Why India can't deny Pakistan entry to multi-lateral sports events on its soil
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With an audacious bid to host Olympic Games at stake, the Indian government could not have blocked Pakistan from multi-lateral sporting events here despite the prevailing public anger against the arch-rivals as it could have resulted in the nation being barred from hosting future big events.The government on Thursday gave its approval for Pakistani participation in hockey's Asia Cup (August) and the Junior World Cup (November-December), the junior shooting World Cup (September) and World Para-Athletics Championship (October).The reason being that any move to block Pakistan, in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 tourists, would have been a violation of the Olympic charter, which is like a constitution for the Olympic Movement.The charter's Rule 44 specifically prohibits National Olympic Committees from excluding athletes based on "racial, religious or political reasons".Failure to grant visas can lead to "international isolation and loss of hosting rights for future events."India has borne the brunt of this just six years ago when Pakistani shooters were denied visas to compete in the ISSF shooting World Cup, which was also an Olympic qualifying event.An irate IOC didn't just halt discussions with India on hosting rights of all future events, it also revoked the Olympic qualifying status of the 25m rapid fire pistol competition in which the Pakistani shooters were to compete.India's actions were driven by the outrage against the Pulwama terror attack in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed by a Pakistan-based terrorist group.The talks on future events resumed only after India gave specific written guarantees that no such discrimination would take place going forward.The IOC had recommended international federations to "neither award or hold sports events in India until guarantees are obtained".A year before that, India had denied visas to boxers from Kosovo in the World Boxing Championship for women.Given that the country is pushing ahead aggressively with its plans to have the 2036 Olympics in Ahmedabad, any move to stop Pakistani athletes in multilateral events would have severely harmed its prospects."It is not a simple situation. If you want to present yourself as a nation capable of hosting global events, you can't stop athletes from any country from coming. But bilaterals is different and we can always avoid Pakistan in any such engagement," a ministry source had said on Thursday while explaining the reasons behind government's decision.
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