Attack on Srilankan cricket team in Lahore
- Thread starter HAIDER
- Start date
You have a realy big mouth and you talk a lot crapy stuff...I live in the same country where you live, does that mean I start bashing my motherland...did britain managed to stop the 7/7 bombings???
My answer is they didnt, does that mean they are incompetent. In future you better watch your mouth.
Dude u r right,
every body has differences but that does not mean u go absoultely mad out there. though i agree that Srilankans must have been given bulletproof bus, but it is history, the mistakes has been made, now look at future by seeing who is behind them. lets more info come out.
i heard on Ajj tv that 4 of the culpraits are caught, and investigations are underway, it is not public yet to larger extent.
if they are indians then we are already heading towards the bloodiest coldwar type battel where no place will remain safe for cricketers, indan, Pakistan n that is the bad route
Al-zakir
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God dammit man. what the ****. I was hoping that wouldn't happen to cricket team but This ****** killed my hope. This was defiantly last nail in the coffin and end of international cricket in Pakistan for years to come. I don't see Pakistan hosting any game in 2011 either.
I am glad that lankan team is ok.
I am very proud and sad at the same time for the "Jawans" who gave their life to protect them. May Allah bless them for their supreme sacrifice...............
I am glad that lankan team is ok.
I am very proud and sad at the same time for the "Jawans" who gave their life to protect them. May Allah bless them for their supreme sacrifice...............
Zovc
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Al-zakir
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Bangladesh saddened by attack, frets over Pakistan tour
DHAKA, March 3 (bdnews24.com/Reuters) - Bangladesh cricket authorities expressed sadness over the deadly attack on the Sri Lankan team bus in Lahore on Tuesday but hoped Pakistan would still go ahead with their limited overs tour of the country.
"We are deeply saddened by the unfortunate events and express solidarity with the players, match officials and victims of the attack," the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) said in a statement.
Unidentified gunmen attacked Sri Lanka's cricket team bus with rifles, grenades and rockets, wounding six players and a British coach, as it was being driven to Lahore's Gaddafi stadium for the third day of the second test.
Six Pakistanis were killed in the attack following which the test was cancelled.
The BCB officials said they were in constant touch with their counterparts in Sri Lanka and Pakistan and the International Cricket Council after the attack.
However, the Bangladesh board were also mulling over the fate of the home series against Pakistan scheduled from next week.
Pakistan are due to arrive on Saturday on a 16-day trip to play two Twenty20 Internationals and five one-dayers.
"We are observing the whole situation. We will watch how the incident and the aftermath unfold and respond accordingly," said Ahmed Sazzadul Alam, organising committee chairman for the Pakistan series.
"However, our preparation is almost complete and we are ready to go ahead with the series," he added.
Dhaka is scheduled to stage the Twenty20 games on March 10 and 12 as well as the first three one-dayers on March 13, 15 and 17. Chittagong is due to stage the last two ODIs on March 20 and 22.
The series is a reciprocal trip as Bangladesh went on a tour last year to fill in after Australia cancelled their trip at the eleventh hour on security ground.
Bangladesh promised high security for the tourists after a mutiny at the country's paramilitary headquarters killed at least 80 people, mostly army officers, last week.
:: bdnews24.com ::
DHAKA, March 3 (bdnews24.com/Reuters) - Bangladesh cricket authorities expressed sadness over the deadly attack on the Sri Lankan team bus in Lahore on Tuesday but hoped Pakistan would still go ahead with their limited overs tour of the country.
"We are deeply saddened by the unfortunate events and express solidarity with the players, match officials and victims of the attack," the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) said in a statement.
Unidentified gunmen attacked Sri Lanka's cricket team bus with rifles, grenades and rockets, wounding six players and a British coach, as it was being driven to Lahore's Gaddafi stadium for the third day of the second test.
Six Pakistanis were killed in the attack following which the test was cancelled.
The BCB officials said they were in constant touch with their counterparts in Sri Lanka and Pakistan and the International Cricket Council after the attack.
However, the Bangladesh board were also mulling over the fate of the home series against Pakistan scheduled from next week.
Pakistan are due to arrive on Saturday on a 16-day trip to play two Twenty20 Internationals and five one-dayers.
"We are observing the whole situation. We will watch how the incident and the aftermath unfold and respond accordingly," said Ahmed Sazzadul Alam, organising committee chairman for the Pakistan series.
"However, our preparation is almost complete and we are ready to go ahead with the series," he added.
Dhaka is scheduled to stage the Twenty20 games on March 10 and 12 as well as the first three one-dayers on March 13, 15 and 17. Chittagong is due to stage the last two ODIs on March 20 and 22.
The series is a reciprocal trip as Bangladesh went on a tour last year to fill in after Australia cancelled their trip at the eleventh hour on security ground.
Bangladesh promised high security for the tourists after a mutiny at the country's paramilitary headquarters killed at least 80 people, mostly army officers, last week.
:: bdnews24.com ::
Another Artical
Pakistan: Gunmen in rickshaws attack cricket team
Bookmarks Print By RIZWAN ALI and CHRIS BRUMMITT, Associated Press Writer Rizwan Ali And Chris Brummitt, Associated Press Writer – 20 mins ago
LAHORE, Pakistan – A team of heavily armed gunmen, some traveling in rickshaws, ambushed Sri Lanka's national cricket team Tuesday as it arrived for a match, killing six police guards and wounding seven players. The brazen attack heightened fears that Pakistan is becoming increasingly unstable.
The assault bore striking similarities to last year's three-day hostage drama in the Indian financial capital of Mumbai.
Working in pairs, the attackers in Lahore carried walkie-talkies and backpacks stuffed with water, dried fruit and other high-energy food — a sign they anticipated a protracted siege and may have been planning to take the players hostage.
The bus sped through the ambush, but the gunmen's preparations indicated they may been planning to hijack the vehicle, Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik told The Associated Press. None of the gunmen were killed and all apparently escaped into this teeming eastern city.
