2009 attack on the Sri Lanka national cricket team
Encyclopedia
The Sri Lankan cricket team attack occurred on March 3, 2009, when a bus carrying Sri Lanka
n cricket
ers, part of a larger convoy, was fired upon by 12 gunmen, near the Gaddafi Stadium
in Lahore
, Pakistan
. The cricketers were on their way to play the third day of the second Test
against the Pakistani cricket team
. Six members of the Sri Lanka national cricket team were injured. Six Pakistani policemen and two civilians were killed. These were the first attacks on a national sports team since the Munich massacre
of Israeli athletes by Palestinian militants in 1972.
The attack was carried out by Jaish-e-Mohammed
and/or Lashkar-e-Jhangvi
, the outlawed militant groups with close links to Al-Qaeda
.
outside their hotel. However, they returned in the 2003/2004 season to fulfill their commitments. Australia had recently refused to tour on safety grounds. The Sri Lankan cricket team was in Pakistan as a replacement for the Indian team, who had pulled out after the Mumbai attacks. In order to persuade the Sri Lankan team to visit, the Pakistan government offered to arrange "presidential-style security." In 2004 Lashkar-e-Taiba
had issued a fatwa
against playing Cricket
calling it against Islam
.
The series was the first Test tour of Pakistan since South Africa visited in October 2007.
The gunmen had first targeted the wheels of the bus, and then had fired at the bus and its occupants. The attackers had fired a rocket at the bus, which missed and hit a nearby electric pole. The driver of the bus, Mehar Mohammad Khalil, had then kept on driving a distance of about 500 metres (1,640.4 ft) until they reached the stadium. Khalil was hailed as a hero for his bravery. The attackers had also thrown a grenade under the bus, which exploded after the bus had passed over it.
A minivan following the team bus and carrying the match referee and umpires was also fired upon and the driver was killed. Simon Taufel
, Steve Davis
, Nadeem Ghauri
, Ahsan Raza
, umpires performance manager Peter Manuel, liaison officer Abdul Sami and ICC match referee Chris Broad
were in this minivan. The minivan was subsequently allegedly abandoned by security personnel & no bullets were fired by the security forces for twenty minutes. Chris Broad
threw himself over & kept his hand on the chest of Ahsan Raza
to slow down the profuse bleeding from a bullet injury. A police officer who climbed into the minivan to seek cover initially refused to drive the minivan. After Chris Broad scolded him he agreed and drove the minivan to safety.
Security cameras captured footage of several gunmen carrying automatic weapons and backpacks, firing on the convoy from the Liberty Square roundabout. They were later seen jogging up the street and escaping on motorcycles. The video was broadcast around the world presenting pictures of the attacks.
CCTV footage has been made public. They arrived at 8:39 am local time and left at 8:46 am. The attackers were armed with AK-47
assault rifles, hand grenades, RPG launchers, claymore
s and explosive charges.
The Sri Lankan team were then taken to the stadium and airlifted from the pitch via Pakistan Air Force
Mil Mi-17 helicopter
s, and immediate arrangements were made for the Sri Lankan team to return to Colombo on the next available flight. The second Test, which was the last scheduled fixture of the tour, was abandoned as a draw.
Six Pakistani policemen and two civilians were killed in the attack. Several team members sustained minor injuries, including:
Samaraweera and Paranavitana were hospitalized following the incident. The others had sustained minor injuries and shrapnel wounds. Samaraweera sustained shrapnel wounds to his thigh, and Paranavitana to his chest. The team's Assistant Coach Paul Farbrace
was also injured. Although it was reported that Coach Trevor Bayliss
also sustained minor injuries, it was later announced that this was incorrect.
Reserve umpire Ahsan Raza
, who was travelling in a van for the umpires that was following the Sri Lankan team bus, was injured and taken to hospital. The driver of the minibus was killed in the attack. Match referee Chris Broad
threw himself on Raza to protect him from further injury. Australian umpires Simon Taufel
and Steve Davis
were also both in the rear bus.
(LeT), a militant organization banned in both Pakistan and India. Pakistani officials said that the attacks were similar in to the 2008 Mumbai attacks
. Most of the Pakistani press blamed Pakistani Islamist militants and Al-Qaeda
for the attacks. Police said that kidnapping was a possible motive, but police officials refused to comment on this.
Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama
said on 4 March that he could not rule out involvement of the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
(LTTE) in the Lahore attacks. Some European intelligence sources supported this suspicion. Sri Lankan military officials, on the other hand, were skeptical of LTTE involvement, and an LTTE spokesperson labeled reports of LTTE connection as 'not true'. A junior Pakistani cabinet minister said that the government had evidence that the attackers came from India, but the Pakistani Information Minister, Sherry Rehman, denied any government knowledge of Indian involvement. On March 6, 2009 it was reported that officials had categorically ruled out involvement of Indian intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing
and LTTE and were zeroing in on Lashkar-e-Taiba. Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama
was quoted as saying ' From our point of view, there is no Indian involvement. India has helped us in our counter-terrorist efforts. I don’t see a need for India to target the Sri Lankan cricket team '.
On the morning of the attack, the Sri Lankan and Pakistani cricket teams did not depart from the hotel together, as they had done on previous days, and the Pakistani team's schedule was delayed by 5 minutes. Statements by Australian umpire Simon Taufel, match referee Chris Broad, and spin bowler Muralitharan, referencing this delay sparked conspiracy theories that the militants were acting on inside information. Later, Muralitharan expressed alarm at such interpretations of his comments and explained that he only suspected the gunmen to be monitoring the team movements.
