Pakistan making too many demands in the name of T20 cricket

After India lost to New Zealand and its WT20 campaign is a dampener, Pakistan is rubbing it in creating avoidable nuisance by making all kinds of demands, including sending ISI agents in the name of diplomats for the Kolkata Indo-Pak T20 tie. Pakistan started its campaign saying the Indian government must give it in writing about the safety of its cricketers, not realising that law and order is a state subject. The venue was meanwhile changed from Dharmasala in Himachal Pradesh to Kolkata for the benefit of the Pak team. Even so, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh gave an assurance on the safety of the team. He could not have given it in writing because doing so would anger the nitpicking Trinamul Congress in power in West Bengal. Added to all this, Pakistan wants to send in its notorious ISI agents in the name of diplomats for the Kolkata tie, which is now less vital after the loss to New Zealand. Besides, there is greater damage in store for India by letting in ISI agents in the garb of diplomats, for the eastern part is the hub of ISI activity. Pakistan is now so cut up with the rejection of the five of its seven diplomats that it had called the Indian Deputy High Commissioner JP Singh in Islamabad to its Foreign Office to register its protest. The seven `diplomats' were to arrive in India by Wednesday. Till Tuesday evening, none of the seven `diplomats' had received clearance from India. This apart, Pakistan sought visas for 45 people to see the India-Pak T20 tie. It is not known how many of them are from ISI. To check their credentials would take time. India would naturally be wary of Pakistan's `cricketing' interests in this country, because more often than not these are ISI forays in the guise of cricket. Dawood Ibrahim, underworld don, Indian fugitive in Pakistan, is the main organiser of cricket betting anywhere in the world. Dawood had already reduced T20 cricket to `satta cricket.'