Even though the bus was peppered with 25 bullet holes, none of the cricket players were killed. The attack was among the highest-profile terrorist strikes on a sports team since the 1972 Munich Olympics, when Palestinian militants killed 11 Israeli athletes.
In addition, by targeting not only a major Pakistani city but also the country's most popular sport, the attack was sure to resonate throughout the region, where cricket has been an obsession since it was introduced by the British during the colonial era.
In targeting the sport, the gunmen were certain to draw international attention to the government's inability to provide basic security as it battles militants linked to al-Qaida and the Taliban and faces accusations that it is harboring terrorists.
The attack ended Pakistan's hopes of hosting international cricket teams — or any high profile sports events — for months, if not years. Even before Tuesday, most cricket squads chose not to tour the country for security reasons. India and Australia had canceled tours, and New Zealand announced Tuesday it was calling of its December tour.
Besides the six police officers, a driver of a vehicle in the convoy was also killed, officials said. Seven Sri Lankan players, a Pakistani umpire and a coach from Britain were wounded, none with life-threatening injuries.
Malik did not speculate on the identity of the attackers, but said Pakistan was "in a state of war" and vowed to "flush out all these terrorists from this country."
Pakistan has a web of Islamist militant networks, some with links to al-Qaida and the Taliban, which have staged other high-profile strikes in a bid to destabilize the government and punish it for its support of the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan.
The convoy transporting the Sri Lankan team and cricket officials was surrounded by police vehicles at the front, rear and side, but traveled the same route each day of the five-day test match against Pakistan's national team, according to Malik. The attack occurred on the third day of play just before 9 a.m.
The assailants struck at a traffic circle about 300 yards from the Gaddafi Stadium in downtown Lahore, firing at least one grenade and a rocket as well as repeated automatic weapon rounds from a white car, before other gunmen attacked from three other locations, witnesses and officials said.
Lahore police chief Haji Habibur Rehman said the attackers arrived at the scene in motorized rickshaws and two cars, and police later seized a large cache of weapons abandoned in one of the rickshaws and elsewhere near the scene.
The arsenal displayed for journalists included rocket-propelled grenades, pistols, 25 hand grenades, submachine guns and plastic explosives.
Despite the onslaught, the bus carrying the Sri Lankan players did not stop, speeding through the hail of bullets and into the stadium, likely saving many lives.
As the players ducked, shouting "Go! Go!" driver Mohammad Khalil said he maneuvered the bus, pocked with bullet holes and its windshield shattered, into the stadium.
Bloodied players were helped off the vehicle and Sri Lankan team captain Mahela Jayawardene shouted: "Get more ambulances in here! Get more ambulances in here," according to Tony Bennet, an Australian cameraman covering the match.
At the traffic circle, gunmen fought a 15-minute battle with police. Pakistani TV footage showed at least two pairs of gunmen with backpacks firing on the convoy from a stretch of grass, taking cover behind a monument.
"These people were highly trained and highly armed — the way they were holding their guns, the way they were taking aim and shooting at the police," said Salman Taseer, the governor of Punjab province, adding that they "used the same methods... as the terrorists who attacked Mumbai."
One militant group likely to fall under suspicion is Lashkar-e-Taiba, the network blamed for the Nov. 26-28 Mumbai attacks, in which 10 gunmen targeted luxury hotels, a Jewish center and other sites, killing 164 people.
The group has been targeted by Pakistani authorities since then, and its stronghold is in eastern Pakistan.
In the past, India and Pakistan — who have fought three wars since 1947 — have often blamed each other for attacks on their territories.
While some politicians and retired generals, along with ordinary Pakistanis, hinted at an Indian hand in the Lahore attacks, government leaders and security chiefs did not. Any high-level allegations like that would trigger fresh and possibly dangerous tensions between the countries, already running high following the Mumbai attacks.
There were also no indications that authorities in Pakistan or Sri Lanka suspected Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger separatist rebels, who are being badly hit in a military offensive at home and have staged scores of terror attacks in the past.
Rehman, the Lahore police chief, said the 12-14 assailants resembled Pashtuns, the ethnic group from close to the Afghan border, the stronghold of al-Qaida and the Taliban. He said officers were hunting for them.
U.S. State Department spokesman Gordon Duguid told reporters in Washington that the United States condemned "this vicious attack on innocent civilians but also on the positive relations that Pakistan and Sri Lanka are trying to enjoy."
The most seriously wounded cricket official was umpire Ahsan Raza, who underwent an operation after being shot in the abdomen, a medical official said.
Two Sri Lankan players — batsmen Thilan Samaraweera and Tharanga Paranavitana — suffered bullet wounds and were treated in a hospital, said Chamara Ranavira, a spokesman for the Sri Lankan High Commission. Paranavitana was grazed by a bullet in the chest, and Samaraweera has a bullet wound in his thigh, he said. The team traveled home to Sri Lanka later Tuesday.
Cricket's governing body said it would review Pakistan's status as co-host of the 2011 World Cup
International Cricket Council chief executive Haroon Lorgat said the council will meet in Dubai next month to discuss whether to redistribute World Cup matches among India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, the competition's other co-hosts.
___
Associated Press Writers Krishan Francis and Ravi Nessman in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Zarar Khan and Asif Shahzad in Islamabad, and Babar Dogar in Lahore contributed to this report.
I figure the chances of any one but Pakistanis being involved in this attack is about as remote as a snowball in hell,,, but I cant help but wonder about the desperate mentality of any one that wants to blame it on another country,, thats not the way to solve problems...
Pakistan: Gunmen in rickshaws attack cricket team
Bookmarks Print By RIZWAN ALI and CHRIS BRUMMITT, Associated Press Writer Rizwan Ali And Chris Brummitt, Associated Press Writer – 20 mins ago
LAHORE, Pakistan – A team of heavily armed gunmen, some traveling in rickshaws, ambushed Sri Lanka's national cricket team Tuesday as it arrived for a match, killing six police guards and wounding seven players. The brazen attack heightened fears that Pakistan is becoming increasingly unstable.
