Maintaining the tough stand on not resuming bilateral ties with Pakistan, India’s minister for youth affairs and sports Vijay Goel, on Saturday (June 10), reiterated that the India will not have a bilateral cricket series with Pakistan till it stops the terrorism.

The arch- rivals have not played a full bilateral Test series since 2007 when Pakistan visited India for three Tests and five One-Day Internationals. They played a short series of three ODIs and two T20s in India in December 2012 but otherwise, both have faced each other only in the ICC organised events or the Asia Cup.

Both the boards, in 2014, had signed MoUs for six bilateral series to be played between 2015 and 2023 with Pakistan hosting four of them. However, the MoU has not been implemented due to the escalating political tensions between the two neighbours and any chance of seeing them in action soon is looking very bleak.

“For everything, there is a Lakshmanrekha,” Goel said at an interaction with the Indian media in China, where he is leading an Indian youth delegation.

“We have clearly stated that terrorism and sports cannot go side-by-side. As long as Pakistan doesn’t stop cross-border terror and Kashmir mein gadbad karta hai (creates trouble in Kashmir), there is no chance for a bilateral series. Also, the national mood doesn’t support (having bilateral cricketing ties with Pakistan),” he added.

Recently, senior officials of both the boards met in Dubai to talk about the bilateral ties but nothing concrete panned out. In fact, the BCCI was slammed by Goel for attending the meeting, as the Sports Minister made it clear that the meeting was useless considering the fact that the resumption of bilateral series cannot go ahead without the permission of the government.

The Indian team recently played Pakistan in the ICC Champions Trophy and thrashed the arch-rivals by 124 runs to kick-start their title-defense in style.