Shocking terror attack on Sri Lankan cricket team
http://paktribune.com/news/index.shtml?212123
Shocking terror attack on Sri Lankan cricket team
Tuesday March 03, 2009 (1730 PST)
A horrifying and shocking incident has taken place on the morning of 3 February [he means March, -gReT] in Lahore. A band of terrorists attacked the Sri Lankan team moving in a coach from their hotel towards Gaddafi stadium. The coach and a vehicle carrying cricket officials were escorted by a police van and a jeep in which the SP was traveling and a police van in rear. As it was moving past Liberty Chowk Gulberg close to the stadium, the convoy was fired at from three directions. There was intense cross firing between the police and the unknown terrorists which resulted into the death of five policemen and two civilians and injury to five Sri Lankan players including head coach, and two civilians. Sri Lankan players Maheyla Jayawardne, Kumara Sangakkara and Tharanga Paranavithana and two cricket officials, one from Sri Lanka and other from Pakistan received bullet wounds. Others who got slight injuries as a result of shrapnel were Thilana Samarawerra, Ajantha Mendas and head coach. With the grace of God, all are completely out of danger. The second test has been cancelled and the Sri Lankan team is being dispatched back to Colombo today in a special charted plane. There is a sense of foreboding and gloom in Pakistan in general and Lahore in particular and every one is feeling grief stricken over the horrible incident. While they are extremely sad over the sad demise of those who laid down their lives fighting the terrorists and injuries caused to their honorable guests, they are thanking God that a great tragedy has been averted and the designs of enemies of Pakistan thwarted.
The unknown masked terrorists twelve in number, aged between 20-30 years had come in rickshaws and took positions at about seven points in pairs. Two persons were dressed in jeans and shirts while others in Shalwar-kamees and rucksacks filled with Kalashnikov rifle, rocket launchers, ammunition and grenades. As the two vehicles were traversing the liberty roundabout, the terrorists started indiscriminate firing on the vehicles using Kalashnikov weapons. The driver of the vehicle in which cricket officials were seated was shot and killed and Pakistani umpire Ahsan seriously injured. The driver of the coach was also fired at but he survived. A rocket launcher was fired but mercifully missed the target. A grenade was also lobbed at the coach carrying players it rolled under the moving vehicle and exploded in the air. The players sitting inside ducked under the seats and driver maintaining his nerves raced his vehicle towards the stadium. Although the terrorists were well rehearsed and trained, their dangerous plan was foiled because of swift and efficient response of the police.
The terrorists after committing the act ran away throwing away their rucksacks and armaments and made a vain attempt to hijack a car near Firdausi Market in the neighborhood. The recovered items from a parked white car near the site of crime and a rickshaw contained rucksacks, grenades, ammunition magazines, suicide jackets, Kalashnikov rifles and rocket launchers. Four suspects with arms have already been nabbed and another car impounded.
It is worth recalling that in the backdrop of security concerns in Pakistan, no country was prepared to send its cricket team to Pakistan. When Indian cricket team cancelled the scheduled one-day series and test-cricket series in Pakistan and flatly refused to come causing huge monetary loss to Pakistan Cricket Board, Colombo expressed its willingness to send its cricket team to Pakistan. India put extreme pressure on Sri Lanka to reconsider its decision and cancel the planned visit. Over ruling security concerns and brushing aside excessive Indian pressure, much to the chagrin and annoyance of India, Sri Lanka decided to send its team and it took part in one-day cricket series played in major cities of Pakistan. One-day series was comprehensively won by Sri Lanka team because of its outstanding form in batting, bowling and fielding. Soon after, the three test series commenced and the first test terminated in a draw. The second test was in play since 01 February at Lahore and on 3 February the teams were to play the third day of the test match.
