Pakistan and Indian cricket officials were forced to put off their meeting after Shiv Sena activists barged into the Indian cricket board’s office to protest a bilateral series slated for December.
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The meeting has been rescheduled to take place in New Delhi on Tuesday after activists of far-right political group Shiv Sena attacked the BCCI headquarters.
The activists shouted anti-Pakistan songs with posters underlining their desire to stop Shashank Manohar from meeting his Pakistani counterpart.
“Six people are being held in custody and we are registering an offence of rioting,” Mumbai Police Deputy Commissioner Dhananjay Kulkarni told AFP.
“Thirty-five were involved so we are looking to arrest a few more,” he added.
The protesters demanded that Manohar cancel talks with the PCB chairman that were planned in Mumbai to discuss the bilateral series.
The PCB chief had earlier said that the chances of a series against India were slim with the Indian board still waiting to get clearance from its government.
“I don’t want to give India any ultimatum but the chances are getting slimmer because I think their problem is they mix politics with sports,” he said.
“We are not pleading them, we are not kneeling down, we are just telling them that you have signed MoU and tell us whether you are honouring it or not.”
“Pakistan, down, down!” – activists from Shiv Sena storm into the office of India’s cricket board in Mumbai https://t.co/vwswoHsm1d
— Channel 4 News (@Channel4News) October 19, 2015
Shiv Sena has also threatened to stop Pakistan’s Aleem Dar from officiating in the fifth and final ODI between India and South Africa to be played in Mumbai on Sunday, said a report published on the ESPNcricinfo.
The Indian and Pakistani boards had signed a pact for six bilateral series between 2015 and 2023, beginning with Pakistan’s home series in December.
India have not played a bilateral Test series against Pakistan since 2007, though they did host them for two T20Is and three ODIs between December 2012 and January 2013.
Shiv Sena, a hardline outfit founded by the late Bal Thackeray, has in the past threatened Pakistani athletes to deter them from engaging in competitive sports in India.