Federal Bureau of Investigation
director Robert Mueller
arrived in Pakistan the day after these attacks and met with Pakistani officials to discuss security issues and 2008 Mumbai attacks
.
Interior Adviser Rehman Malik, told National Assembly Standing Committee on Interior that no evidence of LET's involvement has been found so far, and that sufficient evidence has been surfaced pointing to involvement of a foreign hand.
, the governor
of Punjab
province, said the individuals responsible for the attack had been identified, but would not be revealed until the investigation was complete. The province offered a reward of 10 million rupees
($125,000 USD) for information leading to the capture of the militants responsible for the attack.
Police in Punjab arrested over 250 suspects, including 4 who were said to be 'prime suspects'. Police called Muhammad Adil, who ran sports bikes business in Islampura
, the mastermind behind the attack, and said that he had received a call from one of the militants at 9:05am on the morning of the attacks asking for instructions. Though Adil was still absconding, his brother, Muhammad Faisal, had been arrested. Police also arrested Shahzad Babar of Rahim Yar Khan after a Subscriber Identity Module
(SIM) card registered in his name was used in the attack along with eight others.
Security officials in Pakistan
told The Times
that most of the two dozen people arrested in connection with the attacks belonged to Jaish-e-Mohammed
and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi
, the outlawed militant groups with close links to Al-Qaeda
. The suspected mastermind Mohammed Aqeel
an activist of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi
escaped a Police raid on his home in Kahuta
on March 9,of 2009.
Punjab Police have arrested the alleged mastermind Aqeel alias Dr Usman of Kahota. He has alleged to have links with Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan Chief Baitullah Mehsud
, and was also invloved in anti-aircraft gun attack on former president Pervez Musharraf’s plane in Rawalpindi.
Also another gunman Zubair, aka Naik Mohammad, of Zubair, aka Naik Mohammad, was arrested from Madina Colony, Walton Road in Lahore. He was a waiter at a hotel in Rawalpindi, when he was recruited by Sifullah. He went to Miram Shah and was trained in use of different weapons.
Other accused including Samiullah alias Ejaz of district Nankana, Adnan alias Sajjad, Ajmal alias Ahsaan, Farooq, Ameer of Punjab Taliban, and Umer alias Abdul Wahab of D. I. Khan, were still at large.
The attack was planned at Tauheed Hostel, and a house rented for this purpose in Madina Colony, Walton Road. The auto rickshaws used in the attack were purchased by Samiullah.
, and prime minister, Yousaf Raza Gillani
. Governor Salmaan Taseer
stated that the same people who executed the 2008 Mumbai attacks were responsible for this attack. Following the attack Pakistan's interior minister Rehman Malik
declared that Pakistan is "in a state of war". Pakistani officials were also quick to blame neighbours India of covert involvment, citing long standing enmity between the two South Asian countries. These claims were largely seen as an exercise in diverting attention away from the crisis.
Punjab's provincial government released photographs of two of the militants involved in the attack and posted a bounty of 10 million rupee ($125,000 USD) for help in finding the militants.
Chief Minister of Punjab (Pakistan)
Shahbaz Sharif
, criticised the current government and said that he has already tipped authorities of a possible attack.
Pakistan's newspapers condemned the attack and cited security loopholes.
The Daily Times, blamed Al Qaeda and Lashkar-e Jhangvi in an editorial, stating,"International cricket is no longer possible in Pakistan; therefore we should stop accusing foreign teams of discriminating against Pakistan vis-à-vis India. The question here is of the survival of Pakistan, not of cricket." The Daily Jang
, commenting on Chris Broad, Simon Taufel and Steve Davis's comments, said that their "vivid description of the terrifying attack gives us an insight into how people everywhere will see the events of the morning of March 3." It went on to say the "men appeared genuinely shocked over the sight of Pakistani security men running for cover". The paper goes on to say that "their candid comments" will "seal the fate of Pakistan cricket for some time to come". It also said that Pakistan "must give up complaining" and that "ways to liven up the game at the domestic level need to be reconsidered with renewed urgency".
- President, Mahinda Rajapaksa
, said, "I condemn this cowardly terrorist attack targeting the Sri Lankan cricket team. The Sri Lankan players had gone to Pakistan as ambassadors of goodwill." Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake
said, "Sri Lanka
and Pakistan
share a very close relationship and we will take all steps to protect this relationship." The driver of the bus Mehar Mohammad Khalil whose presence of mind saved the cricketers was hailed as a hero. The Sri Lankan team praised the bus driver. Then-captain of Sri Lanka
Mahela Jayawardene
praised Khalil saying he owed his life to the driver. Spinner Muttiah Muralitharan
gave Khalil his team shirt.
, Australia's foreign minister, said the attack demonstrates that there is a persistent threat to Pakistan's very existence and showed the need for a tougher war against extremists. Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd
also condemned the attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team, calling it "shameful and cowardly". He demanded answers from Pakistan after claims that police left Australians travelling with Sri Lanka's cricket team in the lurch as the bus was attacked. "I am sufficiently concerned about what has been said by the Australians that we need an explanation and we intend to get one."
- China condemned the attack. Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said that the Chinese government expressed deep condolences to the victims and sincere sympathy to the wounded.
- France expressed solidarity with the Pakistani people and authorities at this "pressing time".
- Home Minister P. Chidambaram
expressed shock over the attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Pakistan:
"We condemn the incident. We are sorry for the Sri Lankan team. We hope that the players ... I read two, three names ... Samaraweera, Mendis ... I hope they are safe and will recover. We are shocked by that incident." Further he said that Pakistan was threatening to become a failed state
and it was not clear who was in control of the country.
