Lahore terror

If Lahore happened to be the acme of Sri Lanka’s cricketing glory where it bagged the World Cup in 1996 the same venue turned out to be Lanka’s nightmarish nadir as the horrendous events that unfolded on World television amply demonstrated yesterday.

Sri Lanka’s cricketers never deserved the horrendous treatment they were subjected to when masked gunmen opened fire on the team bus close to the venue of the second cricket test match.

For, this was more or less a goodwill tour that was undertaken by our cricket team to the beleaguered country which was given a wide berth by all cricket playing nations due to the political and sectarian turmoil there.

Working at the back of our collective minds would also have been the fact that it was Pakistan (India was the other) who took the rare step of making an unscheduled visit to Sri Lanka during the 1996 World Cup campaign when two other countries who were scheduled to play here withdrew citing security reasons.

Regrettably elements who thought it fit to harm our cricketers had no concern for such niceties in the quest of achieving their diabolic ends. How harming a group of cricketers, whose only role is to bring joy and pleasure to the sports loving public of Pakistan, can achieve whatever object the terrorists had in mind defies understanding.

Except that their sole intention was to create more mayhem and anarchy in a country that is already reeling from sectarian violence and shunned by the sporting world like the plague.

It also shows that even cricketers with such high profile identities which Sri Lanka can boast of and almost deified in the cricket mad sub continent are today fair game to these evil forces, contrary to the unwritten law that sportsmen don’t figure in the equation, and are spared from attacks.

That our cricketers were targeted in this fashion despite the tight security provided will now render all sportsmen vulnerable to attacks notwithstanding being tagged as defacto Ambassadors of the countries they represent.

Mercifully they failed to inflict any serious causalities among our cricketing knights and all Sri Lankans would earnestly wish speedy recovery to Mahela and five other teammates from the minor injuries they have sustained.

We say to them all Sri Lanka is proud of you for making this bold foray into terrain that others feared to tread, knowing the risks that are at stake, merely to repay a longstanding debt of goodwill by Pakistan and also as an act of solidarity towards a beleaguered nation.

Their gesture also goes to demonstrate Sri Lanka’s ingrained cultural ethos of repaying gratitude and most notably the willingness to help a friend in distress.That they themselves became targets did not matter in the least.

We are sure that this incident will not in any way sour Sri Lanka’s ties with our erstwhile neighbour. Foreign Secretary Dr. Palitha Kohona’s statement in the immediate aftermath of the attack that Lanka - Pakistani ties will remain stronger as ever is a matter for great solace.

As a country which has suffered the rigours of terrorism for over three decades it is easy to empathize with Pakistan’s plight.

As for the fall out of the incident no doubt this is going to change the cricketing landscape not only in Asia but also the rest of the world in dramatic fashion.Sadly a game that was originally designed for leisure of the British and called the gentlemen’s game from now on is going to be attached with attributes that would be far removed from this description .

Very soon we are bound to see foreign teams being escorted by military tanks and provided with air cover as well.It would not be unusual to see team hotels being turned into virtual garrisons. One TV commentator yesterday called for all roads to be closed and rendered deserted during team arrivals and departures at venues.

For now all Lankans would be praying with relief that no harm had befallen our cricket team though the shock of the ordeal may prey on the minds for some that may even affect their performances on the field.The Sri Lanka Cricket team is the only sporting unit in the world which survived an assassination bid.

The Israeli athletes of the 1972 Olympic games in Munich were not so fortunate. At this moment of shock and consternation while our hearts go out to our cricketers it is important to remain calm to allow our heroes to get over their harrowing ordeal.There would no doubt be thousands of supporters and well-wishers who will throng the airport to express solidarity with our gallant men.

We of the Daily News too wish Mahela and his boys a speedy recovery and a return to the fray as quickly as possible to keep the Lankan flag flying. As for Pakistan sadly this may sound the death knell for it as a sporting venue if not sporting isolation for a long time to come. Its prospects for the 2011 Cricket World Cup now remain bleak.

Yesterday was certainly it’s version of 9/11, (Mumbai’s 26/11) in terms of the scale of the attack and the high profile targets involved. One only hopes it would emerge from the ashes soon and be a robust player on the Asian stage and in the sporting arena.

That terrorists have now started turning their guns on sportsmen is indeed a frightening prospect. Sportsmen were hitherto exempted from diabolical designs of terrorists.

This new development should now stir the world community to redouble their efforts to slay this hydra headed monster. Today, international terrorism has developed into a strong underlayer across the length and breadth of the globe that is capable of striking at will and without discrimination as shown by the Lahore attack.

This should provide food for thought to those who are still bent on treating terrorists and terror organisations with kid gloves.