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Pakistan media claims India agreed to participate in 2027 SAF Games in Pakistan. But is it that simple? Here’s what India’s national policy says.
India and Pakistan at the politcally-charged up Asia Cup. (Photo Credit: AFP)
Pakistan media on Monday (September 7) claimed that India has agreed, in principle, to participate in the 2027 South Asian Federation (SAF) Games in Pakistan, which will be held in Islamabad, Lahore and Peshawar. There has been no confirmation from India’s side.
They claim that India’s representatives were present at a high-level meeting of the South Asian Olympic Association, where it accepted Pakistan’s invitation to compete in the country. The event is scheduled to be held from April 4 to 11, 2027.
Any official response from India might take some time to arrive, given the extreme sensitivity of the issue. For starters, India and Pakistan’s sporting relations are at an all-time low since the Pahalgam terror attack in 2025, which saw 26 Indians brutally killed in the Kashmir Valley. In cricket, for example, atheletes from both countries have even refused to do the customary handshakes before and after matches.
Earlier this year, after some criticised the Board of Control for Cricket in India for participating in multi-lateral matches with Pakistan, the Union Sports Ministry issued an Office Memorandum clarifying its stance.
India maintains a clear distinction between bilateral sports ties and multilateral tournaments when it comes to competing against Pakistan. While bilateral series remain completely suspended, official sports policy allows Indian athletes to take part in multi-nation events governed by international bodies such as the International Olympic Committee or global sports federations.
“In so far as bilateral sports events in each other’s country are concerned, Indian teams will not be participating in competitions in Pakistan. Nor will we permit Pakistani teams to play in India,” the memorandum said.
‘Indian teams and individual players will take part in international events that also have teams or players from Pakistan. Similarly, Pakistani players and teams will be able to participate in such multilateral events hosted by India’, it said.
However, participating in a multilateral tournament does not mean permission to travel across the border is guaranteed. Any Indian sports contingent scheduled to compete in Pakistan must first secure mandatory political and security clearances from both the Ministry of External Affairs and the Ministry of Home Affairs.
In practice, the government evaluates these travel requests on a case-by-case basis. For high-profile sports such as cricket, the authorities have routinely denied travel clearance citing security risks, prompting organizers to shift India’s fixtures to neutral locations under hybrid tournament structures.
While India has never sent a cricket team for a SAF competition, the BCCI, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and the International Cricket Council (ICC) also have a separate agreement not to play each other apart from in neutral venues, which is reportedly valid up to 2028.
Conversely, non-cricketing disciplines facing strict international obligations have occasionally received clearance, as demonstrated when the Indian tennis squad visited Islamabad for a Davis Cup fixture in 2024, the last instance of Indian atheletes going cross-border before the terror attacks.
Therefore, even if India might have agreed to participate in SAF, whether or not the athletes will travel West will be determined by the government’s stance at the time. New Delhi, in turn, will have to manage its political stance while staying in the good books of the Olympic associations as it aims to host the Games in the near future itself.
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Ask News18Pakistan media claims India has agreed in principle to participate in the 2027 SAF Games in Pakistan, scheduled from April 4 to 11, 2027. However, there has been no official confirmation from India’s side, and any participation would require mandatory political and security clearances from the Ministry of External Affairs and Ministry of Home Affairs.
Ask News18September 08, 2026, 4:43 PM IST
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