Attack on Sri Lankan Cricketers

[Camikaze]

From BBC:

Gunmen have attacked a bus carrying the Sri Lankan cricket team on its way to play in the Pakistani city of Lahore.
At least five members of the Sri Lankan cricket team were injured - two from bullets - and five Pakistani policemen escorting the team bus were killed.
Pakistani officials said about 12 gunmen were involved and grenades and rocket launchers have been recovered.
The BBC's Barbara Plett in Islamabad says the incident will come as a big blow to Pakistani cricket.
Pakistan invited Sri Lanka to tour after India's cricket team pulled out of a scheduled cricket tour following the deadly November attacks in the western Indian city of Mumbai.
Khaled Farooq, chief of police in Punjab province said the attack "resembles the Mumbai attacks" in November, AFP news agency reported.

The gunmen opened fire on the Sri Lankan team bus which was in the heart of Lahore on its way to the Gaddafi stadium, venue for a Test match between the two sides.
Witnesses reported an intense burst of heavy gunfire and explosions, as the gunmen first aimed for the police detail accompanying the team, before attacking the team coach.

Five policemen were killed.
Officials in Lahore said two members of the Sri Lankan team - Thilan Samaraweera and Tharanga Paranavitana - have bullet wounds and are in hospital, while others received minor injuries.
"Five [of our] cricketers have injuries, but they are OK. But the players are shocked. They have never gone through anything like this before," former Sri Lankan player Sanath Jayasuriya told an Indian news channel on the phone from Colombo.
The Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse condemned the "cowardly terrorist attack", and ordered the players to be evacuated home immediately.

The third day of play in the Second Test was scheduled to begin, but officials said the match has now been cancelled.
TV pictures showed two gunmen with backpacks on the road where the incident happened.
According to Lahore police chief Habibur Rahman, "10 to 12" attackers came to the scene in auto rickshaws.
Grenades and rocket launchers had been found at the site of the incident, police said.

Pakistan is engaged in a bloody struggle against Islamist insurgents who have staged high-profile attacks on civilian targets before.
India and Australia have pulled out of cricket tours in Pakistan in the recent past citing security concerns.
The sport's world governing body, the International Cricket Council, last month decided not to hold the 2009 Champions Trophy in Pakistan due to safety worries.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka is also waging its own military campaign at home, against Tamil Tiger separatist rebels.

To give those of you who know nothing about cricket some scope:

Cricket is the sport of Sri Lanka and Pakistan. It is very big in that part of the world. So this is not some haphazard attack on a random international group, but a deliberately well planned attack on a very high profile international team.

The actual injured cricketers are very high profile, also. As Sri Lanka is to cricket what France is to football (i.e. big), I'll try and use that analogy. Mahela Jayawardene can be compared to Thierry Henry. Kumar Sangakarra to William Gallas. Thilan Samaraweera to Franck Ribery. You get the idea. In the subcontinent, these are very high profile targets.

So what impact will this have on the 'war on terror', and the world, in particular relations between India and Pakistan? Cricket is also the sport of India, and with this attack having many similarities to the Mumbai attacks, this event will even further sour relations between the two nations. What do you think will happen next? Has the time come for further American involvement in Pakistan?

 

[Nordstream]

I have been following events on the subcontinent. Recently Pakistan has been trying to woo Sri Lanka to use against India by offering them weapons deals and diplomatic support which the Indian government has been unwilling to provide while the civil war has been ongoing. Now that the civil war has all but ended in terms of overt hostilities Sri Lanka doesnt need Pakistan to put pressure on India for aid and it relations between Sri Lanka and Pakistan may well sour. This is good news for India since there was some minor concern among the Indian defense establishment about the possibility of a Pakistan base or some such thing on the southern flank of India. Of course that was highly unlikely anyway. But public popular sentiment in Sri Lanka will be against Pakistan now and relations will be scaled back. Cricket is important but it would be a mistake to give it too much importance.

 

[Sharwood]

And they had the temerity to complain when Australia pulled out of a tour. Our players would be much more tempting as a target than Sri Lankans, due to Australia's involvement in the War on Terror.

I'd say this attack will cause terrorist groups in Pakistan to lose quite a bit of sympathy with the general populace, as cricket is probably pretty damn close to Islam on the worship scale over there. If they did this to an Indian team, there would be war. India wouldn't be able to stifle public opinion on the matter, and would have no choice. That right there should let everyone know how big cricket is in the subcontinent.