- Foreign Minister
Ali Babacan
called Pakistan's Foreign Minister
Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi and condoled with him personally and on behalf of the government and the people of Turkey
on the tragic loss of lives of policemen in the attack.
- Prime Minister Gordon Brown
, commenting on the attacks, said that Pakistan must clamp down on terrorists in its midst and said that a vast majority of Al-Qaeda
fighters were in Pakistan, adding the government must make arrests to show it is "fulfilling its role in the world community". British foreign secretary David Miliband
stated that Pakistan was facing a "mortal threat" from internal militancy.
- President Barack Obama
expressed deep concern over the attack. United States Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton called these attacks an "eerie replica" of 2008 Mumbai attacks
and said Pakistan was facing a serious internal security threat. Christopher Dell
the top US diplomat in Afghanistan commenting after these attacks said that Pakistan posed a bigger security problem for the rest of the world than Afghanistan.
United Nations - Secretary General Ban Ki Moon strongly condemned the attacks according to UN spokesman Marie Okabe. She also added that "Any attack targeting civilians, in this case athletes, is despicable and unjustifiable, and we urge authorities in Pakistan to do all in their power to find the culprits and bring them to justice."
The International Cricket Council
- Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat
said:
The West Indies Cricket Board
made a statement through president Julian Hunte
and said "It was a sad day for International Cricket", and gave their full sympathy to the Sri Lankan players and the umpires.
criticised the security arrangements and said that the security provided was 10 times less than what is provided to government officials such as Rehman Malik
.
Match referee
Chris Broad
was also critical of the security provided. He stated that he and his colleagues were left like 'sitting ducks' in the trailing minivan during the attack. He also accused the security personnel of fleeing the scene. He questioned why the Pakistan team which usually travelled with the Sri Lankan team was delayed by seven minutes that day and avoided being attacked. Javed Miandad
was critical of Broad's comments and demanded that International Cricket Council ban him for life. Pakistan Cricket Board
lodged a formal complaint against Chris Broad with the International Cricket Council on March 9, 2009. Ijaz Butt, the head of Pakistan Cricket Board accused Broad of lying. Umpire Simon Taufel
also said that the umpire's minibus was abandoned while the players' bus was moved to the ground to evacuate the players. Slamming the security entourage for abandoning them and inability of the police to arrest the attackers Simon said,"You tell me why no one was caught. You tell me why. Supposedly 25 armed commandos were in our convoy, and when the team bus got going again, we were left on our own." Co-umpire Steve Davis
said "he felt let down" by the security. International Cricket Council umpires performance manager for East Asia, Sri Lanka and Pakistan, Peter Manuel told Dawn
that the minivan carrying the umpires was basically abandoned by the security personnel. 'It was unbelievable. Bullets were raining on us and not a shot was fired in our defense by the Pakistan security officials,' the outraged Manuel said. Sri Lanka coach Trevor Bayliss
backed the comments made by Simon Taufel
, Chris Broad and Steve Davis criticising the security. Intikhab Alab, Pakistan cricket team's coach, asked Chris Broad to apologize to his country and team due to the remarks he made against Pakistani police security. English cricketer Dominic Cork
who was commentating in Pakistan on the series and who himself was caught in the attack later criticised the security and Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ijaz Butt
.
Sri Lankan bowler Muttiah Muralitharan
world's highest wicket taker said the security arrangement was the worst he had ever seen, and vastly inferior to that provided in Sri Lanka
. He said 'The security people we had didn't even seem to fight back. Were they professionals with enough training? They didn't seem to know what to do. I was surprised the terrorists were able to just reload the magazines and keep firing, and they never got caught. It was shameful. If this had happened in Colombo
they would never have got away.'
Eye witness Habib Akram, bureau chief of Samaa television news channel said that the gunmen were very calm as they moved and fired by turns and that there was hardly any fire returned by the police. His office overlooks the traffic circle where the incident took place. Closed-circuit television
footage of the event reported by Geo TV
showed four of the attackers walking or jogging away unchallenged from the site, into a marketplace while no policemen are seen.
Former president and former army chief Pervez Musharraf
criticized the police commandos inability to kill any of the gunmen, saying "If this was the elite force
I would expect them to have shot down those people who attacked them, the reaction, their training should be on a level that if anyone shoots toward the company they are guarding, in less than three seconds they should shoot the man down." Governor of Punjab province where the attack took place in Pakistan, gave medals and awards to honor valour and bravery of police officials for fighting the terrorists during the attack.
The New Zealand team cancelled its December 2009 tour of Pakistan. Bangladesh
also put off a scheduled tour by Pakistan due to security concerns after this attack.
The 2011 Cricket World Cup
was to be co-hosted by Pakistan
, India
, Sri Lanka
and Bangladesh
, but in the wake of this attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team the International Cricket Council
(ICC) were forced to strip Pakistan of its hosting rights. The headquarters of the organising committee were originally situated in Lahore, but have were then shifted to Mumbai. Pakistan was supposed to hold 14 matches, including one semi-final. Eight of Pakistan's matches were awarded to India, four to Sri Lanka and two to Bangladesh.
