India and Pakistan players greet each other after match in the 2023 ODI World Cup. (Express Photo by Nirmal Harindran)
Pakistan Cricket Board chairman and Federal Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Friday said that Indian fans who want to visit Pakistan for the Champions Trophy will have a brisk visa issuance policy.
“We will be keeping a special quota of tickets for Indian fans and we will try to make the visa issuance policy brisk,” Naqvi was quoted as saying by a newspaper.
He also said that the PCB would like to see Indian fans visit Pakistan and watch the Indian and Pakistan match in Lahore.
A few weeks ago, Naqvi had said that he was confident that India will participate in the Champions Trophy even if it is played in Pakistan.
“The Indian team should come. I don’t see them cancel or postpone coming here and we are confident we will host all the teams in the Champions Trophy in Pakistan,” Naqvi said.
The 2025 Champions Trophy is scheduled to start on February 19 with the final set to take place on March 9. Lahore, Karachi, and Rawalpindi have been earmarked as the venues.
The ICC has still not released the tournament schedule as they wait on confirmation if the Indian government would allow its team to travel to Pakistan for the event.
The BCCI has made it clear it has to follow any policy decision of their government when it comes to visiting Pakistan.
No Indian team has travelled to Pakistan since 2008 Mumbai terror attack. There has been no Test series between the two countries since 2007.
Meanwhile, top officials of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), including chairman Richard Thompson, have suggested that staging the Champions Trophy without powerhouse India is not an option and there are “contingencies available” if Rohit Sharma’s team doesn’t travel to host country Pakistan.
