MOHALI, Dec 21: The tense stand-off between India and Pakistan following the Mumbai attacks will not affect the 2011 World Cup in the region, cricket’s world chief said on Sunday.

“I am sure that the subcontinent will stage the World Cup,” International Cricket Council (ICC) president David Morgan told reporters on the sidelines of the India-England Test here.

“How the matches will be spread remains to be seen. That will depend upon the current security advice then.”

The Indian government last week cancelled a scheduled Test tour of Pakistan following the Mumbai terror attacks that left 172 people dead, including nine of the 10 gunmen, and nearly 300 injured.

The four Test-playing nations in Asia — India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh — are due to host the World Cup, cricket’s showpiece event held every four years, in 2011.

“There has to be some concern about the next World Cup to be played in those four countries,” said Morgan. “But I am confident between the four countries we will have a very good World Cup.”

India and Pakistan jointly organised the World Cup in 1987 and Sri Lanka were added as hosts when the tournament returned to the subcontinent in 1996.

Strife-torn Pakistan has been reduced to a pariah in world cricket.

Australia refused to tour in March and the ICC cancelled the eight-nation Champions Trophy in September due to security concerns.

Even though the six-nation Asia Cup passed off without incident in Lahore and Karachi, teams continued to shun Pakistan, who did not play any Test cricket in 2008.

Morgan dismissed suggestions of double standards since a Test match was currently being played in Mohali, which is 250 kilometres (155 miles) from the Pakistan border.

“Pakistan is a different country and, quite clearly, the security experts believed it was safe and secure for England players to return to India,” he said.

“That has not been the case in Pakistan in recent times. For the Champions Trophy, we had security assessment in Pakistan carried out by the West Indies board, England, Cricket Australia and New Zealand.

“All of those boards were advised that it would not be appropriate for their players to have gone to Pakistan.”

England, who abandoned their one-day series in India and flew home after the Mumbai blasts, returned for two Test matches following security clearance from the England and Wales Cricket Board.

Morgan also ruled out imposing financial penalties on India for refusing to tour Pakistan.

“I understand it was the Indian government’s decision that the cricket team should not tour Pakistan,” he said. “As per the ICC rules, this is acceptable non-compliance and there would be no sanction against the Indian cricket board.

“India and Pakistan are two separate countries. I am not prepared to accept they can be coupled together on safety and security.

“The advice on security we have is that the considerations in the two countries are somewhat different.”—AFP