The Union Home Minister of India, P. Chidambaram
, said that the Indian Premier League
should consider postponing the forthcoming T20
league matches due to be held over 45 days from April 10 to May 24, in 9 Indian cities, since in the light of these attacks, security forces would be stretched too thin between the league matches and the five phases of the forthcoming general elections
in India. The elections were slated to be held between April 16 and May 13 and it was nigh impossible to reschedule them while IPL organizers appeared to be unwilling to postpone the tournament. Former England coach Duncan Fletcher
said that English players contracted to the IPL would now be more concerned for their safety. Former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly
said after these attacks Pakistan is not a safe country to play cricket.
The Sri Lankan Foreign minister has said the Sri Lankan cricket team "will give highest consideration to the invitation extended to it to undertake visit again.
Sri Lanka will not allow Pakistan’s isolation in cricket."
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
n cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
ers, part of a larger convoy, was fired upon by 12 gunmen, near the Gaddafi Stadium
Gaddafi Stadium
Gaddafi Stadium is a cricket ground in Lahore, Pakistan. It was designed by Daghestani-born architect and engineer Nasreddin Murat-Khan who also designed Lahore's Minar-e-Pakistan and constructed by Mian Abdul Khaliq and Company in 1959. Following the ground's renovation for the 1996 Cricket World...
in Lahore
Lahore
Lahore is the capital of the Pakistani province of Punjab and the second largest city in the country. With a rich and fabulous history dating back to over a thousand years ago, Lahore is no doubt Pakistan's cultural capital. One of the most densely populated cities in the world, Lahore remains a...
, Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
. The cricketers were on their way to play the third day of the second Test
Test cricket
Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...
against the Pakistani cricket team
Pakistani cricket team
The Pakistan cricket team is the national cricket team of Pakistan. Pakistan, represented by the Pakistan Cricket Board , is a full member of the International Cricket Council, and thus participates in , and cricket matches....
. Six members of the Sri Lanka national cricket team were injured. Six Pakistani policemen and two civilians were killed. These were the first attacks on a national sports team since the Munich massacre
Munich massacre
The Munich massacre is an informal name for events that occurred during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Bavaria in southern West Germany, when members of the Israeli Olympic team were taken hostage and eventually killed by the Palestinian group Black September. Members of Black September...
of Israeli athletes by Palestinian militants in 1972.
The attack was carried out by Jaish-e-Mohammed
Jaish-e-Mohammed
Jaish-e-Mohammed is a Pakistani-based, militant Islamic group established by Maulana Masood Azhar in March 2000...
and/or Lashkar-e-Jhangvi
Lashkar-e-Jhangvi
Lashkar-e-Jhangvi is a militant organization. Formed in 1996, it has operated in Pakistan since Sipah-e-Sahaba activist Riaz Basra broke away from the SSP over differences with his seniors...
, the outlawed militant groups with close links to Al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda is a global broad-based militant Islamist terrorist organization founded by Osama bin Laden sometime between August 1988 and late 1989. It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless army and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad...
.
Background of the tour
The safety of touring cricket teams in Pakistan had long been in issue. In May 2002, New Zealand abandoned their Test series in Pakistan after a suicide bomb attack2002 Karachi bus bombing
The 2002 Karachi bus bombing was one of a series of deadly strikes on Westerners in Pakistan in 2002.- Details :On May 8, 2002, a man driving a car bomb stopped next to a bus in Karachi outside the Sheraton Hotel. He detonated the car, ripping the bus apart, and killing himself, 11 Frenchmen, and...
outside their hotel. However, they returned in the 2003/2004 season to fulfill their commitments. Australia had recently refused to tour on safety grounds. The Sri Lankan cricket team was in Pakistan as a replacement for the Indian team, who had pulled out after the Mumbai attacks. In order to persuade the Sri Lankan team to visit, the Pakistan government offered to arrange "presidential-style security." In 2004 Lashkar-e-Taiba
Lashkar-e-Taiba
Lashkar-e-Taiba – also transliterated as Lashkar-i-Tayyaba, Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, Lashkar-i-Taiba, Lashkar Taiba or LeT – is one of the largest and most active militant Islamist terrorist organizations in South Asia, operating mainly from Pakistan.It was founded by Hafiz Muhammad...
had issued a fatwa
Fatwa
A fatwā in the Islamic faith is a juristic ruling concerning Islamic law issued by an Islamic scholar. In Sunni Islam any fatwā is non-binding, whereas in Shia Islam it could be considered by an individual as binding, depending on his or her relation to the scholar. The person who issues a fatwā...
against playing Cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
calling it against Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
.
The series was the first Test tour of Pakistan since South Africa visited in October 2007.
Attack
According to the officials, 12 gunmen were hiding near Liberty Square, in the centre of Lahore, waiting for the Sri Lankan team to pass on their way to the Gaddafi stadium. When the bus crossed the road they started firing, targeting the bus. The Pakistan police escorting the team returned fire; in the ensuing fighting, six policemen and two civilians died. According to some reports the The Pakistan security force later fled the scene .After about 20 minutes, the militants fled, leaving behind rocket launchers and grenades.The gunmen had first targeted the wheels of the bus, and then had fired at the bus and its occupants. The attackers had fired a rocket at the bus, which missed and hit a nearby electric pole. The driver of the bus, Mehar Mohammad Khalil, had then kept on driving a distance of about 500 metres (1,640.4 ft) until they reached the stadium. Khalil was hailed as a hero for his bravery. The attackers had also thrown a grenade under the bus, which exploded after the bus had passed over it.
A minivan following the team bus and carrying the match referee and umpires was also fired upon and the driver was killed. Simon Taufel
Simon Taufel
Simon James Arthur Taufel, , is an Australian cricket umpire who is a member of the ICC Elite umpire panel...
