Sabotage threatened

NEW DELHI, Jan 16 (AFP/PTI): A Hindu militant group, which has threatened to disrupt Pakistan's first cricket tour of India in more than a decade, vowed today to sabotage the matches, a spokesman for the outfit said.

"We are determined to sabotage the matches wherever it takes place in India despite government's determination to hold the matches," Ajay Srivastava, president of Shiv Sena's youth wing in New Delhi told AFP.

However, Shiv Sena on Friday denied media reports about its preparing "suicide squads" to disrupt the upcoming Indo-Pak series saying the party's objective was to stall the event and not to harm the players.

Describing reports of "suicide squads" being prepared to disrupt the match as baseless, Shiv Sena's north India president Jai Bhagwan Goyal said, such statements are being issued by self-styled leaders without the consent of party supremo Balasaheb Thackeray or the local leadership.

"Our objective is not to harm the players, but to disrupt the match as Pakistan has been sponsoring terrorism in this country," Goyal said.

Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has pledged to prevent the militants holding the tour to ransom and on Friday Pakistan's ambassador in New Delhi said the tour was likely to go ahead on those assurances.

Srivastava, whose activists dug up the New Delhi cricket pitch last week, said the group's intention was to "ensure that Pakistan stop terrorist activities in India.

"Until this is done there is no way that we will allow this match to be played," he said from his hideout following a police crackdown on Shiv Sena activists.

The venue of the first Test due to begin January 28 was changed to the southern city of Madras after Shiv Sena activists dug up the pitch.

Srivastava said Shiv Sena has formed a 51-member suicide squad "who will immolate themselves at 10 am (0430 GMT) on January 28 at the prime minister's residence," on the first day of the first match in India.

"This will be our way of protesting against the match," which will be the first Pakistan tour on Indian soil since 1987.

Similarly, the Sena had no hand in the letter threatening Pakistani diplomats, Goyal said adding they were against harming the diplomats.

He, however, said party activists will disrupt the match in Shiv Sena style.

Asked to explain the style, he said, "We have demonstrated it in the past. We will repeat it in the future."

The tourists are scheduled 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, supporters of Shiv Sena leader Bal Thackeray vandalised the pitch at Bombay's Wankhede Stadium two days before Pakistan were to start a limited-over 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 problem.

Pakistan are not scheduled to play in the Shiv Sena-controlled western state of Maharashtra, which includes the cricket-mad state capital of Bombay, during the two-month tour.

The Asian Age daily, quoting the chief of Shiv Sena in Delhi, said about 5,000 activists of the party would buy tickets for the opening match and "be present in the stadium."

"They will then jump on the field and even attack Pakistani cricketers," Jai Bhagwan Goyal said.

"What can the policemen do when faced with 5,000 Shiv sainiks who believe in this cause? They dare not shoot us."