India may shift venue of first match with Pakistan

The United News of India (UNI) quoted Delhi's Chief Minister Shiela Dikshit as saying that it would be difficult to provide adequate security for the match scheduled to start on January 28.

The date coincides with India's annual Republic Day celebrations on January 26, for which tens of thousands of police and para-military troops are deployed across the sprawling city.

Dixit said after inspecting the cricket ground that the authorities may not be able to provide ``security personnel in sufficient strength ... in the midst of Republic Day and related functions.''

UNI said the first Test could, instead, be played in the southern Indian city of Madras.

There was, however, no official confirmation of the report, and an Indian cricket official asserted he was not aware of any change of venue.

``As of now the match is to be played (in New Delhi),'' said C.K. Khanna of the Board of Control for Cricket in India.

Dixit spoke as the New Delhi police continued a crackdown on activists of a Hindu militant party which has vowed to sabotage the match to protest against alleged Pakistani support for Indian insurgents.

The party, the Shiv Sena, is a member of India's coalition government of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, a Hindu nationalist who has vowed to provide foolproof security for the match.

Shiv Sena members dug up the cricket pitch at the stadium here last week in a bid to prevent the match.

Indian authorities also beefed up security for Pakistani diplomats after discovering two threatening letters near the Pakistani embassy here allegedly sent by the Shiv Sena.

On Monday, the party denied it had threatened the diplomats.

``Our intention is only to disrupt the match. We will not cause any harm to the diplomats,'' a Shiv Sena leader in the Indian capital told the Press Trust of India.

The Pakistani team, which last played a Test in India in March 1987, is to arrive here January 21 for a two-Test series, the Asian Test championship opener against India and a triangular one-day series also featuring Sri Lanka.

In 1991, Hindu fanatics vandalised the pitch at Bombay's stadium just days before Pakistan were to start a limited-overs series in India.

Pakistan cancelled that tour, and two more in 1993 and 1994, because of security fears. They played in India during the 1996 World Cup and the Independence Cup the following year without any problems.