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Published 31 Mar, 2004 12:00am

Cricket helps half-brothers surmount boundary

MULTAN, March 30: Half-brothers Rashid and Shahid Latif have been separated for decades by hostility between Pakistan and India but cricket has brought them together

Rashid Latif, a former Pakistan cricket captain, has played 37 tests and 164 one-day internationals, while Shahid works for a newspaper in Kolkata and is an ardent supporter of the Indian team.

Shahid, 50, is in Pakistan for the first time on a cricket visa after restrictions were eased for India's first tour of Pakistan in more than 14 years. Rashid Latif sent him the match tickets from Pakistan.

Both men are likely be in Lahore to watch the second Test between the two countries, cheering their respective sides. "I can understand Shahid's supporting the Indian team," Rashid said. "He's an Indian national, so that's his team."

Their father, 74-year old Abdul Latif, migrated to Pakistan in the 1950s from Uttar Pradesh, as did thousands of other Muslims at that time. Shahid was a child from his first wife. He later remarried in Pakistan. -Reuters

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