Pakistan players' participation in IPL to be discussed - Shukla

The participation of Pakistan players in next year's IPL will come up for discussion during the next IPL governing council meeting on October 14, Rajiv Shukla, the league's chairman, has said. Pakistan players have not taken part in the IPL following the terrorist attacks in Mumbai in November 2008, and even though 11 of them featured in the auction list for the third edition of the tournament in 2010, none were picked up by the franchises. Some of the franchises put it down to the uncertainty over their availability following a breakdown in diplomatic relations between India and Pakistan.

"This decision has to be taken by the Governing Council. It is not that Pakistan as a country has been banned in IPL," Shukla told PTI. "Their (Pakistani) referees' services have been utilised. Some franchises have taken Pakistani former players as coaches also and supporting staff as well. So it is not that Pakistan as a whole has been banned or something. There is no question of banning anyone."

The final call, however, rested with the franchises, Shukla said. "About Pakistani players, it is purely up to the franchises to decide whether they want to take Pakistani players or not. And we have to keep certain considerations in mind before deciding about it."

With regards to the resumption of cricketing ties with Pakistan, Shukla said matters of security and scheduling needed to be resolved before going ahead. He was also not too keen on the idea of playing at a neutral venue. "We have worked together. The question is about the circumstances and certain issues ... in terms of security. Those issues are to be sorted out. Then only, we can think of it.

"At the same time, there is no slot available. If there is slot available, then all these things can be discussed. Everybody wants cricket ties to be revived, to be resumed but slot has to be there to resume the ties.

"Secondly the atmosphere should be congenial because I am of the view that we should play on each others' soil instead of playing at a third venue. There is no point on playing at a third venue."

The termination of the Kochi franchise and the number of teams for the next IPL will also be discussed at the meeting.

Pakistan says Obama pressure on militants hurts Afghanistan

President Barack Obama's warning to Islamabad over suspected ties to militants will only fuel anti-Americanism and make it harder for Pakistan to support U.S. efforts to stabilise Afghanistan, a senior senator said on Friday.

Pakistan is seen as critical to bringing peace to neighbouring Afghanistan, but the United States has failed to persuade it to go after militant groups it says cross the border to attack Western forces in Afghanistan.

"This is not helping either the United States, Afghanistan or Pakistan," Salim Saifullah, chairman of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, told Reuters.

"There will be pressure on the (Pakistan) government to get out of this war," he said, referring to the U.S. war on militancy.

Obama warned Pakistan on Thursday that its ties with "unsavory characters" had put relations with the United States at risk, as he ratcheted up pressure on Islamabad to cut links with militants mounting attacks in Afghanistan.

His comments are likely to deepen a crisis in the strategic alliance between the United States and Pakistan.

Obama accused Pakistan's leaders of "hedging their bets" on Afghanistan's future, but stopped short of threatening to cut off U.S. aid, despite calls from lawmakers for a tougher line over accusations that Pakistani intelligence supported strikes on U.S. targets in Afghanistan.

Pakistan says it has sacrificed more than any other nation that joined America's global "war on terror" after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, losing 10,000 soldiers and security forces, and 30,000 civilians.

Pakistan is often accused of playing a double game, vowing to help the United States fight some militant groups while using others as proxies in Afghanistan.

Ties were heavily damaged after U.S. special forces launched a secret raid that killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan in May, which Islamabad saw as a violation of its sovereignty.