India, Oct. 28 -- The Sports Ministry on Tuesday justified its stand to play against Pakistan in multilateral international events pointing to the severe sanctions imposed by the International Olympic Committee against Indonesia for denying visas to Israeli athletes for the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships.

In the backdrop of India's deteriorating relations with Pakistan post Pahalgam terror attacks, the Indian government severed all bilateral sporting ties with Pakistan but said it will continue to compete against its neighbours in multilateral international events, as spelled out in IOC's Olympic charter that safeguard countries from being excluded from sports on the basis of "racial, religious or political reasons or by reason ...