The India-Pakistan clash in the 2025 Asia Cup, scheduled for September 14 in Dubai, has got the green light from the Indian government. The Sports Ministry unveiled a new policy on India’s international engagements with emphasis on Pakistan on Thursday, which confirms that the Centre won’t stop the Board of Control for Cricket in India from participating in the Pakistan game, but the bilateral cricket relations will remain severed. According to news agency PTI, the policy is effective immediately. It formally ratifies the government’s position on the India-Pakistan cricketing matters. However, it was made clear when the BCCI decided to go ahead with participating in the tournament involving the neighbors, despite calls to boycott it in light of the Pahalgam terror attack and the resulting cross-border tensions that resulted in several innocent deaths in April-May. “India’s approach to sports events involving Pakistan reflects its overall policy in dealing with that country,” the ministry policy says. “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 Asia Cup (and future World Cups) will remain unaffected. “With regard to international and multilateral events, in India or abroad, we are guided by the practices of international sports bodies and the interest of our own sportspersons. It is also relevant to take into account India’s emergence as a credible venue to host international sports events. Accordingly, 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,” the policy said. The policy also promises a simpler visa allotment procedure to ‘position India as a preferred destination for hosting international sporting events’. India and Pakistan are part of Group A in the eight-team competition. The format allows them to play as many as three times within a few days — if they qualify at the top of their four-team group, they’ll proceed to a round-robin Super-Four, and can then meet again in the final — bringing a windfall of revenue for the broadcaster and the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) each time. Multi-national meetings have been vehemently opposed in the country before. Even head coach Gautam Gambhir said that he preferred India and Pakistan to play against each other at all until there was cross-border peace. However, the flip side of the coin is that (apart from broadcast revenues), the match is important for the survival of the ACC and its many grassroots projects in the nation.