The assault bore striking similarities to last year's three-day hostage drama in the Indian financial capital of Mumbai.
Working in pairs, the attackers in Lahore carried walkie-talkies and backpacks stuffed with water, dried fruit and other high-energy food — a sign they anticipated a protracted siege and may have been planning to take the players hostage.
The bus sped through the ambush, but the gunmen's preparations indicated they may been planning to hijack the vehicle, Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik told The Associated Press. None of the gunmen were killed and all apparently escaped into this teeming eastern city.
Even though the bus was peppered with 25 bullet holes, none of the cricket players were killed. The attack was among the highest-profile terrorist strikes on a sports team since the 1972 Munich Olympics, when Palestinian militants killed 11 Israeli athletes.
In addition, by targeting not only a major Pakistani city but also the country's most popular sport, the attack was sure to resonate throughout the region, where cricket has been an obsession since it was introduced by the British during the colonial era.
In targeting the sport, the gunmen were certain to draw international attention to the government's inability to provide basic security as it battles militants linked to al-Qaida and the Taliban and faces accusations that it is harboring terrorists.
The attack ended Pakistan's hopes of hosting international cricket teams — or any high profile sports events — for months, if not years. Even before Tuesday, most cricket squads chose not to tour the country for security reasons. India and Australia had canceled tours, and New Zealand announced Tuesday it was calling of its December tour.
Besides the six police officers, a driver of a vehicle in the convoy was also killed, officials said. Seven Sri Lankan players, a Pakistani umpire and a coach from Britain were wounded, none with life-threatening injuries.
Malik did not speculate on the identity of the attackers, but said Pakistan was "in a state of war" and vowed to "flush out all these terrorists from this country."
Pakistan has a web of Islamist militant networks, some with links to al-Qaida and the Taliban, which have staged other high-profile strikes in a bid to destabilize the government and punish it for its support of the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan.
The convoy transporting the Sri Lankan team and cricket officials was surrounded by police vehicles at the front, rear and side, but traveled the same route each day of the five-day test match against Pakistan's national team, according to Malik. The attack occurred on the third day of play just before 9 a.m.
The assailants struck at a traffic circle about 300 yards from the Gaddafi Stadium in downtown Lahore, firing at least one grenade and a rocket as well as repeated automatic weapon rounds from a white car, before other gunmen attacked from three other locations, witnesses and officials said.
Lahore police chief Haji Habibur Rehman said the attackers arrived at the scene in motorized rickshaws and two cars, and police later seized a large cache of weapons abandoned in one of the rickshaws and elsewhere near the scene.
The arsenal displayed for journalists included rocket-propelled grenades, pistols, 25 hand grenades, submachine guns and plastic explosives.
Despite the onslaught, the bus carrying the Sri Lankan players did not stop, speeding through the hail of bullets and into the stadium, likely saving many lives.
As the players ducked, shouting "Go! Go!" driver Mohammad Khalil said he maneuvered the bus, pocked with bullet holes and its windshield shattered, into the stadium.
Bloodied players were helped off the vehicle and Sri Lankan team captain Mahela Jayawardene shouted: "Get more ambulances in here! Get more ambulances in here," according to Tony Bennet, an Australian cameraman covering the match.
At the traffic circle, gunmen fought a 15-minute battle with police. Pakistani TV footage showed at least two pairs of gunmen with backpacks firing on the convoy from a stretch of grass, taking cover behind a monument.
"These people were highly trained and highly armed — the way they were holding their guns, the way they were taking aim and shooting at the police," said Salman Taseer, the governor of Punjab province, adding that they "used the same methods... as the terrorists who attacked Mumbai."
One militant group likely to fall under suspicion is Lashkar-e-Taiba, the network blamed for the Nov. 26-28 Mumbai attacks, in which 10 gunmen targeted luxury hotels, a Jewish center and other sites, killing 164 people.
The group has been targeted by Pakistani authorities since then, and its stronghold is in eastern Pakistan.
In the past, India and Pakistan — who have fought three wars since 1947 — have often blamed each other for attacks on their territories.
While some politicians and retired generals, along with ordinary Pakistanis, hinted at an Indian hand in the Lahore attacks, government leaders and security chiefs did not. Any high-level allegations like that would trigger fresh and possibly dangerous tensions between the countries, already running high following the Mumbai attacks.
There were also no indications that authorities in Pakistan or Sri Lanka suspected Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger separatist rebels, who are being badly hit in a military offensive at home and have staged scores of terror attacks in the past.
Rehman, the Lahore police chief, said the 12-14 assailants resembled Pashtuns, the ethnic group from close to the Afghan border, the stronghold of al-Qaida and the Taliban. He said officers were hunting for them.
U.S. State Department spokesman Gordon Duguid told reporters in Washington that the United States condemned "this vicious attack on innocent civilians but also on the positive relations that Pakistan and Sri Lanka are trying to enjoy."
The most seriously wounded cricket official was umpire Ahsan Raza, who underwent an operation after being shot in the abdomen, a medical official said.
Two Sri Lankan players — batsmen Thilan Samaraweera and Tharanga Paranavitana — suffered bullet wounds and were treated in a hospital, said Chamara Ranavira, a spokesman for the Sri Lankan High Commission. Paranavitana was grazed by a bullet in the chest, and Samaraweera has a bullet wound in his thigh, he said. The team traveled home to Sri Lanka later Tuesday.
Cricket's governing body said it would review Pakistan's status as co-host of the 2011 World Cup
International Cricket Council chief executive Haroon Lorgat said the council will meet in Dubai next month to discuss whether to redistribute World Cup matches among India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, the competition's other co-hosts.
