Pakistan government approves teams to travel to neighbouring India after delays over security concerns ease with Indian assurances
Pakistan cleared for World T20 travel
UPDATE
Pakistan will travel to India for the World Twenty20 after the Indian government gave security assurances on Friday.
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Najam Sethi, chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board, said the men's and women's teams would leave for Kolkata late on Friday night after interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan cleared their departure.
Sethi says the decision was taken "on the basis of solid security assurances we have received from officials of Indian government".
Sethi met with Khan in Islamabad on Friday and provided letters of security assurances he had received from police officials and the chief minister of Bengal.
The Pakistan Cricket Board received the documents from global governing body the ICC late on Thursday.
Earlier: Pakistan need not worry about the safety of their cricket teams in the ongoing World Twenty20, Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh said on Friday.
The March 19 clash between the neighbours and fierce rivals has already been shifted to Kolkata following Pakistan's security concerns over the original venue Dharamsala.
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Pakistan said on Thursday its men's and women's cricket teams would travel to India only after New Delhi gave a public guarantee of the safety of its players.
"Why only Pakistan? Whoever comes here, India provides them security. There is no reason to be worried about security here," Singh told reporters.
Pakistan justified in seeking security 4 it's people n d cricket team. Let's hope everyone appreciates d rationale behind it.
— Shoaib Akhtar (@shoaib100mph) March 11, 2016
On Thursday, junior Home Minister Kiren Rijiju promised foolproof security to Pakistan, a country shunned by top teams since a 2009 attack on a bus carrying a visiting Sri Lanka team near Lahore's Gaddafi Stadium.
Outside of international tournaments, India-Pakistan cricket matches between have been suspended since gunmen killed 166 people in Mumbai in a three-day rampage in 2008, which India's government blames on a Pakistani militant group.
The latest developments threaten to further sour relations between the cricket boards with the powerful BCCI in India accusing its counterpart of looking for a reason to skip the ongoing tournament.
"Unfortunately, Pakistan is looking for an excuse not to come," BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur told a local news channel.
"We are providing security to everyone and Pakistan will be given adequate security. They should not be worried about security," said Thakur, who is also a member of parliament representing India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
Chairman PCB Shaharyar Khan speaking to the Pakistan men's team at National Cricket Academy Lahore pic.twitter.com/7MQSr0kuMp
— PCB Official (@TheRealPCB) March 10, 2016
The Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board Shaharyar Khan told PTI that a detailed report has been sent to the Interior Ministry on the security assurances received from the ICC and the BCCI.
"We have also informed the ministry about assurances coming from the Bengal Chief Minister who is keen to see Pakistan play in Kolkata," he said.
The International Cricket Council, the game's governing body, said on Wednesday it had been given assurances on security from all the Indian state authorities that are hosting matches.
Former champions Pakistan, who lost to India in the final of the inaugural World Twenty20 in 2007, are scheduled to begin their campaign with a March 16 contest against a qualifying team in Kolkata.