NEW DELHI: Pakistan High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit says extremist elements in India were opposed to improvement in their country's ties with Pakistan, Radio Pakistan reported.

Speaking during a television programme, Basit said these extremist elements had disrupted a scheduled meeting between the heads of the Indian and Pakistani cricket boards.

The envoy's statement comes a day after members of India's far-right political group Shiv Sena stormed the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) headquarters just before Pakistan Cri­cket Board (PCB) Chairman Shaharyar Khan was to meet with BCCI chief Shashank Manohar to discuss a bilateral series for December this year.

The protesters demanded that Manohar cancel talks with the PCB chairman that were scheduled to take place in Mumbai on Monday.

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Earlier this month, Shiv Sena activists had also attacked Sudheendra Kulkarni, the organiser of former Pakistani foreign minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri's book launch to protest the event which was being held in Mumbai.

Basit, speaking on the programme, also said that Pakistan wished to hold a dialogue with India over a range of issues, including terrorism and Kashmir.

The Pakistani envoy to India also expressed regret over the rise of violence in Maharashtra state, and said the attacks of Hindu extremists on Muslims in India were a cause for concern.

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In March this year, the state of Maharashtra, where the consumption of beef is banned, made even possessing beef illegal, a move seen by religious minorities as a sign of the growing power of hardline Hindus since Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power.

Tensions fuelled by the beef ban have been on the rise in India despite Modi's call for religious harmony as cows are considered sacred by most Hindus in the country, whose millions of Muslims and other minorities eat beef as a source of protein.

Commentators have warned of an emboldening of Hindu hardliners since Modi came to power, with vigilante gangs increasingly campaigning against Muslims.

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