CALCUTTA, India (Reuters)
The Asian Test Championship will go ahead even if India decides to withdraw from the tournament, a top official said. "Certainly, if India does not play, the attraction will be less. We will make suitable arrangements then but cricket must go on," Jagmohan Dalmiya, chairman of the Asian Cricket Foundation (ACF), told reporters.

India's government is yet to grant its national team permission to travel to Pakistan for an Asian Championship Test scheduled in September. "We are depending on the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to get permission," Dalmiya said. "We will wait till August 23, maybe another 24 hours. But there is a limit though we are ready to bend backwards to accommodate the Indian government."

The BCCI has made a request to India's sports ministry, who are to refer the matter to the foreign office. Ties between India and Pakistan have been strained over the disputed Himalayan territory of Kashmir, the cause of two of three wars between the south Asian neighbours. Cricket relations between India and Pakistan have been rocky since the Indian government scrapped a proposed Test tour of Pakistan late last year and banned all bilateral cricket between the two neigbhours.

The ACF implements the programmes of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC), which is the game's official Asian body. "We are confident that India will come," said ACC secretary Zakir Hussain Syed. Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are the other two teams in the championship.

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