Indo-Pak semi-final: 22 will play while State heads talk

NEW DELHI: The focus of an entire subcontinent has turned to Mohali, where an explosive cricketing encounter laced with decades of rivalry on the field will form the backdrop for an informal meeting between the prime ministers of India and Pakistan. Pakistan Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will hold talks in an ante room in the Mohali stadium while the two cricket teams slug it out in the world cup semi-final . The two leaders will have a dinner interaction too at the stadium venue and Gilani will leave for Islamabad the same night.

Gilani will be accompanied by many prominent politicians, including former premier Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and interior minister Rehman Malik, Awami National Party chief Asfandyar Wali Khan, Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar, Information Minister Firdous Ashiq Awan, Sports Minister Engineer Shaukatullah, Postal Services Minister Muhammad Gorgage and Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar, according to reports in Pakistani media. Former minister Qamar Zaman Kaira, the spokesman of the ruling PPP, party lawmaker Sherry Rehman, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam parliamentarian Laiq Muhammad Khan and Muttahida Qaumi Movement's Farooq Sattar will also be part of the delegation. Political parties are seen to be sending their representatives as an expression of solidarity with the PM.

Across the border, there will be plenty of support on the stands for the initiative of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, most notably from Congress president Sonia Gandhi. External affairs minister SM Krishna will, however, not be there for a diplomatic initiative which wholly bears the personal stamp of Manmohan Singh. The Mohali international airport will witness heavy traffic. Planes will face a long waiting period to land as a total 96 aircraft are scheduled to land. Seventy-six private planes and 20 scheduled chartered planes will touch down in Mohali even as the sporting excitement and security arrangements will combine to suffocate it.

Police and security agencies went on a high alert in 17 districts in Uttar Pradesh , including Meerut, ahead of the high-voltage match, following intelligence inputs. “The confidential report of the Intelligence Department has sounded a high-alert in 16 districts including Meerut ahead of tomorrow's India-Pakistan match. It has also directed the district magistrates and SPs to be vigilant in these sensitive districts,” Special DGP (Law and Order), of Uttar Pradesh, Brij Lal, said.