___
Associated Press Writers Krishan Francis and Ravi Nessman in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Zarar Khan and Asif Shahzad in Islamabad, and Babar Dogar in Lahore contributed to this report.
I figure the chances of any one but Pakistanis being involved in this attack is about as remote as a snowball in hell,,, but I cant help but wonder about the desperate mentality of any one that wants to blame it on another country,, thats not the way to solve problems...
BanglaBhoot
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Militant attack on cricket team in Pakistan could backfire
New Delhi; and lahore, pakistan - Pakistan's embattled government was dealt a fresh blow with the brazen attack Tuesday on Sri Lanka's visiting cricket team. But the targeting of cricket sometimes called the country's second religion could backfire on the militants.
Twelve unidentified gunmen opened fire on the team bus, injuring five Sri Lankan players and killing seven people, including six policemen. The assault took place in Lahore, the scene of a dramatic power struggle last week that saw the ruling party of Pakistani President Ali Asif Zardari remove the main opposition from its seat of power. Critics now say that political infighting distracted the city's security forces at a key moment.
It's not clear yet if the gunmen came from the ranks of home-grown militant outfits. But if they did, the ambivalence in the security forces and among Pakistanis more broadly about vilifying some of these groups whose targets also include India and poor local governance could be diminished.
"If [authorities] genuinely investigate it, and they do find evidence that this was the work of internal militant groups, then I'm sure it will help contribute to the people being mobilized against the terrorists and militants," says Lt. Gen. Talat Masood (ret.).
Determining just who was behind the attack will be complicated by the fact that all the gunmen evaded capture. As is often the case when details are lacking, some voices here are already suggesting this could be an attack from India.
Other candidates put forth by analysts include jihadi groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e Mohammad organizations that Pakistan once supported to fight in Kashmir but which are now, at least officially, banned. And Al Qaeda and Taliban forces are battling the government in the tribal belt.
Then there's the possibility that the Tamil Tigers, a Sri Lankan rebel group that appears to be in the last throes of its long battle against Sri Lanka's government, ordered the attack. Sri Lanka downplayed the idea, however, as did Rifaat Hussain, a Pakistan security expert formerly based there.
"I think this was done more to embarrass and aggravate the crisis of security within [the province of] Punjab," says Dr. Hussain, chairman of defense and strategic studies at Quaid-i-Azam University.
Mr. Zardari's ruling party had just forced out the provincial government in Lahore. "Then you have an incident like this. What signal does that send about the security performance of the government?"
On Tuesday, the newly appointed governor, Salman Taseer, dismissed the idea that political turmoil resulted in a security lapse. "We saved the Sri Lankan team," he said, accusing the former chief minister of Punjab, Shahbaz Sharif, of trivializing sacrifices made by the policemen who were killed.
Mr. Taseer added that a security review was under way.
Initial reports suggest a well-coordinated assault. Masked gunmen wearing backpacks converged from four directions on the Sri Lankans' bus as it ferried players toward the third day's play of a test match. They fired AK-47s, grenades, and a rocket launcher, engaging police for 25 minutes before some fled in a red car. An eyewitness, a money-changer named Ghani Butt, says from 30 meters away they "looked Nepali or Filipino, maybe Indian."
The rocket missed the bus and smashed into the "Bride and Groom" clothing shop, where the clock was frozen at 8:45. Police did a poor job cordoning off the area, allowing gawkers to trample over the crime scene.
Anger in the Punjab was already on high simmer before the attack, as opposition parties and lawyers prepared for massive antigovernment demonstrations slated for mid-March. Public sentiment won't improve with the damage done to the national pastime.
"The fire that has been burning all over this country has finally reached cricket too," says Saad Shafqat, a cricket writer for ESPN Cricinfo and the English-language daily Dawn.
Persuading teams to come to Pakistan is now out of the question, he says. Australia, India, New Zealand, and England have canceled tours in recent years because of security concerns after 9/11 and a 2002 bomb that went off near the touring Kiwi team's hotel. Sri Lanka was the only major opposition to venture out.
Polls within Pakistan do not reveal much support for militant groups.
Yet passive dislike for militants hasn't yet been harnessed into widespread defiance of them. In Lahore, a city once considered safe from militancy, religious vigilantes are increasingly cowing local businesses into dropping Western products and styles.
And in Swat, the military's ambivalence about fighting indigenous militants with local grievances hampered operations, says Hussain.
Before the military finally accepted a truce, there was also "no explicit call on the local population to enlist their support against these groups. There are [many] people there. Is there a strategy to engage those people?"
Militant attack on cricket team in Pakistan could backfire | csmonitor.com
New Delhi; and lahore, pakistan - Pakistan's embattled government was dealt a fresh blow with the brazen attack Tuesday on Sri Lanka's visiting cricket team. But the targeting of cricket sometimes called the country's second religion could backfire on the militants.
Twelve unidentified gunmen opened fire on the team bus, injuring five Sri Lankan players and killing seven people, including six policemen. The assault took place in Lahore, the scene of a dramatic power struggle last week that saw the ruling party of Pakistani President Ali Asif Zardari remove the main opposition from its seat of power. Critics now say that political infighting distracted the city's security forces at a key moment.
It's not clear yet if the gunmen came from the ranks of home-grown militant outfits. But if they did, the ambivalence in the security forces and among Pakistanis more broadly about vilifying some of these groups whose targets also include India and poor local governance could be diminished.
"If [authorities] genuinely investigate it, and they do find evidence that this was the work of internal militant groups, then I'm sure it will help contribute to the people being mobilized against the terrorists and militants," says Lt. Gen. Talat Masood (ret.).
Determining just who was behind the attack will be complicated by the fact that all the gunmen evaded capture. As is often the case when details are lacking, some voices here are already suggesting this could be an attack from India.
Other candidates put forth by analysts include jihadi groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e Mohammad organizations that Pakistan once supported to fight in Kashmir but which are now, at least officially, banned. And Al Qaeda and Taliban forces are battling the government in the tribal belt.
