Pakistan football team’s participation in the South Asian Football Federation (SAF) Cup has become doubtful as the green shirts are yet to receive their visas to tour India, the host of the biennial event.
The SAFF tournament is scheduled to be held in Bangalore from June 21 to July 4 and Pakistan was supposed to fly to India at 11:30 am Sunday but sources said the Indian authorities asked them to reschedule their departure on Monday.
Currently, the Pakistan football team is in Mauritius and it was expected that they would get their visas to India by Saturday but there was no development till the time of writing this report.
This puts the Pakistan team in a difficult situation. Sources said the Indian High Commission in Mauritius is yet to get clearance from its Home Ministry to issue visas to the Pakistan team.
A team official has also contacted the Pakistan High Commission in India for assistance in visa matters.
Sources said there are fears that some players may get visas and some may not as they have to give personal clearance, which according to sources is a lengthy process. They said that if Pakistan’s reservation to tour India is rescheduled, it will cost the country Rs 13 million.
Sources said the next few hours are crucial and Pakistan will have no option but to return home if the visa is not granted. They said Saturday was the last day of the four-nation event in Mauritius and Pakistan would also have to bear its boarding and lodging expenses if the team stayed till Monday or Tuesday.
Moreover, the issue also left the Pakistani players in constant tension and they could not concentrate in their third game which was a 3-1 loss against Djibouti on Sunday.
FIFA-appointed normalization committee chairman Haroon Malik was contacted several times but did not return calls from this reporter.