Other than that, things will be business as usual. The tour will obviously be cancelled. That's a no-brainer. Pakistan will continue to slide further and further downhill, while America's thumb slides further and further up its own backside. Eventually, there'll be no option but intervention, but by the time it happens there'll be something else big and bad coming from Pakistan, maybe even worse than Mumbai.

Message to America: Stop holding India's leash! Let them just frigging invade already! They'll have to eventually, and doing so now could save many lives.

 

[Camikaze]

Cricket is important but it would be a mistake to give it too much importance.

I'm not saying that this is about cricket. I was merely trying to show how high profile a target this actually was. And I cannot possibly exaggerate how big cricket is in Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and India. They are fanatical about it. Think burning effigies in the street if someone makes the slightest negative comment about the teams of the respective nations.

And they had the temerity to complain when Australia pulled out of a tour. Our players would be much more tempting as a target than Sri Lankans, due to Australia's involvement in the War on Terror.

Damn straight!

 

[Moggy]

As a follower of cricket, this was awful news to wake up to. I don’t think any team can now tour in or near Pakistan, it would seem to be a lot safer playing in Zimbabwe!

I would worry if India did decide to attack Pakistan. They are both nuclear powers and it would be an almighty bloodbath if there was all out war between the two.

 

[plarq]

I was thinking about Tigers when I saw the title.

 

[Camikaze]

As a follower of cricket, this was awful news to wake up to. I don’t think any team can now tour in or near Pakistan, it would seem to be a lot safer playing in Zimbabwe!

International cricket is now almost certainly over in Pakistan. It's different to Zimbabwe, however, as Pakistan is more about safety, and Zimbabwe is more about politics.

I would worry if India did decide to attack Pakistan. They are both nuclear powers and it would be an almighty bloodbath if there was all out war between the two.

As would I. I don't understand why people want a war between the two. What could it possibly achieve? Surely it would create problems much much worse than current ones.

 

[Moggy]

International cricket is now almost certainly over in Pakistan. It's different to Zimbabwe, however, as Pakistan is more about safety, and Zimbabwe is more about politics.

Oh I know it is really all about politics but they have used the excuse of safety to not tour there.

I think international cricket in all of the sub-continent is actually at threat at the moment. These attacks in Pakistan, the Mumbai attacks, Bangladesh is in serious trouble, the Tamil Tigers are still active in Sri Lanka. The next World Cup is supposed to be shared amongst these countries, how can that possibly go ahead now?

My thoughts go out to the families of those policemen killed though. Sport is nothing compaired to peoples lives.

 

[RedRalph]

I really cannot think of what to do with Pakistan. there seems to be no good options, and it's gone way past the stage where 'wait and see what develops' is a good option

 

[King of Town]

At least five members of the Sri Lankan cricket team were injured - two from bullets - and five Pakistani policemen escorting the team bus were killed.

It sounds like they were targeting the police officers.

 

[Sharwood]

International cricket is now almost certainly over in Pakistan. It's different to Zimbabwe, however, as Pakistan is more about safety, and Zimbabwe is more about politics.



As would I. I don't understand why people want a war between the two. What could it possibly achieve? Surely it would create problems much much worse than current ones.

A war between India and Pakistan would be over relatively quickly, and everyone, including the Pakistanis, would be better off. India treats its own Muslim minority better than Pakistan treats its majority, India has experience occupying an entire Pakistani province successfully in the past - East Pakistan, a.k.a. Bangladesh - and is considerably more powerful. Pakistan has nothing but a handful, maybe a few dozen short-range nukes.

If America gave India full access to all its intel on said nukes, India could conceivably take them out with a first strike. Even if not, Pakistan is not going to use nukes on Indian cities, as so many people with zero knowledge of military matters seem to think. They'll use them on advancing Indian columns. In which case, India nukes the point of origin, and brings up more troops.

Besides, cold as it is, even if Pakistan starts nuking cities, 50 million people, more or less, isn't going to cripple India. And the danger of that happening is actually greater without armed intervention in Pakistan. There's more risk of terrorists getting their hands on these things than there is of the Pakistani military getting the chance to fire one in the event of war.

 

[Camikaze]

It sounds like they were targeting the police officers.

I can not stress how high profile this target is in the region.

Imagine if an American politician went to Syria. Now imagine that their convoy was attacked and five police officers were killed. Obviously the attack was not on the police, but on the politician. It is the same in this situation. The attack occurred at one of only two entrances to the stadium complex, I read somewhere. With a target that is this high profile, in such a way (i.e. an ambush), and at such a spot- somewhere where the team had to pass through- it is obvious that it was not the police who were being targeted.

 

[King of Town]

I can not stress how high profile this target is in the region.

