Sports Minister Pir Aftab Shah Jillani said in an interview that the Ministry had sent its recommendations on a note moved by the Pakistan Cricket Board to the President's Secretariat.

"The Board moved a note through the Presidency wanting to know if we would allow our players to take part in the IPL this year," Jillani said.

"We have given our answer which is that the players can individually decide what they want to do and we have no objections to them going to India for the IPL matches," he said.

"The Board has asked for our comments for individual players and not a national team so we have given our NOC and sent it to the President's Secretariat for further action," he added.

To a question, Jillani made it clear that the President's Secretariat was fully authorised to issue a guideline or policy for the players to participate in the IPL.

He explained that earlier the Ministry didn't allow the national hockey and squash teams to travel to India for international tournaments because they had to take into consideration the tense relations between India and Pakistan in the aftermath of the Mumbai terror attacks.

The PCB had moved the note to the Ministry seeking guidance after the IPL authorities asked it to confirm if Pakistani players were allowed by their government to take part in the IPL.