The decision of Sri Lankan government to send its team to Pakistan was taken in the wake of excellent Sri Lanka-Pakistan relations in all departments. Other than China, Sri Lanka is one country which is loved by Pakistani people. The people of Pakistan love sports particularly cricket which is watched by all ages. The ongoing test matches series was providing great entertainment to the Pakistanis. Despite the fact that Sri Lankan team was bashing the Pakistani team, the cricket loving spectators cheered them lustily. The sad incident has anguished each and every Pakistani and there is sense of disbelief, shock and distress. Every Pakistani is feeling aggrieved over the gory incident and are extremely upset. Notwithstanding that some criminal Pakistanis bought over by foreign agencies would be involved; there is no doubt in anyone’s mind that foreign hands were involved. Pakistan is under intense attacks of sabotage and subversion since 2005 spearheaded by RAW and assisted by Mossad and CIA.
This attack is on the pattern of Mumbai attacks which were undertaken by one dozen terrorists and India had squarely laid the blame on Pakistan within hours of the incident. The only difference is that in Mumbai, the terrorists had taken the whole port city of Mumbai for three days killing 180 people including foreigners and security personnel. The 4000 security forces including 1200 elite force of India remained helpless for over 72 hours. Manmohan had warned Pakistan that it will have to pay a price for it. Indian hawkish elements within political and literary circles have been urging India to take revenge from Pakistan for the embarrassment it suffered in Mumbai and pay it in the same coin. Conversely, in Lahore, the small police force fought the terrorists bravely and managed to save the guests who had been deliberately targeted. Unlike the Indians who had started crying hoarse and blaming Pakistan without even carrying out preliminary investigations, the response of Pakistani media and officials and analysts has been guarded and defensive. This is notwithstanding that each Pakistani is convinced that no Pakistani could have thought of harming any individual from Sri Lanka and none other than RAW was behind it. Tens of RAW agents have been arrested in FATA, Baluchistan and in Lahore. Many more are likely to be nabbed in the wake of peace deals in Swat and Bajaur.
The timings of the terrorist attack in Lahore are meaningful. It has been undertaken at a time when an elected government in Punjab has been sacked and Governor Rule imposed and there are wide scale protests throughout the country particularly in Punjab over the unconstitutional and unwarranted act. Governor Salman Taseer has changed the entire bureaucracy and senior police officers and his entire focus is towards bringing in PPP government in Punjab. Taking advantage of the raised tempers between the PML-N and PPP and volatile situation in Punjab, a targeted attack on the pattern of Mumbai has been staged to achieve certain objectives.
Some of the motives behind the attack are as under. One, add fuel to fire in Punjab. Two, impress upon the world that even Punjab has become insecure and hence Pakistan is turning into an ungovernable and failed state. Three, prove to the world that Pakistan is an unsafe place and no country should ever think of sending its sports team to Pakistan. Four, further weaken Pakistan economy, discourage investors, isolate Pakistan and get it declared as a terrorist state. Five, give a mortal blow to Pakistan cricket and to weaken Sri Lankan cricket team which is the real challenge to Indian cricket team in the coming world cup. Six, cover up the embarrassment of Mumbai and humiliate Pakistan. Seven, stage-manage Mumbai like attack in Pakistan to prove that it was Pakistan and not India that had masterminded Mumbai attacks. Eight, spoil Pakistan-Sri-Lanka relations. Nine, teach Sri Lanka a lesson for not heeding to its command of not sending its cricket team. At the same time, assuage the hurt feelings of Indian Tamils wailing over the successes achieved by Sri Lankan forces in crushing RAW sponsored LTTE insurgency in northern Sri Lanka by targeting the whole Sri Lankan beloved cricket team.
One shudders to think if the detractors had succeeded in their evil design of eliminating Sri Lankan cricket team.. Irrespective of the sinister motives and objectives of India which is antagonist to both Pakistan and Sri Lanka, the grisly incident has failed to make any negative effect on warm relations between the two countries. The most satisfying thing is that despite such a shocking happening, not a single Sri Lankan player or official expressed any negative feeling. Jaysuria said that such terror acts can take place anywhere in the world. It speaks of the greatness of Sri Lankans. The positive stance adopted by Sri Lanka has poured coldwater on the sinister designs of adversaries of Pakistan. The two have already agreed to establish a joint inquiry team to trace the culprits and give them exemplary punishments. India has refused to hold joint investigations on Mumbai incident since it knows that such an enquiry would expose its drama. So far all roads from Lahore lead towards India.