Imagine if an American politician went to Syria. Now imagine that their convoy was attacked and five police officers were killed. Obviously the attack was not on the police, but on the politician. It is the same in this situation. The attack occurred at one of only two entrances to the stadium complex, I read somewhere. With a target that is this high profile, in such a way (i.e. an ambush), and at such a spot- somewhere where the team had to pass through- it is obvious that it was not the police who were being targeted.

Sorry, bad joke. Return to your regularly scheduled thread...

 

[Kosez]

I really really strongly disagree with Sharwood. War is not an option. It wouldn't scale back terrorism it would just make it much, much worst. It would put entire region into chaos, give Islamic militants a golden opportunity to recruit even more fighters and suiciders. The case of Iraq has clearly shown us that when war is officially over it only really starts!

That being said, I'm really concerned how much power do terrorist have in Pakistan. Sharwood was right when expressing discontent with Pakistan's authorities and their inability to eliminate terrorist threats. Soldiers won't help, Pakistan needs other solutions. Above all solid economic growth in all areas. When people are busy being busy they have no time plying terrorists. That is, at least, my belief.

 

[Sharwood]

I really really strongly disagree with Sharwood. War is not an option. It wouldn't scale back terrorism it would just make it much, much worst. It would put entire region into chaos, give Islamic militants a golden opportunity to recruit even more fighters and suiciders. The case of Iraq has clearly shown us that when war is officially over it only really starts!

That being said, I'm really concerned how much power do terrorist have in Pakistan. Sharwood was right when expressing discontent with Pakistan's authorities and their inability to eliminate terrorist threats. Soldiers won't help, Pakistan needs other solutions. Above all solid economic growth in all areas. When people are busy being busy they have no time plying terrorists. That is, at least, my belief.

Awesome, I'm italicised now.

War is most definitely an option, and fast becoming the only option. Pakistan is sliding further and further towards hell. They've already lost one of the prerequisites of sovereignty, the monopoly on organised violence in their own country. Recently they actually gave an entire province to the Taleban for Christ's sake. If an outside force doesn't take over, Pakistan will end up much worse than Iraq, all by itself!

So long as India doesn't go about occupying Pakistan in an arse-backwards fashion, a la US in Iraq, terrorism shouldn't increase. There'll be temporary resistance, but it will die down. Don't forget, there are active separatist groups in Pakistan that will outright welcome an Indian invasion. Also, the military is divided among those who support the government, those who support the Taleban, those who support the separatists, etc. The military itself is little threat, it's the intelligence service that's problematic, which has strong terrorist links. Portions of the military may actually gun for it if India invades, especially those with links to the separatists. Not many, but some will. Pakistan will not present a united front against an invader. It is not Iraq. It will turn on itself.

As for economic growth, if Pakistan's economy improves - not gonna happen - it would increase separatist sentiment. A lot like how European and Latin American states want to and have broken away from a larger nation because they felt it was holding them back economically. Right now, most of Pakistan is poor, which actually limits separatist sentiment in regions that should be wealthy.

Pakistan is a hybrid nation, whose very name is an acronym chosen by the British. Pakistan will eventually disintegrate on its own, but it would be much better to get it over and done with, and keep those nukes from falling into the hands of nutjobs who will use them to commit terrorist acts. That's why war is necessary in Pakistan.

 

[rilnator]

This is terrible news. The terrorists will alienate a lot of Pakistanis by attacking a cricket team.

 

[RedRalph]

This is terrible news. The terrorists will alienate a lot of Pakistanis by attacking a cricket team.

I dont think many people who would be inclined to sympathise with these Talebs will have their mind changed by this, it will alienate moderates more but it wont change anyones minds who supported them to begin with

 

[GinandTonic]

I dont really understand what they hoped to achieve with this. Massive own goal on many levels, but most importantly in terms of alienating other Pakistanis.

In a perverse way this could be a good thing in the longer term if it drives a wedge between the terrorists and even rather radical Pakistanis.

 

[Camikaze]

I dont think many people who would be inclined to sympathise with these Talebs will have their mind changed by this, it will alienate moderates more but it wont change anyones minds who supported them to begin with

Well, not necessarily. A terrorist attack at Edgbaston in the 2005 Ashes was reportedly averted due to objections about targeting cricketers.

 

[Trev]

Pakistan ia a serious problem, mostly because there is no consistency in their response to Islamic radicals, and the best of their army is always facing India, not the bigger threat from within.
A Pakistan government serious about conquering the militancy could do it by assigning a larger proportion of their army and police to the job, and work harder at clearing radicals out of their intelligence services, but because of their paranoia about India they will not take the steps needed.