New Delhi (PTI): Sports Minister M.S. Gill's stanceof not sending the Indian cricket team to Pakistan in the wake of Mumbai terror attacks evoked a mixed response among Parliamentarians on Friday, some of whom wanted that sporting relationship should be maintained.

Leaders from BJP, JD(U), Samajwadi Party backed Gill's opinion that it was not the right time to play cricket with Pakistan when "people from their soil were indulging in mass murder in India."

Indian Olympic Association President and Rajya Sabha member for Congress Suresh Kalmadi and another Parliamentarian Aslam Sher Khan were in favour of continuing sporting ties with Pakistan.

BJP leader and former Union Civil Aviation Minister Shahnawaz Hussain agreed India did not require to continue sporting relation with Pakistan.

"We should not send our cricket team to Pakistan as there is no need to maintain sporting ties with Pakistan in the wake of Mumbai terror attack," he told reporters.

"I feel keeping the sporting ties at this juncture does not serve any purpose," he added.

SP General Secretary Amar Singh also was of the same view as he said: "The cricket team should not be sent to Pakistan — the country which has sponsored so much terrorism and violence against us."

"Atal Behari Vajpayee started the bus service but we got Kargil war," he added.

But Kalmadi gave a different take as he told PTI that India should try to bring peace through sports provided they get security clearance.

"We should try to bring peace through sports. If security is in question it has to be addressed because that is most important and then we can reconsider our view," Kalmadi said.

"We should not think of boycotting or severing our sporting ties whatever may be the government relations because in getting Commonwealth Games we were supported by our subcontinent neighbours," he added.

Former hockey Olympian and Rajya Sabha member Aslam Sher Khan also had a contradictory opinion as he said the sporting relations should be maintained with Pakistan.

"The sports contacts should go on with Pakistan," he said.

But Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Ejaz Butt, who is in Chennai to attend an Asian Cricket Council meeting, refused to react, saying he was not prepared to make any statement.

"I am here for a different meeting. I am not prepared to comment on government of India's decision," Butt told PTI.

Minister of State for Home Affairs Prakash Jaiswal, however, remained non-committal by saying that it was External Affairs Minister's job to assess the situation and make a decision.

"It is for the Ministry of External Affairs to decide. MEA will send a team to Pakistan to assess the situation and decide on the issue," Jaiswal said.

Related links:

Indian team should not travel to Pak.: Gill BCCI awaits govt. response PCB chief silent on Gill's outburst