Then there's the possibility that the Tamil Tigers, a Sri Lankan rebel group that appears to be in the last throes of its long battle against Sri Lanka's government, ordered the attack. Sri Lanka downplayed the idea, however, as did Rifaat Hussain, a Pakistan security expert formerly based there.
"I think this was done more to embarrass and aggravate the crisis of security within [the province of] Punjab," says Dr. Hussain, chairman of defense and strategic studies at Quaid-i-Azam University.
Mr. Zardari's ruling party had just forced out the provincial government in Lahore. "Then you have an incident like this. What signal does that send about the security performance of the government?"
On Tuesday, the newly appointed governor, Salman Taseer, dismissed the idea that political turmoil resulted in a security lapse. "We saved the Sri Lankan team," he said, accusing the former chief minister of Punjab, Shahbaz Sharif, of trivializing sacrifices made by the policemen who were killed.
Mr. Taseer added that a security review was under way.
Initial reports suggest a well-coordinated assault. Masked gunmen wearing backpacks converged from four directions on the Sri Lankans' bus as it ferried players toward the third day's play of a test match. They fired AK-47s, grenades, and a rocket launcher, engaging police for 25 minutes before some fled in a red car. An eyewitness, a money-changer named Ghani Butt, says from 30 meters away they "looked Nepali or Filipino, maybe Indian."
The rocket missed the bus and smashed into the "Bride and Groom" clothing shop, where the clock was frozen at 8:45. Police did a poor job cordoning off the area, allowing gawkers to trample over the crime scene.
Anger in the Punjab was already on high simmer before the attack, as opposition parties and lawyers prepared for massive antigovernment demonstrations slated for mid-March. Public sentiment won't improve with the damage done to the national pastime.
"The fire that has been burning all over this country has finally reached cricket too," says Saad Shafqat, a cricket writer for ESPN Cricinfo and the English-language daily Dawn.
Persuading teams to come to Pakistan is now out of the question, he says. Australia, India, New Zealand, and England have canceled tours in recent years because of security concerns after 9/11 and a 2002 bomb that went off near the touring Kiwi team's hotel. Sri Lanka was the only major opposition to venture out.
Polls within Pakistan do not reveal much support for militant groups.
Yet passive dislike for militants hasn't yet been harnessed into widespread defiance of them. In Lahore, a city once considered safe from militancy, religious vigilantes are increasingly cowing local businesses into dropping Western products and styles.
And in Swat, the military's ambivalence about fighting indigenous militants with local grievances hampered operations, says Hussain.
Before the military finally accepted a truce, there was also "no explicit call on the local population to enlist their support against these groups. There are [many] people there. Is there a strategy to engage those people?"
Militant attack on cricket team in Pakistan could backfire | csmonitor.com
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Sri Lankan team arrives home
Updated at: 0326 PST, Wednesday, March 04, 2009
Relieved relatives gave the tour party an emotional welcome as the 25-member contingent was led from a specially chartered Sri Lankan Airlines Airbus A320 by team manager Brendon Kuruppu.
Earlier, the Lankan team, following the Lahore attacks, had left Pakistan for home on Tuesday afternoon after it was taken from the Gaddafi Stadium through helicopter to the airport.
Special arrangements were made for bringing the tourists to the airport and a special helicopter of the Pakistan Air force took them from the Gaddafi Stadium to the Lahore airport. Following which, they were sent through a chartered flight to Sri Lanka via Abu Dhabi.
Chairman PCB Ijaz Butt, Director National Cricket Academy Aamer Sohail, chief operating officer Saleem Altaf and other officials saw-off the Sri Lankan players and the officials at Gaddafi Stadium
Star batsman Thilan Samaraweera and Tharanga Paranavithana, who both received hospital treatment in Pakistan, were placed in an ambulance and taken to a private medical facility in Colombo, a senior official said.
Spin bowler Ajantha Mendis was seen leaving the aircraft with a plaster behind his right ear. A total of seven players and an assistant coach were hurt in the attack, which left eight people dead. Vice-captain Kumar Sangakkara, who was another wounded in Tuesday's gun and grenade assault, told reporters that the players had been asked by team management not to speak with reporters.
Sri Lanka sports minister Gamini Lokuge also met the team at Bandaranaike International Airport, where security was tight, the official said.
There has been no claim of responsibility for the attack, but some Sri Lankan officials fear a possible link with the military offensive against ethnic Tamil rebels in the island's north.
Sri Lanka were airlifted from Gaddafi Stadium by helicopter before flying out of Lahore late Tuesday, abandoning a tour which was only arranged when India refused to visit their troubled neighbour.
At least a dozen men ambushed Sri Lanka's cricket team with rifles, grenades and rocket launchers on Tuesday, converging on the squad's convoy as it drove through a traffic circle near Gaddafi Stadium.
Seven players, an umpire and a coach were wounded, none with life-threatening injuries, but six policemen and a driver died.
The attackers struck as a convoy carrying the squad and match officials reached a traffic circle 300 yards (meters) from the main sports stadium in the eastern city of Lahore, triggering a 15-minute gunbattle with police guarding the vehicles.
'We were all tucked under the seats,' Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene said when the team arrived home in Colombo early Wednesday. 'Our guys were getting hurt and screaming but we couldn't help each other.
We were just hoping that we will not get hit. None of us thought that we would come alive out of the situation.' The assault, just ahead of the resumption of the second cricket test, was one of the worst terrorist attacks on a sports team since Palestinian militants killed 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics.
By attacking South Asia's most popular sport, the gunmen guaranteed themselves tremendous international attention while demonstrating Pakistan's struggle to provide its 170 million people with basic security as it battles a raging Islamist militancy.
Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani said the incident 'has humiliated the country' and the head of the Interior Ministry, Rehman Malik, declared Pakistan was 'in a state of war.' Malik told media that authorities were investigating whether the attackers wanted to take hostages.
