Ashraf gets government clearance for India trip

Zaka Ashraf, the PCB chairman, has got clearance from the Pakistan government to visit India this month, where he will speak to the BCCI about restoring India-Pakistan cricketing ties. Ashraf, who is due to visit in India in the next ten days, said he had informed the foreign office of his trip and also sought advice from the government on what could be done to revive cricket between the neighbouring countries.

Since taking over from Ijaz Butt in October, Ashraf has maintained that organising an India-Pakistan bilateral series is one of his priorities. According to the ICC's Future Tours Programme, Pakistan are scheduled to tour India for three Tests and five ODIs in March-April 2012, but there is uncertainty over whether that series will take place as the Indian government has not yet cleared it. Ashraf said Pakistan were ready to play in India, at home or at a neutral venue, though he expected the last option to be the most viable one in the near future.

Relations between India and Pakistan broke down after the 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai. Since then there have been no bilateral series between the two countries and the only three meetings have come in tri-series or ICC events.

"It is unfortunate that we broke our ties and I want to revive them," Ashraf told reporters in Lahore, where a reception for Pakistan's women's and blind team was being held. "I have already taken the initiative, written to the Indian board and got a very positive response from them; they have invited me to come and talk about it. So I have told the government about going there."

Ashraf has also been actively trying to restart international cricket in Pakistan. No Test-playing nation has toured the country since the Sri Lankan team bus was attacked in Lahore in March 2009. Ashraf met the chairman of the Bangladesh Cricket Board in Dubai during the Pakistan-Sri Lanka series in the UAE to discuss a possible Bangladesh tour of Pakistan in 2012. He said the meeting had been positive and that Bangladesh were ready to tour Pakistan but the two boards had to have more detailed deliberations on security concerns.

"I met with the Bangladesh chairman in Dubai and it was a positive meeting. It was agreed that they don't have any concern about playing in Pakistan and the BCB chairman has invited me to come to Bangladesh [during Pakistan's ongoing series there] and talk about security issues.

"My meeting with the ICC chief-executive [in Dubai] was also useful as it helped me to improve the working relationship between the PCB and the ICC. I have been listening to security concerns and called up the ICC to make up a check-list of what protocols they think we need to have in place to convince teams to travel here. I don't know what the other member boards want but we are ready to provide them with whatever security is necessary to get them to play here."