India saves face by salvaging Pakistani cricket tour

But Bal Thackeray, the leader of the right-wing Hindu party which spearheaded the campaign, may fan the flames of religion and discord again, newspapers warned.

The Statesman daily said in a front-page commentary that Thackeray's decision Thursday, under government pressure, to suspend the hate campaign had provided short-lived ``relief,'' but added that the self-proclaimed ``tiger'' could caused panic again.

``For days now Bal Thackeray has been holding the country to ransom, inciting people to violence and clearly palcing himself above the law.

``When somebody suggested he be locked up and put out of harm's way, he openly threatened to set Bombay on fire if he was touched.''

Thackeray's Shiv Sena (Shiva's Army) party rules India's most industrialised state of which Bombay is capital.

The Shiv Sena, which is allied to India's ruling Hindu nationalist party, was opposed to the tour because of Pakistan's support for Moslem separatists in the disputed Himalayan territory of Kashmir.

As part of their protest, party activists dug up the pitch at one of the Test venues two weeks ago, ransacked the India's cricket governing body's national headquarters in Bombay and said suicide squads would disrupt play.

Thackeray had in the 1980s incited widespread violence against a scheduled Pakistani cricket match in Bombay, leading to its cancellation and the virtual suspension of any Indo-Pakistani cricket matches on Indian soil.

The Times of India daily said the volte-face had led India's Hindu nationalist-led government ``out of a sticky wicket which could have had far-reaching diplomatic ramifications.

``The vehement anti-Pakistan rhetoric that was mouthed and widely reported in the press had given the world an image of a hardline India. This can only strengthen Islamabad's claims that the Kashmir dispute should be resolved by third-party mediation.''

India and Pakistan have fought three wars, two of them over Kashmir. India remains vehemently opposed to Pakistani demands for a UN-backed referendum to determine Kashmir's future arguing that the state is its ``integral'' territory.

Pakistani High Commissioner in India Ashraf Jahangir Qazi on Thursday denied speculation that Islamabad was trying to gain political mileage by sending its players here on Thursday despite Thackeray's campaign, which he shortly before their arrival.

``We are making no political statements here,'' Qazi told the Times of India. ``Our aim is simply to play the game.''

A Times of India editorial entitled ``Tiger on a Leash'' said the botched campaign had exposed the political hollowness of the Shiv Sena party, which ``lacking constructive content and purpose bounces from one violent and melodramatic agaitiation to another.''

It said Thackeray's quest for an emotive issue to centre his campaigns had failed completely this time, including a Sena ban on cable television operators in Bombay from airing the matches.

The Times said Thackeray had ``misread the public mood completely -- bu choosing to attack cricket, virtually the national game after the eclipse of hockey, he alienated all right-thinking Indians.''

Pakistan, who last played a Test on Indian soil in March 1987, will play a two-Test series, the Asian Test championship opener against the hosts and a triangular one-day series also featuring Sri Lanka.

Pakistan were scheduled to travel to the central city of Gwalior on Friday for the three-day tour opener against India A from Saturday.

The first Test starts in the southern city of Madras on January 28 and the second will be played at New Delhi from February 4.