And the Hits Just Keep on Coming re. banjara #138

"PM, u think Butt was not clever about this. wait till mushy tell indians in new delhi that raw did it. "

banj.. to be sure, Butt's idiocy pertains to responsibility of the players/officals, not to the putative perpetrators. RAW will always be a suspect in such cases just as the IJI always is when $hit happens in India.

Lahore Terror Attack Targeting Sri Lankan Team: Who is behind it? re. URSTRULY: "No measure of security can prevent this."

If this were true, there would scarcely be a President alive today in the US or any Third World country. Get real already! Do the words "Presidential Security" mean anything to you?

Lahore Terror Attack Targeting Sri Lankan Team: Who is behind it? Is anyone following the statements coming out of the PCB? Butt, on the BBC, claimed that Broad's account of security was "totally wrong, fabricated … no truth in it".

WTF!?! Is this a-hole so beyghairat that he thinks he can lie about what we all saw on tv??

Now Miandad has added his voice to the many Pakistani cricketers and ex-cricketers calling for action against Broad. WTF!!!

BUTT clearly had his head stuck up his name when he went on to say: "We had three ODIs and a Test with no problems, ... There is no way one can predict a terrorist attack. "

Muthafcuker!! The fact that they weren't attacked earlier is now proof that security was all right?? And look how the lying ba$tard is completely ignoring the Punjab CID report of Jan. 22.

He also dismissed suggestions from a number of witnesses, including Muttiah Muralitharan and Broad, that the Pakistan bus was several minutes behind the main convey at the time of the attack. "Nonsense," he said, "it was there and one of the security staff informed them there was firing and they turned back."

Now WTF is this!?!? Just yesterday Yunis Khan, in an effort to quell conspiracy theories, explained to reporters how it was normal for one team to leave five to ten minutes after the other, which is exactly what he'd decided to do, since his team would be batting anyway. Now Butt's contradicting him too??

And finally, this freaking lie that has been doing the rounds for some years now.. "We will need to convince people they can come here," Butt said. "Our public is cricket crazy."

BULL$HIT!! Pakistanis are not cricket-crazy and don't treat cricket as a religion. That would be the Indians. We have perhaps the thinnest turnouts perhaps in the world at the stadiums for both Tests and ODI's. So who the fcuk arewe trying to kid with this lie!?

And the Hits Just Keep on Coming banjara, yes,actually. To lie cleverly is one thing. To do it this way is beyond stupid!

And the Hits Just Keep on Coming ok... sorry to interrupt this fabulous exchange between hamid mian and luddu but...

Is anyone following the statements coming out of the PCB? Butt, on the BBC, claimed that Broad's account of security was "totally wrong, fabricated … no truth in it".

WTF!?! Is this a-hole so beyghairat that he thinks he can lie about what we all saw on tv??

Now Miandad has added his voice to the many Pakistani cricketers and ex-cricketers calling for action against Broad. WTF!!!

BUTT clearly had his head stuck up his name when he went on to say: "We had three ODIs and a Test with no problems, ... There is no way one can predict a terrorist attack. "

Muthafcuker!! The fact that they weren't attacked earlier is now proof that security was all right?? And look how the lying ba$tard is completely ignoring the Punjab CID report of Jan. 22.

He also dismissed suggestions from a number of witnesses, including Muttiah Muralitharan and Broad, that the Pakistan bus was several minutes behind the main convey at the time of the attack. "Nonsense," he said, "it was there and one of the security staff informed them there was firing and they turned back."

Now WTF is this!?!? Just yesterday Yunis Khan, in an effort to quell conspiracy theories, explained to reporters how it was normal for one team to leave five to ten minutes after the other, which is exactly what he'd decided to do, since his team would be batting anyway. Now Butt's contradicting him too??

And finally, this freaking lie that has been doing the rounds for some years now.. "We will need to convince people they can come here," Butt said. "Our public is cricket crazy."

BULL$HIT!! Pakistanis are not cricket-crazy and don't treat cricket as a religion. That would be the Indians. We have perhaps the thinnest turnouts perhaps in the world at the stadiums for both Tests and ODI's. So who the fcuk arewe trying to kid with this lie!?

Demystifying Slumdog re. neembu #20
"... money is irrelevant to Salim, he's the Irish/Italian mobster who's a Catholic and does hits, comes back home and prays. He dies a gangsta death of glory and rebellion-he's taken out two crime bosses on his own impetus."

That's Bull-bull! Salim was just your regular slimeball who, despite himself, couldn't overcome the guilt of having his own flesh and blood - and innocent flesh at that - become another victim of his boss's callousness. No hero there, just another cad with nothing more to lose.

Lahore Terror Attack Targeting Sri Lankan Team: Who is behind it? Somewhat random thoughts...

re. the fact that the bus survived the rocket and didn't have its tyres blown out by the attackers...

Well, as per the driver's account, he was forced to veer the bus to avoid the firing/grenades from up ahead. Just then, the rocket, fired from somewhere behind the bus, whizzed past it. Apparently, the few surviving policemen also fired back at the attackers at this point. The bus driver, on the insistence of its terrified passengers, hit the gas. Hitting the bus therefore, could not have been the easiest thing in the world.

