NEW DELHI (AP) - India’s sports minister is opposed to the national cricket team going ahead with next month’s scheduled tour of Pakistan in the wake of the terrorist attacks in Mumbai.

India’s cricket board is awaiting approval from the government, but the comments Friday by Sports Minister M.S. Gill make it unlikely that will be granted.

While Gill’s comments are not official government policy, they indicate strong opposition to the tour after last month’s attacks in Mumbai, which killed 171 people and were blamed on militants linked to an Islamic group in Pakistan.

The minister said it was not the right time to play cricket with Pakistan when "people from their soil were indulging in mass murder in India," the Press Trust of India news agency quoted Gill as saying.

"Is it possible for one team to arrive in Mumbai and indulge in mass murder, and have another team go and play cricket in the winter afternoon sun at Lahore, immediately after?" Gill was quoted as saying.

The minister’s comments came as Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ijaz Butt was scheduled to meet International Cricket Council chief executive Haroon Lorgat and Board of Control for Cricket in India officials in the southern Indian city of Chennai on Friday in a bid to salvage the series.

Pakistan Sports Minister Aftab Jilani still hopes the tour can go ahead, but proposed a neutral venue if need be.

"Cricket has a huge popularity in both countries and it will help ease out the tension if the Indian cricket team tours Pakistan next month," Jilani told The Associated Press. "I can’t comment on what Mr. Gill has said, it’s his opinion.

"I can only say that there’s still a ray of hope that Indian cricketers would tour Pakistan."

Jilani said Butt’s meeting with the BCCI and ICC officials could be constructive.

"I am very hopeful that something positive will come out after his meeting with officials of Indian cricket board," he said. "The government of Pakistan does not want tension with India and if we play cricket with each other it will be a step in the right direction.

"If India is not satisfied with the security situation (in Pakistan) there’s a possibility of playing the series at a neutral venue. In my opinion sports should move on and we should play at whatever place it’s possible."

Even before the terror attack on Mumbai, the Indian government refused permission for its junior national field hockey team to play a series in Pakistan due to security concerns.

Already this year, Australia has canceled a tour to Pakistan on security grounds, while the ICC Champions Trophy limited-overs tournament was also postponed for the same reason.

India was scheduled to play three tests, five limited-overs internationals and a Twenty20 international in Pakistan.

The Pakistan government has moved aggressively against Jemaat-u-Dawa, an Islamic charity with links to militants suspected in the Mumbai attacks, by freezing the group’s assets, putting its leaders under house arrest and padlocking its offices.

Pakistan has arrested at least 20 people, including two extremists alleged by India to be key players in the Mumbai attacks, but India has made it clear it wants to see more action.

The attacks were the latest incident in a long tension between the nuclear-armed neighbors, which have fought three wars over the past 60 years.