, Steve Davis
Steve Davis (umpire)
Stephen James Davis, , is a current Australian Test cricket match umpire, from South Australia. He was appointed to the Elite Panel of ICC Umpires in April 2008.-Umpiring career:...
, Nadeem Ghauri
Nadeem Ghauri
Mohammad Nadeem Ghauri is a former Pakistani cricketer who played in one Test and 6 ODIs in 1990.He had the unfortunate record of scoring neither a run nor taking a wicket in his Test career....
, Ahsan Raza
Ahsan Raza
Ahsan Raza is a former Pakistani first class cricketer who is currently a cricket umpire.-Playing career:Ahsan Raza played for a number of Pakistani teams including Faisalabad, Habib Bank Limited, Lahore and Sargodha....
, umpires performance manager Peter Manuel, liaison officer Abdul Sami and ICC match referee Chris Broad
Chris Broad
Brian Christopher Broad, usually known as Chris Broad is a former England Test cricketer and current Test official. An opening batsman, Broad had a 25-match long international Test career during which he hit six centuries, together with 34 One Day International matches with a respectable over 40...
were in this minivan. The minivan was subsequently allegedly abandoned by security personnel & no bullets were fired by the security forces for twenty minutes. Chris Broad
Chris Broad
Brian Christopher Broad, usually known as Chris Broad is a former England Test cricketer and current Test official. An opening batsman, Broad had a 25-match long international Test career during which he hit six centuries, together with 34 One Day International matches with a respectable over 40...
threw himself over & kept his hand on the chest of Ahsan Raza
Ahsan Raza
Ahsan Raza is a former Pakistani first class cricketer who is currently a cricket umpire.-Playing career:Ahsan Raza played for a number of Pakistani teams including Faisalabad, Habib Bank Limited, Lahore and Sargodha....
to slow down the profuse bleeding from a bullet injury. A police officer who climbed into the minivan to seek cover initially refused to drive the minivan. After Chris Broad scolded him he agreed and drove the minivan to safety.
Security cameras captured footage of several gunmen carrying automatic weapons and backpacks, firing on the convoy from the Liberty Square roundabout. They were later seen jogging up the street and escaping on motorcycles. The video was broadcast around the world presenting pictures of the attacks.
CCTV footage has been made public. They arrived at 8:39 am local time and left at 8:46 am. The attackers were armed with AK-47
AK-47
The AK-47 is a selective-fire, gas-operated 7.62×39mm assault rifle, first developed in the Soviet Union by Mikhail Kalashnikov. It is officially known as Avtomat Kalashnikova . It is also known as a Kalashnikov, an "AK", or in Russian slang, Kalash.Design work on the AK-47 began in the last year...
assault rifles, hand grenades, RPG launchers, claymore
M18A1 Claymore Antipersonnel Mine
The M18A1 Claymore is a directional anti-personnel mine used by the U.S. military. It was named after the large Scottish sword by its inventor, Norman A. MacLeod...
s and explosive charges.
The Sri Lankan team were then taken to the stadium and airlifted from the pitch via Pakistan Air Force
Pakistan Air Force
The Pakistan Air Force is the leading air arm of the Pakistan Armed Forces and is primarily tasked with the aerial defence of Pakistan with a secondary role of providing air support to the Pakistan Army and the Pakistan Navy. The PAF also has a tertiary role of providing strategic air transport...
Mil Mi-17 helicopter
Mil Mi-17
The Mil Mi-17 is a Russian helicopter currently in production at two factories in Kazan and Ulan-Ude...
s, and immediate arrangements were made for the Sri Lankan team to return to Colombo on the next available flight. The second Test, which was the last scheduled fixture of the tour, was abandoned as a draw.
Casualties
- Thilan SamaraweeraThilan SamaraweeraThilan Thusara Samaraweera is a Sri Lankan cricketer, born September 22, 1976 in Colombo. Samaraweera plays international cricket for Sri Lanka and is in the side primarily for his solid right-handed batting but is also a capable Off spinner.-Personal life:...
- Kumar SangakkaraKumar SangakkaraKumar Sangakkara is a Sri Lankan, Sinhalese cricketer and the former captain of the Sri Lanka national cricket team. He is a left-handed top-order batsman...
(vice-captain) - Tharanga ParanavitanaTharanga ParanavitanaNishad Tharanga Paranavitana is a Sri Lankan cricketer. He is an opening batsman and an off-break bowler. He made his international debut in a Test match against Pakistan in February 2009...
- Ajantha MendisAjantha MendisBalapuwaduge Ajantha Winslo Mendis is a cricketer who plays for the Sri Lankan national cricket team.Mendis, although classified as slow-medium, bowls a mixture of deliveries, including googlies, off-breaks, top-spinners, flippers and leg-breaks, as well as the carrom ball, released with a flick...
- Chaminda VaasChaminda VaasWarnakulasuriya Patabendige Ushantha Joseph Chaminda Vaas , usually known as Chaminda Vaas, is a Sri Lankan cricketer is regarded as the best fast bowler to have come out of the country - he has been described as the 'most penetrative and successful new-ball bowler Sri Lanka have had'...
- Mahela JayawardeneMahela JayawardeneDenagamage Proboth Mahela de Silva Jayawardene , known as Mahela Jayawardene, is the former captain of the Sri Lankan cricket team. He is a specialist batsman who has a Test average of over 50, and an ODI average in the 30s...
(captain) - Suranga LakmalSuranga LakmalSuranga Lakmal is a Sri Lankan international cricketer. He is a right-arm medium-fast bowler and right-handed batsman. He was first included in the national squad for the tour of Pakistan in 2008-2009 and was reported to have been injured in the attack on the Sri Lankan team by terrorists...