Pakistan government in line with its traditional policy of appeasement towards India is as usual remaining tight-lipped and is inclined towards blaming the Islamic militants within Pakistan and not RAW. The west and India loving Pakistani analysts like Imtiaz Alam have closed the window opening toward India and opened the FATA window. Unlike the Indian writers, journalists and analysts who collectively pointed fingers at Pakistan without any evidence, our liberals choose to play to Indian tunes. Now that the two brotherly countries Pakistan and Sri Lanka have agreed to investigate the incident jointly, it is in our mutual interest to expose the face of the real perpetrators and hold them accountable.
Before I jam brakes, I may hazard to ask Interior Ministry and Punjab government under controversial Taseer as to why the worthy guests were not provided with bullet proof vehicle? Why a reserve elite force did not follow up the convoy and why police route lining not done as in the case of VIP movements? Why was no heed paid to the intelligence report of 22 January which forewarned that ten RAW terrorists had entered Lahore and they would be targeting Sri Lankan team? Is it not high time that we let go our apologetic, defensive and reactive policies and become more proactive to safeguard our national interests and our pride?
End.
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What do you make of
As in the Mumbai attacks, I suspect that this attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team is not as it is told in the news.
What do you make of this?
An American, I suppose, saying that the Pakistani leadership has betrayed it's people by letting the US launch drones from Pakistani airfields to attack Pakistanis. I can believe that. Leaders in my own country are allowing US soldiers to hold exercises in my country without explaining the purpose of those exercises to the people. Damned traitors.
CBS reveals those airfields
CBS reveals those airfields in Pakistan used by the US to operate drones. Pakistani officials make a big deal about US drones hitting villagers but not revealing that those same drones originated from Pakistani airfields with permission to operate from Pakistani officials. What gives.
The newscasters try to slip in a bit of disinfo by blaming Pakistani officials for protecting AlQuaeda. Hmmm, Pakistani officials must have been paid good sums to be the patsys for this charade.
Attack on cricketers in Pakistan; MI6, CIA, Mossad
 http://aangirfan.blogspot.com/2009/03/attack-on-cricketers-in-pakistan-mi6.html
1. Reportedly, certain security services are trying to break up Pakistan, just as they broke up Yugoslavia.
Reportedly, it was Henry Kissinger who "gave the green light to India’s plan to break up East Pakistan and create Bangladesh." (Written by www.daily.pk )
Unfortunately, a lot of the top people in Pakistan seem to be working for foreign security services, and that makes Pakistan look doomed.
2. Omar Sheik is reported to have murdered US journalist Daniel Pearl
In his 2006 memoir In the Line of Fire, President Musharraf wrote that Omar Saeed Sheik "is a British national born to Pakistani parents in London" in December 1973.
Omar Sheikh was reportedly a contemporary of England cricket captain Nasser Hussain at the private Forest School, in Snaresbrook, in the UK. (BBC Profile: Omar Saeed Sheikh)
Omar Sheik attended the London School of Economics (which reportedly has links to MI6).
"It is believed in some quarters that while Omar Sheikh was at the LSE he was recruited by the British intelligence agency MI-6," Musharraf wrote. "It is said that MI-6 persuaded him to take an active part in demonstrations against Serbian aggression in Bosnia and even sent him to Kosovo to join the jihad" (Pervez Musharraf Nailed Top Pakistani Terrorist and Kidnapper As ... )
3. On 3 February 2009, in the Pakistani city of Lahore, gunmen killed at least five Pakistan policemen and wounded up to six Sri Lankan cricket players. Cricketers wounded in Lahore attack / Sri Lankan cricketers injured in deadly gun attack in Pakistan .
The attackers, reportedly armed with Kalashnikovs, rocket launchers and hand grenades, targeted the Sri Lankan team's bus.
Habibur Rehman, Lahore's chief of police, said there were about 12 attackers, who "appeared to be well-trained." They appeared to have had formal combat training.
Video seen on news channels showed the cricket team's white van with its front window shattered. Pakistan TV showed footage of gunmen with rifles and backpacks running through the streets and firing on unidentified vehicles.
4. mostaqueali/ speculates whether Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, was a British agent. (The Mutiny. )
Was Pakistan set up by the British in order to weaken India?