'We are looking at the possibility the gunmen wanted to hijack the bus and take it to a nearby building and create a drama,' Malik said. 'The way they came prepared and in large numbers indicates such a plan.'
Tuesday's attackers melted away into the city, and none was killed or captured, city police chief Haji Habibur Rehman said. The attackers abandoned machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and plastic explosives, Punjab IG Khwaja Khalid Farooq said.
They carried backpacks stuffed with dried fruit, mineral water and walkie-talkies - provisions also abandoned at or near the scene, officials said.
Authorities did not speculate on the identities of the attackers, but the chief suspects will be Islamist militants, some with links to al-Qaida, who have staged high-profile attacks on civilian targets before.
The bus driver, Mohammad Khalil, accelerated as bullets ripped into the vehicle and explosions rocked the air, steering the team to the safety of the stadium. The players - some of them wounded - ducked down and shouted 'Go! Go!' as he drove through the ambush.
Authorities cancelled the test match against Pakistan and a special flight carried the Sri Lanka team - including two players who had been hospitalised - home, where the players were immediately sequestered to a private meeting with their families.
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Pakistan May Lose Cricket World Cup Role After Terrorist Attack
March 4 (Bloomberg) -- The terrorist attack on the Sri Lanka team in Pakistan may cost the country its role as a co- host of the 2011 cricket World Cup and stop teams visiting, the sports top official said.
Yesterdays shooting, which left six police officers and two civilians dead and five Sri Lankan cricketers and a coach injured, marked the first time teams have been targeted in a terrorist incident. The International Cricket Council will meet next month to discuss Pakistans future as a cricket venue, Chief Executive Officer Haroon Lorgat told a press conference.
Its difficult to see international cricket being played in Pakistan in the immediate future, Lorgat said in London. Pakistan may play in neutral venues as the home team.
The incident in Lahore came four months after a three-day terrorist attack in Mumbai left 164 people dead and prompted India to cancel a tour of Pakistan. The Sri Lanka team had stepped in as a late replacement. With the 2011 World Cup scheduled for India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, the violence may scare off players and supporters.
The board will have to think very extensively on how Pakistan will be used for that, Lorgat said. There is great reluctance for cricketers to return. We mustnt believe that Pakistan will remain unsafe for ever and ever. We must hope it doesnt.
Lorgat said a final decision on who hosts the 2011 event can be made up to February 2010.
Security Issues
At this point, there is no plan to move it out of the subcontinent, Lorgat said. Security may be improved by limiting the number of nations holding the event, he said.
The smaller geography makes it easier to secure. Its more difficult in four countries, Lorgat added.
The attack left two Sri Lankan players in need of hospital care. They received gunshot wounds as 12 terrorists carrying rocket launchers and grenades targeted a team bus 500 yards from the Gaddafi stadium in Lahore, where Sri Lanka was due to face Pakistan yesterday. The visitors have canceled their tour and brought the squad home.
Thilan Samaraweera, with a leg wound, and Tharanga Paranawithana, who sustained a chest injury, were most seriously hurt, the Sri Lanka Cricket Board said. Captain Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara and Ajantha Mendis received minor injuries, and assistant coach Paul Farbrace was also hurt.
The fourth umpire is in a critical condition, Lorgat told the news conference at Lords Cricket Ground.
Nations including Australia have refused to play in Pakistan in recent years. The ICC first postponed and then took away its Champions Trophy tournament from Pakistan, which was originally scheduled for last September.
Other Incidents
Sri Lanka was contesting the first Test series to take place in Pakistan since South Africas visit in October 2007. New Zealand quit a 2002 series after a bomb near the team hotel in Karachi killed 11 people. New Zealand officials said their team is very unlikely to tour Pakistan from November.
This is terrible for Pakistan cricket, former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq told GEO TV. There is also now a risk that other teams will refuse to play with Pakistan overseas because of security problems.
Englands team flew home from its India tour immediately after the November attacks in Mumbai before later returning. The inaugural Champions League Twenty20 competition was postponed because of those incidents.
India and Pakistan used cricket to improve relations when they resumed playing each other in 2004 in the so-called Friendship Series, two years after being on the brink of war. Further matches look unlikely any time soon, former Pakistan cricket captain Asif Iqbal said.
Very Unfortunate
It is very unfortunate, Asif said. What we have seen today will put a seal on international cricket in Pakistan for months or years.
Julian Hunte, president of the West Indies Cricket Board, said yesterdays attack removes any complacency over security.
Before it was felt that cricketers were not being targeted regardless of what was going on in Pakistan. There was a level of comfort, Hunte said in a statement. This now blows that away and it means cricketers are being seen as targets.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601081&sid=atoOfEyu1Gjk&refer=australia
March 4 (Bloomberg) -- The terrorist attack on the Sri Lanka team in Pakistan may cost the country its role as a co- host of the 2011 cricket World Cup and stop teams visiting, the sports top official said.
Yesterdays shooting, which left six police officers and two civilians dead and five Sri Lankan cricketers and a coach injured, marked the first time teams have been targeted in a terrorist incident. The International Cricket Council will meet next month to discuss Pakistans future as a cricket venue, Chief Executive Officer Haroon Lorgat told a press conference.
Its difficult to see international cricket being played in Pakistan in the immediate future, Lorgat said in London. Pakistan may play in neutral venues as the home team.
The incident in Lahore came four months after a three-day terrorist attack in Mumbai left 164 people dead and prompted India to cancel a tour of Pakistan. The Sri Lanka team had stepped in as a late replacement. With the 2011 World Cup scheduled for India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, the violence may scare off players and supporters.
The board will have to think very extensively on how Pakistan will be used for that, Lorgat said. There is great reluctance for cricketers to return. We mustnt believe that Pakistan will remain unsafe for ever and ever. We must hope it doesnt.
