Explained: Why India will host Pakistani athletes despite visa ban

Indian Express

05-07-2025

When the government decided to suspend visa services to Pakistani nationals with immediate effect on April 24, 2025, in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attacks, it cast a shadow on the participation of the athletes from across the border in the tournaments to be hosted in India.
Those concerns were allayed after a sports ministry official said on Thursday that Pakistani sportspersons will not be stopped from travelling to India to participate in multi-nation tournaments. 'While India won't be involved in the bilateral engagement with Pakistan, we won't be stopping them from participating in the multi-national tournaments India is hosting,' the official said.
In 2025 alone, India is scheduled to host at least a dozen international tournaments, both senior and junior, in nearly 10 sports excluding cricket. These include World Cups, Asian Championships, Commonwealth Championships and other tour events in sports like hockey, weightlifting, swimming, badminton, squash and athletics.
So, even as the borders and airspace remain closed, and the trade and diplomatic relations remain suspended, athletes from Pakistan will be allowed into the country.
This may not necessarily mean that Pakistan's cricketers will travel to India, as the two countries have mutually decided to play at neutral venues until 2027. Arshad Nadeem, the Olympic champion javelin thrower from Pakistan, won't compete in Saturday's Neeraj Chopra Classic because it was an invitational event.
The reason to allow Pakistani athletes to take part in tournaments being held in India can be traced to a series of events that took place six years ago.
In June 2019, the sports ministry had given in writing to the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) that the government would 'permit all qualified athletes belonging to any National Olympic Committee…' to take part in events that are held in India. 'Such participation of athletes shall be without prejudice to our principled positions and policies on other political matters including issues such as international recognition or otherwise of the country of origin of the athletes,' the ministry letter added.
The written assurance came on the insistence of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which had cracked the whip after India did not grant visas to Pakistani athletes.
In February 2019, days after the Pulwama terror attacks, a three-member Pakistani team comprising two pistol shooters and a manager was scheduled to arrive in Delhi for the shooting World Cup. However, the Pakistani team withdrew after they did not get visas. There was no official statement from the Indian government but the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) and the National Rifle Association of Pakistan claimed the visas were not granted because of the terror strikes in Pulwama.
The decision resulted in India staring at international isolation. Days later, the IOC accused India of violating the Olympic Charter; specifically the principles of 'non-discrimination.'
The world body announced that it had suspended talks with the IOA and the government for hosting sports events in the future. It didn't stop there. The IOC went on to 'recommend' all international federations that they 'neither award nor hold' sports events in India until they receive written assurances from the Indian government that participants from all nations will be guaranteed entry.
On Thursday, while saying that Pakistani athletes will be given visas, the sports ministry official pointed to the fact that India could once again be found guilty of violating the Olympic Charter, which would in turn jeopardise the country's bid to host the 2030 Commonwealth Games and 2036 Olympics, among many other events.
'Stopping any nation from participating in international tournaments due to border conflicts violates the Olympic charter, and it is not a good representation of India,' the official said. 'For instance, Russia and Ukraine are at war, but they show up at multi-nation events and compete as well. We are just following the standard norm.'
International sport — the Olympic disciplines — is guided by the Olympic Charter and its Rule 44 states that the National Olympic Committees (in this case, the IOA) must 'ensure that no one has been excluded for racial, religious or political reasons or by reason of other forms of discrimination.'
The IOC has been strict in implementing this rule. It has, in the past, acted against Kuwait, after the country refused to grant a visa to an Israeli delegate for the Asian Shooting Championship in 2015. A few years later, Malaysia, too, was stripped of the hosting rights for the World Para Swimming Championship after denying a visa to Israelis.
More recently, FIFA — which also adheres to the Olympic Charter — took away the hosting rights of the Under-20 World Cup from Indonesia because they did not want to stage games involving Israel.
Even the USA, which has imposed a complete travel ban on a dozen countries, has made an exemption for athletes who will participate in the 2026 FIFA World Cup and the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, among other events.
During the IOC Session in Mumbai in October 2023, the IOC had said that countries that exclude athletes from competing for political reasons risk harming their plans to host the Olympics.
IOC member Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, the former president of Croatia, flagged the 'growing politicisation of sport' as a problem during that meeting, according to the Associated Press. 'We have witnessed more and more government restrictions being placed on athletes' access to international sporting competitions,' Grabar-Kitarovic said.
She added that the IOC panel that holds talks with future Olympic hosts 'must take any infringement of the Olympic Charter into consideration at all stages of the dialogue,' according to AP. 'It is important that all interested parties and preferred hosts commit to abide by the IOC's code of ethics and rules of conduct,' Grabar-Kitarovic said.
This message was not lost on India, which on Tuesday sent a high-level delegation to Lausanne for a meeting with the IOC where they pitched for the 2036 Olympics.