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Hindu leader issues call to block Pakistan cricket tour
AFP
25 November 1998
BOMBAY, Nov 25 (AFP) - A fireband Hindu leader, whose party runs the
government in the western state of Maharashtra, has issued a war cry
against a planned Pakistan cricket tour here, reports said Wednesday.
``Hindus should rise up against the (visiting) Pakistan cricket
team. This is a test of strength for Hindus,'' said Bal Thackeray, who
heads the Hindu militant Shiv Sena party.
The Shiv Sena is a member of Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari
Vajpayee's eight-month-old federal coalition government.
Thackeray is bitterly opposed to the Pakistan tour because of
Islamabad's alleged support for militant groups in India.
``There are no compromises on this. This is an issue of patriotism. My
party activists are very resolute,'' he said.
Thackeray's stand has brought him into direct confrontation with Prime
Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP, Indian
People's Party).
Vajpayee over the weekend pledged to protect the Pakistani cricketers,
who are to play three Tests and three limited overs games in India in
January for the first time in 11 years.
Bombay would normally be a first-pick venue for any overseas cricket
team's tour.
The Shiv Sena, founded by the cartoonist-turned-politician Thackeray,
is bitterly anti-Moslem and was accused by human rights groups of
killing Moslems during sectarian riots in Bombay in 1992-3.
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