Point: It's too early to suggest that the attackers didn't really intend taking out the players. The bullets they fired at the bus were very real, and it is only very, very good fortune that no player was killed, even as several incurred shrapnel wounds.

Having said that, I suppose I would be contradicting myself suggesting that the attackers, having killed the driver of the van carrying the umpires and referee, didn't seem very intent on killing its occupants. Chris Broad claims the van did come under fire, but oddly states that there was the sound of bullets "pinging off the vehicle". WTF!? Were these rubber bullets!?? They were being fired from no more than 20-40m away-- and from KKs! Given that this van was a sitting duck, without so much as constable in sight to defend it, it's remarkable that its (foreign) occupants got out unscathed. (Or was the Pakistani reserve umpire in this van??) It's very unlikely that a team of attackers who'd orchestrated such a well-planned ambush would not have known who was riding in the van.

Lastly... wouldn't a self-respecting, true-blooded jihadi run up to the van wearing a heavy belt and make sure no one escaped alive? Or, for that matter, used a coupla more cars to at least ATTEMPT to drive into the bus?

as the plot thickens...

Lahore Terror Attack Targeting Sri Lankan Team: Who is behind it? #178 Posted by nkg:
NKG: Actors need not know who the financers of a "film" are.

Attack on Sri Lankan Team Kamath #7:

Yes, in Pakistan VVIPs only travel using teleporters.

Demystifying Slumdog #12 neembu. Good point, neembu. While I agree with Roy's framing of critique about the film (or, more accurately, its popularity), I disagree strongly with those (and there are many!) who suggest that this is simply a movie about the ugly underbelly of life in Mumbai. There was this 20-something social-activist type Indian dame on BBC World complaining that the movie is "a veritable checklist of vices: abject poverty, squalor, child prostituion ...."

It's a pity she missed the point as I saw it (and you mentioned): Jamal and Latika (not sure about Salim) rise above it all and maintain their integrity through it all.

Demystifying Slumdog Hi there Author!

Haven't read your article yet. Just read the frontpage blurb and felt that was sooo spot on! Thank you!

I liked the film myself, but BEST FILM!!? Puh-leeeze!

I've read Arundathi Roy's review of the film and its acclaim. Do I still need to read your article? :-)

Lahore Terror Attack Targeting Sri Lankan Team: Who is behind it? re. nkg #160:
"Can you find any non [Muslim] locality in Lahore (mini india), which can be used as buffer to carry out attack?"

A non-Mulsim (mini-India) locality/buffer isn't a requirement for carrying out such an attack. Any old anti-State organization will do, thank you very much. And don't worry, I'm sure that financers don't leaving their business cards or otherwise reveal their identity even to their handmaidens.

Attack on Sri Lankan Team 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!

Lahore Terror Attack Targeting Sri Lankan Team: Who is behind it? Interesting reports from The News today:

(1) Govt was warned about attack but did nothing: Ansar Abbasi

excerpt:

"However, after the recent imposition of governor's rule, not only the chief secretary and the inspector general police were changed but also the whole lot of police officers in Lahore, including the CCPO, SP (operations) and six other SPs, who were replaced by officers some of whom enjoy highly stinking reputation.

There is no explanation offered so far by any government authority as to why the warning of the CID was overlooked this time when the Punjab was ruled by Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer.

A two-day visit of this correspondent to Lahore shows the civilian bureaucracy there talking of how the civilian administration and police have been (mis)used by the provincial administration for political wheeling-dealing since the imposition of governor's rule in the Punjab.

"Keeping in view the CID source report, the terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team is a clear FIR against the Punjab governor and his administration," one of these officials commented."
-----------------------

Can someone please tell me what the fcuk we are to make of this $hit:

"According to information obtained from the Interior Ministry sources, when the police escort was ready to take the Sri Lanka team to the stadium, an unknown caller told the cops to change the route and use the Gulberg road instead of the earlier fixed route of the Ferozpur road. The police, without verifying the identity of the caller, followed the new route. But they soon realised that they have fallen into the trap. These cops bore the brunt of the firing but saved the lives of the Sri Lankan players."

My best guess is that this is disinformation. Or does anyone have a better explanation as to why the cops, with a VVIP charge, would act on the instructions of an anonymous caller!?!

Also, there are conflicting reports on the number of police vans escorting the coach. Salman Taseer claims there were "half a dozen police vehicles", while the above report states there was just ONE!

If indeed there were six, or even three police vehicles, this is a new mark of incompetence on their part. We also saw video footage of gunmen firing their weapons willynilly from the grassy embankments as if they were on a shooting range. No shield. And no retaliatory fire either.

There is a case to be made for the Lankan Govt taking the Punjab govt to the ICC -- the OTHER ICC!!

Lahore Terror Attack Targeting Sri Lankan Team: Who is behind it? Afat Mian,
re. first link in #149

I have a bridge in downtown Karachi. Interested?

In Search of Political Will: Fight Against Militants in Swat This is a really well researched, well written and, well, welcomed article. The question is... do the Muslims of Paksitan (and other Pakistanis too, of course) have the will to implement what is even Islamic if it is against those who have come to co-opt the "Islamic" space in both politics and everyday life.