Lorgat said a final decision on who hosts the 2011 event can be made up to February 2010.
Security Issues
At this point, there is no plan to move it out of the subcontinent, Lorgat said. Security may be improved by limiting the number of nations holding the event, he said.
The smaller geography makes it easier to secure. Its more difficult in four countries, Lorgat added.
The attack left two Sri Lankan players in need of hospital care. They received gunshot wounds as 12 terrorists carrying rocket launchers and grenades targeted a team bus 500 yards from the Gaddafi stadium in Lahore, where Sri Lanka was due to face Pakistan yesterday. The visitors have canceled their tour and brought the squad home.
Thilan Samaraweera, with a leg wound, and Tharanga Paranawithana, who sustained a chest injury, were most seriously hurt, the Sri Lanka Cricket Board said. Captain Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara and Ajantha Mendis received minor injuries, and assistant coach Paul Farbrace was also hurt.
The fourth umpire is in a critical condition, Lorgat told the news conference at Lords Cricket Ground.
Nations including Australia have refused to play in Pakistan in recent years. The ICC first postponed and then took away its Champions Trophy tournament from Pakistan, which was originally scheduled for last September.
Other Incidents
Sri Lanka was contesting the first Test series to take place in Pakistan since South Africas visit in October 2007. New Zealand quit a 2002 series after a bomb near the team hotel in Karachi killed 11 people. New Zealand officials said their team is very unlikely to tour Pakistan from November.
This is terrible for Pakistan cricket, former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq told GEO TV. There is also now a risk that other teams will refuse to play with Pakistan overseas because of security problems.
Englands team flew home from its India tour immediately after the November attacks in Mumbai before later returning. The inaugural Champions League Twenty20 competition was postponed because of those incidents.
India and Pakistan used cricket to improve relations when they resumed playing each other in 2004 in the so-called Friendship Series, two years after being on the brink of war. Further matches look unlikely any time soon, former Pakistan cricket captain Asif Iqbal said.
Very Unfortunate
It is very unfortunate, Asif said. What we have seen today will put a seal on international cricket in Pakistan for months or years.
Julian Hunte, president of the West Indies Cricket Board, said yesterdays attack removes any complacency over security.
Before it was felt that cricketers were not being targeted regardless of what was going on in Pakistan. There was a level of comfort, Hunte said in a statement. This now blows that away and it means cricketers are being seen as targets.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601081&sid=atoOfEyu1Gjk&refer=australia
afriend
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This is not a problem of pakistan alone... But for the sub-continent as a whole, be it bangladesh,pakistan,india and srilanka. It shows how volatile teh sub-continent is. Entire world will look down at our sub continent. We have to come together, pakistan should take resolve to crush all forms of terrorism from its land be it anti india anti pakistan..!!, india have to be compassionate and considerate and compromising on resolving border disputes between pak and bangladesh, bangladesh should crush out anti india forces and make sure their country is not dominated or taken over by fundementalists. Unless we make a collective effort and dont understand we all share a common threat.. And these are all interlinked and one cannot be done without the effort and support by the other..!!! And that is the only way forward brothers..!!!!
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I would like to describe something that cements my suspicion on INDIAN RAW behind this incident. Here are a few differences between the Mumbai attackers and the Lahore attackers despite the obvious similarities.
1. The Mumbai attackers were clearly on a suicide mission and motivated; the Lahore attackers seemed more like paid assassins who later left all of their weapons on site and disappeared into the crowd.
2. The Lahore attackers were mostly on the back foot unlike the Mumbai attackers who were on a search & destroy front foot mission.
3. The Lahore attackers only fired upon the security staff and the players bus and unlike the Mumbai attackers they did not deliberately harmed the civilians around the busy intersection of Liberty.
4. Unlike Mumbai attackers; No attempt was made to take any hostages (civil or otherwise) or to present any demands or identify the organization behind the incident.
4. The obvious beneficiary of this attack is surely India who gains financially by having more matches of the World Cup 2011 being now played in India after Pakistan being out of it, and politically because of having further degraded the image of Pakistan internationally and at the same time passing a message on to Sri Lanka, to not to be against Indian interests.
Frankly, if Indian involvement is found in this attack our Government should not pussy-foot around in diplomacy and perhaps do a limited surgical air strike in India on the HQ of the likely perpetrators of this incident...........RAW! I am sure the Indians will have no objections!
1. The Mumbai attackers were clearly on a suicide mission and motivated; the Lahore attackers seemed more like paid assassins who later left all of their weapons on site and disappeared into the crowd.
2. The Lahore attackers were mostly on the back foot unlike the Mumbai attackers who were on a search & destroy front foot mission.
3. The Lahore attackers only fired upon the security staff and the players bus and unlike the Mumbai attackers they did not deliberately harmed the civilians around the busy intersection of Liberty.
4. Unlike Mumbai attackers; No attempt was made to take any hostages (civil or otherwise) or to present any demands or identify the organization behind the incident.
4. The obvious beneficiary of this attack is surely India who gains financially by having more matches of the World Cup 2011 being now played in India after Pakistan being out of it, and politically because of having further degraded the image of Pakistan internationally and at the same time passing a message on to Sri Lanka, to not to be against Indian interests.
Frankly, if Indian involvement is found in this attack our Government should not pussy-foot around in diplomacy and perhaps do a limited surgical air strike in India on the HQ of the likely perpetrators of this incident...........RAW! I am sure the Indians will have no objections!
nice analysis. One point may be that India is going to have to face the consequences, particularly if the ISI is convinced she was involved. In that case, India wouldn't be in a situation to hold the world cup either. which leaves Bangladesh and Sri Lanka..
XYON
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If India is behind this and it is proven......then I can assure you that World Cup 2011 will not happen in India despite what the pundits predict at this stage.
Proud2Indian
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This point does not seem valid as all the money being spent on WC will be coming from India. This is fact. Very few company outside India support Cricket in big way.