Samaraweera and Paranavitana were hospitalized following the incident. The others had sustained minor injuries and shrapnel wounds. Samaraweera sustained shrapnel wounds to his thigh, and Paranavitana to his chest. The team's Assistant Coach Paul Farbrace
Paul Farbrace
Paul Farbrace is a former English first-class cricketer, and is currently a cricket coach.-Playing career:...
was also injured. Although it was reported that Coach Trevor Bayliss
Trevor Bayliss
Trevor Harley Bayliss is a former coach of the Sri Lanka national cricket team. Bayliss is a former cricketer for New South Wales and a former coach...
also sustained minor injuries, it was later announced that this was incorrect.
Reserve umpire Ahsan Raza
Ahsan Raza
Ahsan Raza is a former Pakistani first class cricketer who is currently a cricket umpire.-Playing career:Ahsan Raza played for a number of Pakistani teams including Faisalabad, Habib Bank Limited, Lahore and Sargodha....
, who was travelling in a van for the umpires that was following the Sri Lankan team bus, was injured and taken to hospital. The driver of the minibus was killed in the attack. Match referee Chris Broad
Chris Broad
Brian Christopher Broad, usually known as Chris Broad is a former England Test cricketer and current Test official. An opening batsman, Broad had a 25-match long international Test career during which he hit six centuries, together with 34 One Day International matches with a respectable over 40...
threw himself on Raza to protect him from further injury. Australian umpires Simon Taufel
Simon Taufel
Simon James Arthur Taufel, , is an Australian cricket umpire who is a member of the ICC Elite umpire panel...
and Steve Davis
Steve Davis (umpire)
Stephen James Davis, , is a current Australian Test cricket match umpire, from South Australia. He was appointed to the Elite Panel of ICC Umpires in April 2008.-Umpiring career:...
were also both in the rear bus.
Investigation and attribution
Immediately following the attacks, unnamed Pakistani authorities blamed the Lashkar-e-TaibaLashkar-e-Taiba
Lashkar-e-Taiba – also transliterated as Lashkar-i-Tayyaba, Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, Lashkar-i-Taiba, Lashkar Taiba or LeT – is one of the largest and most active militant Islamist terrorist organizations in South Asia, operating mainly from Pakistan.It was founded by Hafiz Muhammad...
(LeT), a militant organization banned in both Pakistan and India. Pakistani officials said that the attacks were similar in to the 2008 Mumbai attacks
2008 Mumbai attacks
The 2008 Mumbai attacks were more than 10 coordinated shooting and bombing attacks across Mumbai, India's largest city, by Islamist attackers who came from Pakistan...
. Most of the Pakistani press blamed Pakistani Islamist militants and Al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda is a global broad-based militant Islamist terrorist organization founded by Osama bin Laden sometime between August 1988 and late 1989. It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless army and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad...
for the attacks. Police said that kidnapping was a possible motive, but police officials refused to comment on this.
Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama
Rohitha Bogollagama
Chandrasekera Rohitha Bandara Bogollagama is a former Sri Lankan politician and was the Minister of Foreign Affairs from 28 January 2007 until he was defeated in the General Elections held on 08th of April 2010, losing his seat in parliament...
said on 4 March that he could not rule out involvement of the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam was a separatist militant organization formerly based in northern Sri Lanka. Founded in May 1976 by Vellupillai Prabhakaran, it waged a violent secessionist and nationalist campaign to create an independent state in the north and east of Sri Lanka for Tamil...
(LTTE) in the Lahore attacks. Some European intelligence sources supported this suspicion. Sri Lankan military officials, on the other hand, were skeptical of LTTE involvement, and an LTTE spokesperson labeled reports of LTTE connection as 'not true'. A junior Pakistani cabinet minister said that the government had evidence that the attackers came from India, but the Pakistani Information Minister, Sherry Rehman, denied any government knowledge of Indian involvement. On March 6, 2009 it was reported that officials had categorically ruled out involvement of Indian intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing
Research and Analysis Wing
The Research and Analysis Wing is India's external intelligence agency. It was formed in September 1968 after the poor performance of the Intelligence Bureau in the Sino-Indian war of 1962 and the India-Pakistani war of 1965 convinced the then government of India that a specialized, independent...
and LTTE and were zeroing in on Lashkar-e-Taiba. Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama
Rohitha Bogollagama
Chandrasekera Rohitha Bandara Bogollagama is a former Sri Lankan politician and was the Minister of Foreign Affairs from 28 January 2007 until he was defeated in the General Elections held on 08th of April 2010, losing his seat in parliament...
was quoted as saying ' From our point of view, there is no Indian involvement. India has helped us in our counter-terrorist efforts. I don’t see a need for India to target the Sri Lankan cricket team '.
On the morning of the attack, the Sri Lankan and Pakistani cricket teams did not depart from the hotel together, as they had done on previous days, and the Pakistani team's schedule was delayed by 5 minutes. Statements by Australian umpire Simon Taufel, match referee Chris Broad, and spin bowler Muralitharan, referencing this delay sparked conspiracy theories that the militants were acting on inside information. Later, Muralitharan expressed alarm at such interpretations of his comments and explained that he only suspected the gunmen to be monitoring the team movements.
