By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani players and teams will be permitted to participate in multilateral sports events hosted by India, the country’s sports ministry has announced, while bilateral competitions between the nuclear-armed neighbors remain strictly off limits.
The Indian ministry said it would also streamline the visa process for athletes, coaches and officials from Pakistan and issue multi-entry visas to senior functionaries of international sports federations.
The policy, outlined in a formal memorandum, draws a sharp distinction between events governed by global or regional sports bodies and direct head-to-head contests between India and Pakistan. “With regard to international and multilateral events, in India or abroad, we are guided by the practices of international sports bodies and the interest of our own sportspersons,” the ministry said. It added that India’s growing stature as a reliable host of major international competitions made the distinction particularly relevant.
In contrast, the memorandum was unequivocal on bilateral competition. “In so far as bilateral sports events in each other’s country are concerned, Indian teams will not be participating in competitions in Pakistan. Nor will we permit Pakistani teams to play in India,” it stated.
The announcement comes as India prepares to stage the 2030 Commonwealth Games and has formally bid to host the 2036 Olympics as well as the 2038 Asian Games in Ahmedabad. Officials see the country’s emergence as a premier venue for global sporting events as a strategic asset, even as political and security tensions with Pakistan persist.
Relations between the two countries have remained deeply strained since a military conflict last year. The deterioration has repeatedly spilled into the sporting arena. Earlier this year, when India co-hosted the Twenty20 World Cup, Pakistani players competed in all their matches — including a group-stage encounter against India — from venues in Sri Lanka. The arrangement was negotiated after India declined to travel to Pakistan for the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy.
Last year’s Asia Cup provided the first on-field meeting between the two teams since the May 2025 conflict. At the toss and again after the match, the Indian side refused the traditional handshake with Pakistan’s players. Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav later described the victory as “a perfect gift” for his country, referencing the Pahalgam attack in Indian-occupied Kashmir in comments that were widely viewed in Pakistan as politicizing the result.
Cricket, the most popular sport in both nations, has been largely frozen at the bilateral level for more than a decade. India and Pakistan have not played a full series since 2012-13 and now meet almost exclusively at neutral venues under the auspices of the International Cricket Council. The Indian ministry’s latest guidelines appear designed to balance India’s desire to project itself as an open and capable host for international events with its longstanding policy of limiting direct sporting contact with Pakistan. By aligning its approach with the rules of international federations for multilateral competitions, New Delhi can maintain its growing calendar of global tournaments while keeping bilateral doors closed.
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