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Cricket tensions between India and Pakistan have been heightened by boycott calls in India ahead of their Twenty20 World Cup clash in Dubai on Sunday.
A series of killings in Jammu and Kashmir has set off the anger, even though the Indian board (BCCI) has insisted the national team cannot withdraw from the match.
Decades of bitter rivalry between the neighbours often clouds their cricket encounters.
India has largely refused to play bilateral matches against Pakistan since 2008, after deadly attacks in Mumbai which India blamed on Pakistan.
Now they play each other only in international events.
The last meeting was at the 50-over World Cup two years ago but even that was at the centre of boycott calls.
The killings of 11 migrant workers and minority Hindus and Sikhs in Kashmir have led to the latest demands made in India, which frequently accuses Pakistan of backing Kashmir militant groups.
The hashtag #BlacklistPakistan was trending on Twitter on Wednesday.
Mr Rajeev Shukla, the BCCI vice-president, said that the country had a contractual obligation to take part in the World Cup.
"We strongly condemn the killings. However, under the International Cricket Council's commitments, you can't refuse to play any one (match)," he said.
Union Minister for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, Giriraj Singh, has also urged the government to consider intervening to stop the match.
"I think if relations are not good, then this should be reconsidered," he said when questioned about the match.
Other politicians have also joined the calls.
Congress leader and former hockey star Pargat Singh called for the high-octane clash to be cancelled as the situation at the border between India and Pakistan is tense.
However, India's badminton great Prakash Padukone said: "Sports and politics should not be mixed and according to me it (the India-Pakistan match) should go on".
India was also urged to boycott the 2019 World Cup match against Pakistan because of a Kashmir suicide bomber attack in February that year in which more than 40 troops were killed.
Pakistan denied any role in the assault but the two countries came to the brink of war.
"I agree that after this attack, India should not only stop playing cricket, hockey or football with Pakistan, but should cut all ties with them," BCCI president Sourav Ganguly had said then.
However, the match still went ahead and India won it by 89 runs.
While the game took place, there were other fallouts. IMG Reliance pulled out from broadcasting the Pakistan Super League and DSports suspended the broadcast of the T20 league.
India and Pakistan last played a bilateral series in 2013 during a brief thaw in their rivalry.
The two countries have fought two wars over Kashmir - divided between the two nations - since their independence in 1947.
Over the past few days, friendly banter has broken out between former India and Pakistan cricketers over Sunday's match in Dubai.
Former Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar poked fun at former Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh by commenting on Twitter: "With Mr. I know it all @harbhajan_singh in Dubai for a pre discussion about the mother of all competitions."
Harbhajan replied: "When u have 400 plus test wickets am sure you know more about cricket then someone with less then 200 wickets."
India's captain Virat Kohli earlier played down the hype surrounding the India-Pakistan match terming it "another game of cricket".
"I have just approached this game as another game of cricket and I know there is a lot of hype around this game, more so with ticket sales and demands of tickets," he said.
"Right now, value of those tickets are ridiculously high, and that's all I know. My friends are demanding tickets right left and centre and I am saying 'no'."
"Apart from that, I don't think we can make anything extra out of this game and for us it's a game of cricket that has to be played in the right spirit, in the way we know we can."
AFP, Indo-Asian News Service