Jinnah had "all those long years in ... London, during the critical years of the independence movement."
Jinnah had a "penchant for ... alcohol."
"His speeches to his Muslim audiences (were) in immaculate Oxbridge English mostly."
He showed "deference to British Raj law."
Meanwhile, "Congress leaders were imprisoned by the Raj."
"It started in 1940 when the Muslim league drafted a constitution... As the Muslim League developed, the majority of the top echelon of the (mainly Hindu) Congress were locked up from 1942, with the 'Quit India' Movement.
"The Muslim League thus with covert British Raj guidance became a legitimate force in Indian politics, which could articulate its position with mass appeal...
"For me all this could not have been done by Jinnah himself or his close cadres... There must have been some sort of institutional backing from Britain to translate the Muslim League into a reasonably cohesive force by 1946..."
5. The Pakistan Daily, 1 March 2009, tells us of the Mossad Link to One of Key 9-11 Hijackers ( Israeli Secret Service Mossad Link Found to One of Key 9-11 ...)
A New York Times story on 19 Feb. 2009 revealed that Ali al-Jarrah, a Lebanese Muslim Arab who reportedly is a spy for for Israeli intelligence, is a cousin of one of the Muslims alleged to have been one of the 9-11 hijackers.
One of Mr. Jarrah’s cousins, Ziad al-Jarrah, was among the 19 'hijackers' who allegedly carried out the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
On 3 August 1993, investigative reporter Robert I. Friedman revealed in New York’s Village Voice that Ahmad Ajaj, a Palestinian held in federal custody for conspiracy in the first attack on the World Trade Center in 1993, may have been a Mossad mole.
Ajaj was arrested at Kennedy Airport on Sept. 1, 1992, after he arrived on a Pakistani International flight from Peshawar.
6. Rehman Malik
On 17 January 2009, Pakistan acknowledged that India's 26/11 Mumbai dossier has "proof" of the involvement of Pakistani elements.
The first-ever admission that India had proof came from Pakistan's interior ministry chief Rehman Malik.
Pak concedes India has got proof against Pak nationals
The most powerful man in Pakistan appears to be a friend of Mossad and the American government.
Rehman Malik is the effective Interior Minister of Pakistan.
ISI is the Pakistan spy agency.
Pakistan Daily writes of 'the bizarre, abortive handover of the ISI to Rehman Malik'. (You Can’t Be On The Wrong Side Of Pakistan Mr Asif Ali Zardari)
Benazir Bhutto appointed Rehman Malik as chief of Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency (FIA)
According to the article on Rehman Malik at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia :
1. The Pakistani military was dismayed by reports of FIA contacts with the Israeli secret service, the Mossad, which had been cooperating with Indian secret service RAW.
2. One of the first acts of President Farooq Leghari after dismissing Benazir Bhutto on 5 November 1996 was to imprison Rehman Malik, the Additional Director General FIA.
3. Rehman Malik was the person responsible for security of Benazir Bhutto. After the assassination of Benazir Bhutto there were many accusation against Rehman Malik for lax security. (A Fishy Character - Rehman Malik Pakistan Politics / Rehman “Double Agent†Malik–>Emergency mailing list ... )
According to the Pakistani Spectator, 11 May 2008, (Rehman Malik Runs Zardari and PPP The Pakistani Spectator):
"Rehman Malik ... helped Zardari a lot to launder ... looted money and invest and secure it at different places in the world... He does what he is told to do by the masters in Washington."
7. Pakistan army chief General Ashfar Parvez Kayani has been trained in the USA.
And Pakistan's President Zardari is reportedly a friend of the neocons.
One report suggests that the American neocons toppled Mussharraf and put Zardari into power.
In the Guardian, 7 September 2008, Tariq Ali wrote that "a hardcore neocon faction led by Zalmay Khalilzad, the US ambassador to the Security Council, was busy advising Asif Zardari in secret and helping him plan the campaign to oust the general (Musharraf)." Asif Ali Zardari: the godfather as president
Rehman Malik discuss terrorism issue with Jacqui Smith
Saudi intelligence chief meets Rehman Malik, others
Lashkar-e-Jhangvi plotted Marriott attack: Malik
8. Breaking up Pakistan
On 3 December 2008, at Al Ahram Weekly, Abdus Sattar Ghazali wrote 'Behind the scenes' (Cached)
He tells us about the US-UK-Israel agenda for the Middle East and South Asia region.