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
director Robert Mueller
Robert Mueller
Robert Swan Mueller III is the 6th and current Director of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation .-Early life:...
arrived in Pakistan the day after these attacks and met with Pakistani officials to discuss security issues and 2008 Mumbai attacks
2008 Mumbai attacks
The 2008 Mumbai attacks were more than 10 coordinated shooting and bombing attacks across Mumbai, India's largest city, by Islamist attackers who came from Pakistan...
.
Interior Adviser Rehman Malik, told National Assembly Standing Committee on Interior that no evidence of LET's involvement has been found so far, and that sufficient evidence has been surfaced pointing to involvement of a foreign hand.
Security lapse
The Investigation committee found three Superintendents of police (SPs) to have neglected the Initial Warning. by Intelligence agencies Chief Minister Punjab also had tipped off the authorities about a possible threat to the Sri Lankan team a month before.Arrests
On March 5, Salmaan TaseerSalmaan Taseer
Salmaan Taseer was a Pakistani businessman and politician who served as the 26th governor of the province of Punjab from 2008 until his assassination in early 2011....
, the governor
Governor of Punjab (Pakistan)
The Governor of Punjab is the appointed head of state of the provincial government in Punjab, Pakistan. The governor is designated by the Prime Minister and is normally regarded a ceremonial post...
of Punjab
Punjab (Pakistan)
Punjab is the most populous province of Pakistan, with approximately 45% of the country's total population. Forming most of the Punjab region, the province is bordered by Kashmir to the north-east, the Indian states of Punjab and Rajasthan to the east, the Pakistani province of Sindh to the...
province, said the individuals responsible for the attack had been identified, but would not be revealed until the investigation was complete. The province offered a reward of 10 million rupees
Pakistani rupee
The rupee is the currency of Pakistan. The issuance of the currency is controlled by the State Bank of Pakistan, the central bank of the country. The most commonly used symbol for the rupee is Rs, used on receipts when purchasing goods and services. In Pakistan, the rupee is referred to as the...
($125,000 USD) for information leading to the capture of the militants responsible for the attack.
Police in Punjab arrested over 250 suspects, including 4 who were said to be 'prime suspects'. Police called Muhammad Adil, who ran sports bikes business in Islampura
Islampura
Islampura is in the town of data gunj bakesh UC 82 ISLMPURA , Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. Islampura has one of the largest Shia Mosques of Pakistan and this area also involved in shia activities because of highly numbers of shia families settled here...
, the mastermind behind the attack, and said that he had received a call from one of the militants at 9:05am on the morning of the attacks asking for instructions. Though Adil was still absconding, his brother, Muhammad Faisal, had been arrested. Police also arrested Shahzad Babar of Rahim Yar Khan after a Subscriber Identity Module
Subscriber Identity Module
A subscriber identity module or subscriber identification module is an integrated circuit that securely stores the International Mobile Subscriber Identity and the related key used to identify and authenticate subscriber on mobile telephony devices .A SIM is held on a removable SIM card, which...
(SIM) card registered in his name was used in the attack along with eight others.
Security officials in Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
told The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
that most of the two dozen people arrested in connection with the attacks belonged to Jaish-e-Mohammed
Jaish-e-Mohammed
Jaish-e-Mohammed is a Pakistani-based, militant Islamic group established by Maulana Masood Azhar in March 2000...
and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi
Lashkar-e-Jhangvi
Lashkar-e-Jhangvi is a militant organization. Formed in 1996, it has operated in Pakistan since Sipah-e-Sahaba activist Riaz Basra broke away from the SSP over differences with his seniors...
, the outlawed militant groups with close links to Al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda is a global broad-based militant Islamist terrorist organization founded by Osama bin Laden sometime between August 1988 and late 1989. It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless army and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad...
. The suspected mastermind Mohammed Aqeel
Mohammed Aqeel
Mohammed Aqeel is a Pakistani Islamist militant and member of the banned terrorist organization Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. Originally from Kahuta Tehsil in Punjab, he worked until 2006 in the Pakistan Army Medical Corps....
an activist of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi
Lashkar-e-Jhangvi
Lashkar-e-Jhangvi is a militant organization. Formed in 1996, it has operated in Pakistan since Sipah-e-Sahaba activist Riaz Basra broke away from the SSP over differences with his seniors...
escaped a Police raid on his home in Kahuta
Kahuta
Kahuta is a town and tehsil in the Rawalpindi District of Pakistan's Punjab Province. According to Pakistan's 2008 census, Kahuta tehsil has a population of approximately 160,000....
on March 9,of 2009.
Punjab Police have arrested the alleged mastermind Aqeel alias Dr Usman of Kahota. He has alleged to have links with Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan Chief Baitullah Mehsud
Baitullah Mehsud
Baitullah Mehsud was a leading militant in Waziristan, Pakistan, and the leader of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan . He formed the TTP from an alliance of about five militant groups in December 2007. He is thought by U.S...
, and was also invloved in anti-aircraft gun attack on former president Pervez Musharraf’s plane in Rawalpindi.
Also another gunman Zubair, aka Naik Mohammad, of Zubair, aka Naik Mohammad, was arrested from Madina Colony, Walton Road in Lahore. He was a waiter at a hotel in Rawalpindi, when he was recruited by Sifullah. He went to Miram Shah and was trained in use of different weapons.
Other accused including Samiullah alias Ejaz of district Nankana, Adnan alias Sajjad, Ajmal alias Ahsaan, Farooq, Ameer of Punjab Taliban, and Umer alias Abdul Wahab of D. I. Khan, were still at large.
The attack was planned at Tauheed Hostel, and a house rented for this purpose in Madina Colony, Walton Road. The auto rickshaws used in the attack were purchased by Samiullah.