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Lankan players return; board officials slammed for Pak tour
4 Mar 2009, 1020 hrs IST, AGENCIES
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka's cricket administrators came under heavy criticism on Wednesday for their decision to tour Pakistan despite other countries Sri Lankan skipper Mahela Jayawardene hugs his wife shortly after returning to the country. (AFP)
pulling out due to security concerns. ( Watch )
Opposition lawmaker Ravi Karunanayake said the country should not have risked the national cricket team when India and Australia had decided to pull out of Pakistan because of fears of terror attacks.
"Sri Lanka rushed in where others feared to tread," he said, blaming Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) for the injuries suffered by seven members of the team and their assistant coach during Tuesday's gun and grenade attack in Lahore.
"There is a reason why other countries did not want to play in Pakistan," Karunanayake said. "Even last week, there had been a protest outside the team hotel and a player told me they wanted to return, but were told to stay on."
Another opposition legislator Anurakumara Dissanayake slammed the authorities for sending Sri Lanka to replace India, which refused to tour the country after the Mumbai terror attacks blamed on Pakistan-based militants.
"What we want to know is who took the decision to send the team to Pakistan and what was the basis for their decision," Dissanayake said.
The privately-run Daily Mirror suggested that Sri Lanka's decision may have been fuelled by empty coffers at SLC, the island's governing body for the sport.
"A Pakistan tour was to give a minor relief, but even a straw is enough for the man who is drowning," the Mirror said. "But the cardinal mistake was to compromise safety for money."
There was no immediate reaction from SLC, but sources close to the cricket management said they were worried about the fallout from Tuesday's incident as questions were being raised about accountability.
The shaken Lankan team arrives at home
Sri Lanka's wounded and shaken cricketers flew into Colombo under tight security early on Wednesday, less than a day after a deadly ambush targeting the team in Pakistan, an airport official said.
Relieved relatives gave the tour party an emotional welcome as the 25-member contingent was led from a specially chartered Sri Lankan Airlines Airbus A320 by team manager Brendon Kuruppu.
Star batsman Thilan Samaraweera and Tharanga Paranavithana, who received hospital treatment in Pakistan, were placed in an ambulance and taken to a private medical facility in Colombo, a senior official said.
Spin bowler Ajantha Mendis was seen leaving the aircraft with a plaster behind his right ear. A total of seven players and an assistant coach were hurt in the attack, which left eight people dead.
Vice-captain Kumar Sangakkara, who was another wounded in Tuesday's gun and grenade assault, told reporters that the players had been asked by team management not to speak with reporters.
Sports Minister Gamini Lokuge also met the team at Bandaranaike International Airport, where security was tight, the official said.
Sri Lankan team was airlifted from Gaddafi Stadium by helicopter before flying out of Lahore late on Tuesday, abandoning a tour which was only arranged when India refused to visit.
Lankan players return; board officials slammed for Pak tour-South Asia-World-The Times of India
Can any one throw more light on the protest infront of team hotel thing????
4 Mar 2009, 1020 hrs IST, AGENCIES
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka's cricket administrators came under heavy criticism on Wednesday for their decision to tour Pakistan despite other countries Sri Lankan skipper Mahela Jayawardene hugs his wife shortly after returning to the country. (AFP)
pulling out due to security concerns. ( Watch )
Opposition lawmaker Ravi Karunanayake said the country should not have risked the national cricket team when India and Australia had decided to pull out of Pakistan because of fears of terror attacks.
"Sri Lanka rushed in where others feared to tread," he said, blaming Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) for the injuries suffered by seven members of the team and their assistant coach during Tuesday's gun and grenade attack in Lahore.
"There is a reason why other countries did not want to play in Pakistan," Karunanayake said. "Even last week, there had been a protest outside the team hotel and a player told me they wanted to return, but were told to stay on."
Another opposition legislator Anurakumara Dissanayake slammed the authorities for sending Sri Lanka to replace India, which refused to tour the country after the Mumbai terror attacks blamed on Pakistan-based militants.
"What we want to know is who took the decision to send the team to Pakistan and what was the basis for their decision," Dissanayake said.
The privately-run Daily Mirror suggested that Sri Lanka's decision may have been fuelled by empty coffers at SLC, the island's governing body for the sport.
"A Pakistan tour was to give a minor relief, but even a straw is enough for the man who is drowning," the Mirror said. "But the cardinal mistake was to compromise safety for money."
There was no immediate reaction from SLC, but sources close to the cricket management said they were worried about the fallout from Tuesday's incident as questions were being raised about accountability.
The shaken Lankan team arrives at home
Sri Lanka's wounded and shaken cricketers flew into Colombo under tight security early on Wednesday, less than a day after a deadly ambush targeting the team in Pakistan, an airport official said.
Relieved relatives gave the tour party an emotional welcome as the 25-member contingent was led from a specially chartered Sri Lankan Airlines Airbus A320 by team manager Brendon Kuruppu.
Star batsman Thilan Samaraweera and Tharanga Paranavithana, who received hospital treatment in Pakistan, were placed in an ambulance and taken to a private medical facility in Colombo, a senior official said.
Spin bowler Ajantha Mendis was seen leaving the aircraft with a plaster behind his right ear. A total of seven players and an assistant coach were hurt in the attack, which left eight people dead.
Vice-captain Kumar Sangakkara, who was another wounded in Tuesday's gun and grenade assault, told reporters that the players had been asked by team management not to speak with reporters.
Sports Minister Gamini Lokuge also met the team at Bandaranaike International Airport, where security was tight, the official said.
Sri Lankan team was airlifted from Gaddafi Stadium by helicopter before flying out of Lahore late on Tuesday, abandoning a tour which was only arranged when India refused to visit.
Lankan players return; board officials slammed for Pak tour-South Asia-World-The Times of India
Can any one throw more light on the protest infront of team hotel thing????
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