It was a very brave and a risky move by the Srilanks to tour Pakistan when India had cancelled the cricket series between Pakistan,due to security concerns, in the wake of rising terrorism and attacks on Mumbai. Pakistan however approached SL and requested them to tour Pak in India's place and to their delight,the answer was 'yes'. But it was a huge risk for the SL
cricket team considering the situation in Pak. They were however assured of high-level security but wat happened on 3rd March was a total carnage of the provided security and word. Seven people died in the gun battle between the police and the terrorists in which two of them were pedestrians and five were policeman.Due to the timely presence of mind of the bus driver,the players were all saved from death with injuries to 6 of them. The police were clearly no match to the terrorists, with not a single terrorist captured or killed.The terrorists carried Automatic Kalashnikov rifles (more famously knows as the AK-47) ,grenades and Rocket launchers and the attacks were carried out with an uncanny resemblance to the 26/11 attack Mumbai attack.
The consequences were however serious. With seven people dead and more than a dozen injured, including 6 SL cricketers, this was a huge blow to the security issues in the Sub-continent region, espcially Pak.The attack clearly shows the unfriendly nature of Pak and the liberty it has granted to the terrorists to use its land as a base to create panic and chaos for the rest of the world.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.There seems to be no strong control of the government over the nation and the happenings.On one side Taliban has taken over more than half of Pakistan and the Govt reacts to it telling they'll hold meetings with the Taliban leaders and set-up special courts to resolve the issues.This would qualify as one of the best jokes of the year,and on the other side the independent terror groups such as Lashka-e-taiba ,creating such heinous situations.
When the matter was looked into, Srilanka is in no way is an enemy to Pakistan, at least when seen from India's point of view.But attacks like the one on SL players show that the world seems to be an enemy to the terrorising state.The motive behind the acts is still not confirmed but targeting sportsmen shows a immature, cowardly and mind-less state of the people behind this incident. Meanwhile on the other side,a minister belonging to president Zardari's party has said that India is to be blamed for the attacks and the 'evidence' says that the terrorists have crossed the border and committed the acts as a reply to the 26/11 attacks to deframe Pak internationally! They even claim that the 4 of the terrorists have been captured and arms recovered from them. Let me tell you,I saw this sometime back in discovery channel,in the city of Peshavar,carrying an AK-47 is like a status symbol to the people. Almost everyone,even people who dont have money to buy food,carry an AK-47 with them and same is the case in most of the semi-autonomous regions of pakistan which have taliban influence on them.So it's not very surprising to find a couple of such people were caught just to throw powder over the media's eyes or even worse it was just a move to defend themselves. What they probably are not realizing is that they are digging their own grave.In the name of religion,they are isolating Pak from the rest of the world and creating such a situation that no one would want to visit Pakistan or have any friendly relationships with it.
The consequences of this is disturbing to the cricketing community. Certainly no team would want to tour Pak any more and some are even expressing concerns over coming to India!The IPL could be re-scheduled or even cancelled.The Champions trophy that was supposed to be held in Pak was cancelled and the chances of matches happening in Pak, of the Cricket world Cup, to be held in 2011,look very bleak.Pakistan is in a deep trouble now and any further negligence could mean total isolation of Pak by outside world.The govt and responsible people (if any) need to understand the gravity of the situation that they are creating in the world and themselves.
I thank god for keeping the players safe and also urge him to give some brains to the people in that country.