Among the points made:
1. The Global Trends 2025 report by Thomas Fingar, US deputy director of national intelligence for analysis, suggests that Pakistan may become much smaller.
2. The New York Times reported on a "New Middle East" map published in 2006 by the US Air Force Journal along with an article by retired Lieutenant-Colonel Ralph Peters, entitled, "How a better Middle East would look?" The map and Peters suggested that a 'natural' Pakistan would be much smaller than today.
3. It can be argued that redrawing the map, from the Lebanon and Syria to Anatolia, Arabia, the Persian Gulf, the Iranian Plateau and South Asia is part of a longstanding Anglo-American and Israeli agenda.
4. "Constructive chaos" (violence and war) is the means to gradually achieve this objective.
5. There is a rapidly deteriorating situation in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) in the wake of frequent US missile attacks and Pakistan's military operations.
The FATA region, along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, was peaceful before the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.
The commander of US forces in Afghanistan, General David McKiernan, was asked by a group of parliamentarians meeting with him at the residency of the US ambassador in Islamabad: Why did you Americans come to Afghanistan when it was so peaceful before you got there?
6. Some commentators suggest that the US is financing the Taliban. The point is to bog down the Pakistani army, they say, leaving the way open for the Americans to grab Pakistan's nuclear weapons.
Recently, in the officers' mess in Bajaur, the northern tribal region where the Pakistani army is stuck fighting militants, one officer offered his own theory: Osama bin Laden did not exist, he told a visiting journalist. Rather, he was a creation of the Americans, who needed an excuse to invade Afghanistan and encroach upon Pakistan.
~~~
Abdus Sattar Ghazali is executive editor of the online magazine American Muslim Perspective (http://www.amperspective.com/).
~~
Rashid Rauf linked to Bombay Attacks
~~
No fear of pursuit
The terrorists were caught on video walking away after the attack on the cricket team. They just strolled away with no sense of urgency.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/04/cricket-attack-pakistan-a_n_171...
More on "Pakistan's Munich"
http://www.ahmedquraishi.com/latest_col.php?id=87
Pakistan’s Munich: The Enemy’s Fingerprints
The Indian fingerprints in the attack on the Sri Lankan team cannot be ignored. New Delhi has been at war with both Islamabad and Colombo for decades. Hitting both in one place is a masterstroke. Indian military and its agents should brace for retaliation.
By AHMED QURAISHI
Tuesday, 3 March 2009.
WWW.AHMEDQURAISHI.COM
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—You can’t ignore the symbolism: Commando-style trained young men with backpacks, carrying automatic machine guns and armed with grenades and rocket launchers, bearing a shocking resemblance to the video footage released by the Indian government of the Mumbai attackers in November.
The Indian connection, even if indirect and unintentional, cannot be ignored:
1. Lahore is the same city where Pakistani antiterrorism police arrested several Indian citizens and their Pakistani accomplices in the past few weeks and paraded them in public with evidence linking them to India’s spy agency Research & Analysis Wing, or RAW. Lahore lies a few kilometers away from the Indian border and has bore the brunt of India’s covert operations in the 1970s and 1980s, mostly randomly planted bombs in public places designed to spread terror.
2. Pakistani security officials had received a report that at least ten Indian operatives have crossed the border into Lahore 48 hours before the attacks.
3. India spearheaded a campaign to convince several countries to sever sports relations with Pakistan and put tremendous pressure on Sri Lanka not to send its cricket team to play here.
4. India has a history of supporting the terrorist LTTE group and arming it with sophisticated weapons to fight the Sri Lankan government and army. Pakistan, on the other hand, has been supporting Sri Lanka against this terrorism. India has long been disturbed by the close relationship between Colombo and Islamabad. In this connection, Sri Lanka’s foreign minister’s statement is important. He said he won’t point fingers but said ‘terrorism has no borders’, an implied suggestion that the Sri Lankans believe the perpetrators came from outside Pakistan.
