Pakistani cricketer Miandad got visa from PMO against advice of security agencies

By Abhishek Bhalla

Published: 15:19 EDT, 3 January 2013 | Updated: 15:19 EDT, 3 January 2013

Former Pakistani cricketer Javed Miandad got the green light in an apparent policy u-turn

The decision to allow former Pakistani cricketer Javed Miandad to visit India was a political one, much against the advice of the country's security agencies.

Highly-placed sources said the decision to allow the cricketer to watch the January 6 Pakistan-India ODI in New Delhi was taken at the level of the Prime Minister's Office (PMO).

An intelligence official said it was purely a "political and diplomatic decision" taken in the wake of a similar clearance given to Pakistani interior minister Rehman Malik in December last year. The intelligence agencies, not surprisingly, were not happy with the move.

What has surprised many is how the government's stand on Miandad has changed. According to sources, a decision was taken in 2005, after Miandad's son married the daughter of India's most wanted fugitive Dawood Ibrahim, that the Pakistani cricket icon should not be allowed to visit India.

Among other crimes, underworld don Dawood is wanted for plotting the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts that killed 260 people. India has maintained that since his escape Dawood has been given a safe haven in Pakistan.

Since the marriage, Miandad and his family have been under the scanner of Indian intelligence agencies.

"The decision to not allow him to visit India was being followed in principle. Since nothing has changed in the case, we should not have allowed him to come," said an intelligence official.

The decision to forbid Miandad from visiting India had the backing of M.K. Narayanan, the then national security adviser, and the then intelligence bureau chief, ESL Narsimhan. Narayanan is presently the governor of West Bengal, while Narsimhan is the governor in Andhra Pradesh. That stand seems to have been changed as part of the "confidence building measures" between the two countries.

Dawood Ibrahim (left) is India's most-wanted man, and his daughter Mahrukh married Miandad's son Junaid in 2005 (right).

Defending the decision to issue a visa to Miandad, Union minister of state for home affairs RPN Singh said he was not on any prohibited list and that he was coming to India as a representative of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).

"He is a well-known cricketer. His visa application papers were in order and valid, and that is why the government has decided to give him a visa," Singh said.

He also denied inputs from the intelligence bureau against allowing the former cricketer to visit India.

External affairs minister Salman Khurshid has supported the government's decision. "This decision has been taken by the home ministry. I am sure they would have taken inputs from all concerned agencies and from our mission in Pakistan," he said.

Meanwhile, the BJP and the Shiv Sena have lashed out at the government for inviting a close relative of a man wanted for terror activities in India.

"This country loves the game of cricket but does not love terrorists. Dawood Ibrahim has been the mastermind of several terror attacks in India and Pakistan has refused to hand him over to us despite repeated demands. India should not allow any relative of Dawood to come to India," said BJP vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi.

The BJP has demanded that Miandad should be allowed to visit India only if Pakistan is willing to hand over Dawood.

Meanwhile, commenting on the rumours surrounding Miandad not visiting India despite his name being included in the felicitation process in Kolkata, PCB chairman Zaka Ashraf said: "As far as I know, he did not apply for the visa and so he did not come."