Pakistan cricket chiefs want India to play a Test match and a one-day international in the troubled port city of Karachi during their tour early next year, an official said on Thursday.
The third cricket series in two years between the arch-rivals will feature three Tests and five one-day internationals between January 1 and February 11, 2006, according to the itinerary sent by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to their Indian counterparts.
An Indian cricket board official said the schedule had been referred to the government and was likely to be approved.
"We don't anticipate any change by the government," the official said.
The Tests are to be played in Lahore (January 5-9), Faisalabad (January 13-17) and Karachi (January 21-15) after a two-day practice match in Lahore from January 2.
The one-dayers have been proposed in Peshawar (January 28), Rawalpindi (January 31), Lahore (February 3), Multan (February 6) and Karachi (February 11).
India will remain in Pakistan after the bilateral tour to take part in the six-nation Asia Cup limited-overs tournament from February 16-28.
India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, the United Arab Emirates and Oman will contest the tournament in various centres around Pakistan.
When India toured Pakistan in March-April last year, it declined to play a Test match in Karachi but agreed to a one-dayer there.
In a tit-for-tat response, Pakistan refused a Test in Ahmedabad, the centre of bloody religious riots in 2002, and opted for a one-dayer there during their tour of India earlier this year.
Violence-wrecked Karachi was rejected as a Test venue by South Africa, and also by England during their current tour of Pakistan.
A bomb blast outside the New Zealand's team hotel in May 2002, which killed 14 people including 11 French naval engineers, forced that tour to be cancelled.
INDIA'S PROPOSED ITINERARY IN PAKISTAN:
January 1: India arrive in Lahore
January 2-3: Two-day practice match, Lahore
January 5-9: First Test, Lahore
January 13-17: Second Test, Faisalabad
January 21-25: Third Test, Karachi
January 28: First one-dayer, Peshawar
January 31: Second one-dayer, Rawalpindi
February 3: Third one-dayer, Lahore
February 6: Fourth one-dayer, Multan
February 11: Fifth one-dayer, Karachi.