5. The timing of the attack shows the professional planning. Lahore administration was in a flux after the change of provincial government. Lahore was also the last Pakistani city that has not yet been affected by the fallout from America’s failed and disastrous war in Afghanistan. This incident effectively brings chaos to Lahore as well. The rest of Pakistan is already being destabilized by foreign intelligence operatives working from the Afghan soil, inserting professional saboteurs and flushing the country with money to recruit criminals and activating them under the guise of religious extremists.
An important point to note here is that whoever planned this attack made sure that the terrorists look similar to Mumbai attackers. This can be an attempt to spark more conflict between Pakistan and India. In this case, if evidence is found, it might be interesting to probe the possibility of a third party trying to push both countries to war. And it’s not just religious elements in Pakistan that want this. There is an organized terrorist infrastructure inside India, manned by Hindu terrorist groups with recruits from Indian military intelligence. The same Indian elements are also active in Kabul and other Afghan cities, using the Afghan soil to export terrorism inside Pakistan. American reports have also linked these Indian elements to attacks on U.S. and NATO soldiers and blame them on Pakistan.
There is enough circumstantial and physical evidence that involves India’s intelligence agencies in terrorism inside Pakistan.
The Pakistani military must realize that this is an organized and not a guerrilla war that is being waged against Pakistan. This terrorism is deceptively hiding itself behind the label of religious extremism, and has links with those countries that are actively destabilizing Pakistan from the inside.
It is time now that patriotic Pakistanis and the Pakistani military sit up and take notice of the apologetic statements of this U.S.-installed government in Islamabad which, like the Indians, wasted no time in linking the Lahore attack to the Mumbai attacks, which means linking it to Pakistanis (which is not proven except in the minds of India, their American backers and their backers in Pakistan, i.e. President Zardari, Rehman Malik, Sherry Rehman, and the former advisor Mehmud Durrani.) In this case, if the Zardari government is accusing ‘Mumbai attackers’ of this latest attack, then this government is indirectly accusing the Pakistani military and our intelligence of attacking the Sri Lankans in Lahore. This is in continuation of the covert efforts by elements in this government to cause a confrontation between the Pakistani military and the world at large.
Pakistan’s response must be methodical. This is the time to expose Indian terrorism. There is stunning evidence available with Pakistani authorities about Indian activities in Afghanistan, inside Pakistan’s tribal and border areas and inside the rest of Pakistan. The Zardari government will not bring this evidence forward. It is the responsibility of the Pakistani military and its spy agencies to force this government to unmask the Indian activities. Enough of this apologetic attitude toward India. We urge Pakistan to publicly demand that Indian’s sponsorship of terrorism be curbed.
The Indians should also brace for retaliation. If Indian military and security forces are using terrorism against Pakistan in multiple places, then Indians from these organizations should be a fair game for retaliation.
© 2007-2009. All rights reserved. AhmedQuraishi.com. & PakNationalists
Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium
without royalty provided this notice is preserved.
Nice! I like reading AHMED
Nice! I like reading AHMED QURAISHI's website.
people might wonder why any Pakistani leader would play along...
My guess, and I invite others' opinions on this, is that they may hope to "discover" that their political rivals were somehow implicated. Anyone else notice that all of this stuff has happened ever since Musharraf was forced to step down? Could it be that these kind of ops would not have been possible under his watch? Might we safely conclude that the "martyred" Benazir Bhutto's faction is among those trying to sell out their nation for fun and profit? Is the ultimate goal to break Pakistan into smaller pieces and isolate the nukes in the hands of a puppet regime?
I think a downside to
I think a downside to electoral party politics is that competing to win an office degenerates to a competition for funding. Once fund raising and expenditures is the name of the game, the parties become natural targets for wealthy outsiders who want to influence the outcome and future policies. Each party seeks to win, and some of them may sell their soul to outsiders in order to beat the opposition. Once bought and paid for they are subject to the whims of their sponsor.
I can't pin down Musharaf, initially he went along with the war on terror, but eventually it seems they (US?) took him out of the equation.