Pakistan and Sri Lanka
- The attack has been condemned by the Pakistani president, Asif Ali ZardariAsif Ali Zardari
Asif Ali Zardari is the 11th and current President of Pakistan and the Co-Chairman of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party . He is also the widower of Benazir Bhutto, who served two nonconsecutive terms as Prime Minister....
, and prime minister, Yousaf Raza Gillani
Yousaf Raza Gillani
Yousuf Raza Gilani is the current prime minister of Islamic Republic of Pakistan. He was nominated as Prime Minister by the PPP, with the support of its coalition partners, Pakistan Muslim League , Awami National Party, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam and Muttahida Qaumi Movement, on 22 March 2008...
. Governor Salmaan Taseer
Salmaan Taseer
Salmaan Taseer was a Pakistani businessman and politician who served as the 26th governor of the province of Punjab from 2008 until his assassination in early 2011....
stated that the same people who executed the 2008 Mumbai attacks were responsible for this attack. Following the attack Pakistan's interior minister Rehman Malik
Rehman Malik
27 April 2009 He has been the interior adviser since 27 March 2008.Senator A. Rehman Malik is a Pakistani politician, member of the Senate of Pakistan, and the current Interior Minister of Pakistan under the Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani administration. His Second name is Shetan Malik and he...
declared that Pakistan is "in a state of war". Pakistani officials were also quick to blame neighbours India of covert involvment, citing long standing enmity between the two South Asian countries. These claims were largely seen as an exercise in diverting attention away from the crisis.
Punjab's provincial government released photographs of two of the militants involved in the attack and posted a bounty of 10 million rupee ($125,000 USD) for help in finding the militants.
Chief Minister of Punjab (Pakistan)
Chief Minister of Punjab (Pakistan)
The Chief Minister of Punjab is elected by the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab to serve as the head of the provincial government in Punjab, Pakistan. The current Chief Minister is Shahbaz Sharif, who became the Chief Minister of Punjab as being restored after Governor's rule starting from...
Shahbaz Sharif
Shahbaz Sharif
Mian Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif is a well-known conservative Pakistani politician and currently President of Pakistan Muslim League . He is the brother of Nawaz Sharif, former Prime Minister of Pakistan. He is the chief minister of Pakistan's most populous province Punjab since 2008...
, criticised the current government and said that he has already tipped authorities of a possible attack.
Pakistan's newspapers condemned the attack and cited security loopholes.
The Daily Times, blamed Al Qaeda and Lashkar-e Jhangvi in an editorial, stating,"International cricket is no longer possible in Pakistan; therefore we should stop accusing foreign teams of discriminating against Pakistan vis-à-vis India. The question here is of the survival of Pakistan, not of cricket." The Daily Jang
Daily Jang
The Daily Jang is an Urdu newspaper based in Pakistan. It is the oldest newspaper of Pakistan in continuous publication since its foundation in 1939. Its current Group Chief Executive & Editor-in-Chief is Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman....
, commenting on Chris Broad, Simon Taufel and Steve Davis's comments, said that their "vivid description of the terrifying attack gives us an insight into how people everywhere will see the events of the morning of March 3." It went on to say the "men appeared genuinely shocked over the sight of Pakistani security men running for cover". The paper goes on to say that "their candid comments" will "seal the fate of Pakistan cricket for some time to come". It also said that Pakistan "must give up complaining" and that "ways to liven up the game at the domestic level need to be reconsidered with renewed urgency".
- President, Mahinda Rajapaksa
Mahinda Rajapaksa
Percy Mahendra "Mahinda" Rajapaksa ; ; born November 18, 1945) is the 6th and current President of Sri Lanka and Commander in Chief of the Sri Lankan Armed Forces. A lawyer by profession, Rajapaksa was first elected to the Parliament of Sri Lanka in 1970, and served as prime minister from April 6,...
, said, "I condemn this cowardly terrorist attack targeting the Sri Lankan cricket team. The Sri Lankan players had gone to Pakistan as ambassadors of goodwill." Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake
Ratnasiri Wickremanayake
Ratnasiri Wickremanayake MP is a Sri Lankan politician who was Prime Minister of Sri Lanka from 2000 to 2001 and again from 2005 to 2010. He is currently a National List member of the Parliament of Sri Lanka....
said, "Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
and Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
share a very close relationship and we will take all steps to protect this relationship." The driver of the bus Mehar Mohammad Khalil whose presence of mind saved the cricketers was hailed as a hero. The Sri Lankan team praised the bus driver. Then-captain of Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
Mahela Jayawardene
Mahela Jayawardene
Denagamage Proboth Mahela de Silva Jayawardene , known as Mahela Jayawardene, is the former captain of the Sri Lankan cricket team. He is a specialist batsman who has a Test average of over 50, and an ODI average in the 30s...
praised Khalil saying he owed his life to the driver. Spinner Muttiah Muralitharan
Muttiah Muralitharan
Muttiah Muralitharan , often referred to as Murali, is a former Sri Lankan cricketer who was rated the greatest Test match bowler ever by Wisden Cricketers' Almanack in 2002...
gave Khalil his team shirt.
Other countries
- Stephen SmithStephen Smith (Australian politician)
Stephen Francis Smith , is the Australian Minister for Defence. He has been an Australian Labor Party member of the Australian House of Representatives since March 1993, representing the Division of Perth, Western Australia....
, Australia's foreign minister, said the attack demonstrates that there is a persistent threat to Pakistan's very existence and showed the need for a tougher war against extremists. