Attack on Sri Lankan Team

Clearly, people who have no serious argument to offer as response have to resort to personal abuse. Shame on you!
Riaz Haq, PakAlumni Worldwide

Re: # 9

Pavo,

as long as Afganistan is viewed as strategic depth and the great power rivalary is in play, is there any hope for this madness to end

giani

RiazHaq,

You are absolutely correct in your assessment. The Indians hired these mercenarys and paid the Lahore Police off to let the mercs escape.

Dude you are one stupid guy !!!

Here are some of the obvious differences between Mumbai and Lahore tragedies:

1. Unlike the Lahore attackers, the Mumbai attackers were on a suicide mission and fought a determined and long battle killing lots of civilians while mocking Indian authorities for almost three days.

2. Unlike Mumbai police, ATS and Indian commandos, Lahore Police were able to protect their charges from hostage taking or being killed while sacrificing their own lives.

3. Unlike the Mumbai attackers, the Lahore attackers staged an ambush and ran away when the police responded. The fact that all of them were able to flee without a serious chase is still something to be very seriously concerned about and it requires better preparation and training for the future.

The nature of the attacks and attackers appear to be very different leading one to conclude that Lahore is not the work of the known Jihadi groups operating in South Asia. Some domestic radical groups in Pakistan could be the perpetrators but it is more likely the work of mercenaries hired by external elements for carrying out a covert action to terrorize Pakistan as supposed pay back.
Riaz Haq, PakAlumni Worldwide

The Lahore attack is the turning of the wheel full 360 degrees.

Attacking civilians and policemen in urban areas was perfected by the tinpot Pakistani Zia junta with dirty US and Saudi aid in Afghanistan in 1978-92.

In this period :--

1-More than 10,000 Afghan policemen known as Sarandoy were killed by so called Mujahids trained in Pakistan by the then Pakistani state.Most were on duty in cities and were simple patriotic Afghans.As good or bad as policemen anywhere in the world.

2-Civilian targets like Macroyan apartments in Kabul and Karte Char were attacked by Pakistan trained so called Mujahideen and families of various Afghan officials were killed.

3-Even student cafeteria of Kabul University was targeted.

All this continued continuously for 14 years with full US and Saudi blessings.

Now ironically the USA is in a position far worse than the USSR was in 1979-88.

Ironically now the same Pakistani government which was the base of all operations against Afghanistans de facto leftist government in order to get US dollars from USA and Saudi Arabia is now supporting US occupation of Afghanistan to get US dollars.So this proves that there was no Jihad.It was just dirty mercenary work for dollars.

The Lahore incident has to be viewed as a logical continuation of this process.

In history nothing happens at random.

The war that destroyed the only Pashtun state in the world is now being fought in non Pashtun areas.

The Lahore attack is one such small incident.

Many thousand Afghans were killed by paid agents in 1978-92 and remain un sung and unmourned.While death of 6 policemen in Lahore seems to be shocking.Were Afghan or Pashtu lives cheaper.

Food for thought.
Agha Amin

Kamath #7:

Yes, in Pakistan VVIPs only travel using teleporters.

Re: # 6 Kaurasach: You are right!
Providing absolute protective measures for Sri Lankan team is impossible unless they were taken in an armoured personnel carrier. Even then a determined band of terrorists would have frustrated this measure using RPG attacks. So what is needed is educating the public that friendship should be greater than anything else.
Kamath

There'll be alot of
hogwash pointless misleading and petty dissections of the event...

Why not teach Pakis humanity and chivalary...

then you won't need all these measures.

Ofcourse, your article will not get a lot of interacts because it deals with specifics and not hyperbole about conspiracy theories, Al Qaeda, RAW etc.

Nadeem

Excellent article that brings about a level of detail that has hitherto been missing in all of the media coverage I have read so far.

Angry Chris Broad says cricketers and officials were left as 'sitting ducks' by Pakistan
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article5845201.ec e

apparently the Pakistani Cops behaved like a bunch of cowards, and left the team and officials to do their own thing.


read the interacts on The-Times.

Chris Broad, the English cricket referee caught in the middle of the Lahore terror attack, railed against the Pakistani authorities today for leaving players and match officials as “sitting ducks� because of poor security.

Six players and a British assistant coach were hurt in yesterday's attack, which also left six Pakistani policemen and two civilians dead.

Looking exhausted, the former England opening batsman told a press conference shortly after arriving at Manchester Airport that he had an inkling there may be trouble during the Test series and had been assured by high ranking officials that they would be afforded "presidential-style" security.


He accused the Pakistani police of abandoning the cricketers and match officials as the terrorists' bullets pinged off their vehicle in an alarming fashion. He said he was "extremely angry".

Broad, who was acting as International Cricket Council match referee for the series between Pakistan and Sri Lanka, was with the umpires and other match officials in a minibus and following the Sri Lankan team coach when it was ambushed by more than a dozen terrorists close to the Gaddafi Stadium.

He said he was left with three emotions. The initial reaction was "absolute shock" at the extraordinary events of the previous 24 hours, followed by sadness, particularly at the loss of their driver, and anger at the inadequacy of the Pakistani security services.

"When we were in the van we were not aware of what was going on outside. After the incident, when we were able to watch the television pictures, we could quite clearly see the white van we were in next to the white ambulance in the middle of the roundabout with terrorists shooting past the van and sometimes into the van, and not a sign of a policeman anywhere.

"They had clearly gone and left the scene and left us as sitting ducks. I am extremely angry. Questions need to be asked of Pakistani security - it wasn't there when we needed it. It was appalling."

Broad, 51, also described how he and the umpires, Simon Taufel and Steve Davis, dived for the floor of the van when the shooting started, adding that the bullets "popped alarmingly off the metal vehicle".

"I am extremely fortunate to be here today," he said, "as are Simom Taufel and the other match officials. We were all in the bus at the same time."

At one point, Broad said, the side door opened and a police officer threw himself into the van. He shouted to the officer to take over the driving seat and manoeuvre the vehicle to safety but received a reply in broken English that he could not drive.

Pointed Questions raised in a paper today:-
1 The attack was captured live by a TV crew. Did they know about the attack?
2 The cameraman was in perfect position to film the attack. Who was he?
3 The route of the Sri Lankan cricket team was changed at the last minute. So, how did the terrorists come to know of the new route?
4 Again, how the TV crew know of the new route?

Good, informative, piece Mr Akram. Your conclusion is spot on too. I think there is sufficient grounds for the Lankan govt to take the Punjab govt to the other ICC. The level of neglect was indeed criminal. And the lies about the number of police vehicles in the convoy is downright insulting!