Pakistan has expressed the hope that India would attend the forthcoming meeting of the cash rich Asian Cricket Council, scheduled to be held in Lahore on May 25. "We are confident that a delegation of the BCCI would be in Lahore for the meeting which has three very important points on its agenda," ACC Secretary Zakir Hussain Sayed told the local media in Karachi yesterday.

Invitations for the meeting have been sent to all the member Boards, including India and their response was awaited, he said. The agenda for the meeting includes finalisation of the Cricket development programme in the region for which ICC has granted $6.4 million. "It is a very important meeting by all counts. We have to give final shape to our programmes so that ACC starts becoming more effective and decisive," he said.

Despite an overt expression of optimism, Pakistan Cricket Board officials were keeping their fingers crossed as they were not too sure whether BCCI leaders, AC Muthiah and Jagmohan Dalmiya, who currently heads the Asian Cricket Development Fund, could make it to the meeting in light of the "stand off" between the BCCI and Sports Minister Uma Bharti.

The ACC is currently headed by PCB Chairman Lt. Gen Tauqir Zia,who, in anger cancelled the scheduled ACC meeting in Sharjah last month as a tit for tat response to the Indian decision not to play against Pakistan.

Initially, the PCB chief also threatened to boycott India in all the international matches. But after the angry outbursts, Zia considerably retracted stating that any decision by the PCB had to be approved by the Pakistan Government.

Pakistan military ruler Gen Parvez Musharraf too has said in interviews that he preferred the resumption of the Indo-Pak cricket series, which in turn could pave the way for improvement in bilateral relations.

With tensions between India and Pakistan continuing, PCB officials now feel that the ACC too is destined to go the seven-nation SAARC way, which was caught in the quagmire of Indo-Pak rivalry, PCB officials said.

Zakir Syed said indications were that both Muthiah and Dalmiya, would be in Lahore for the meeting. "Even the Sri Lankans would be represented as two very important programmes have to be finalised." He said the PCB has finalised the Asia Cup and Asian Test Championship programmes. A copy of the development programme of the ACC has been sent to the International Cricket Council Development Manager Andrew Eade. "Obviously, we would be looking to implement our development programme in cooperation with the ICC."

The PCB has scheduled two matches of the Asian Test Championship involving the Pakistan team against Bangladesh and India in September. A final decision on dates and venues would be taken at the May 25 meeting, he said.

© PTI