This week’s attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Pakistan brought swift condemnation from around the world. Eight members of the Sri Lankan cricket contingent were injured, while six Pakistani police and two civilians were killed.
According to Lahore administrator Khusro Pervaiz, Pakistan police had warned authorities that the Sri Lankan team was at risk. “It’s correct that we were forewarned … there were many pieces of information which came to us,” he told Dawn Television.
Which begs the question as to why more was not done to avert this disaster.
“Our guys were getting hurt and screaming, but we couldn’t help each other,” Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene said when the team arrived home in Colombo. “None of us thought that we would come out alive.”
In a world where increased militant attacks seem to be the order of the day, the option to focus on a soft target was despicable indeed.
The Sri Lankan team had agreed to tour Pakistan in India’s stead, who had pulled out over security concerns following November’s attacks in Mumbai, bringing Test cricket back to the nation.
Cricket is akin to religion in many parts of the subcontinent; it has the power to unite diverse communities, and to target an attack against an institution that aims to unify is wrong.
At the time of writing, there had been no claim of responsibility for the attack, so it is difficult to understand any specific motives. But how could any cause be furthered by such an attack?
Violence has very seldom been the answer to anything. We need only look closer to home and the peaceful path followed by Nelson Mandela in brining about significant change.
| FULL SPEED AHEAD |
NOT SO FAST |
Desmond Tutu
Tutu this week came out in support of an arrest warrant against Sudan President Omar al-Bashir, and urged African leaders to do the same. “Because the victims in Sudan are African, African leaders should be the staunchest supporters of efforts to see perpetrators brought to account,” Tutu correctly claimed. |
 Militants
The attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team this week was appalling. In country that is already under the spotlight for an increasing number of militant attacks, the choice to attack a soft target is disgusting indeed. Sport often allows for the bridging of fundamental differences, and that is something that should be respected and held dear. |
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