “The 15-day multiple entry visas were issued only to those applicants who presented a proper ticket of the ICC World Cup cricket matches.”
According to reports, many Pakistanis bought tickets for the knockout stages and were anxiously waiting for authorities in India to give them the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Green-c60723 signal to visit the co-hosts.
India is hosting the mega event along with co-hosts http://www.senore.com/Cricket/March-c74391, while Mumbai
has the honours to host the final of the showpiece event on 2 April.
So far, Pakistan have not played any of their World Cup matches in India, and if they progress to the later stages of the tournament they will ultimately play in India. Having Pakistan supporters in India would benefit the Men in Green largely.
The situation turned even more exciting for the Pakistanis when their team beat the defending champions http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 in their last Group A match. Pakistan had already qualified for the quarterfinals before the match against the Aussies, however, a victory has
enhanced their chances of doing well in the knockout round of the mega event.
Relations between India and Pakistan have been cold since the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mumbai-c820 terrorist attacks which India says were caused by Pakistan-based anti-India terrorist groups. The attacks took place in 2008 after which the government of India decided not to play any
bilateral cricket series with Pakistan. However, the two have continued to play against each other in the ICC events.
Due to the estranged relationship between the two countries, hostilities are on the rise. The Indian fundamentalist group Shiv Sena has already warned that it will not allow http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750.
However, the government of India has assured that state-level security will be given to Pakistan in case they qualify to play the semi-finals or the final in India.
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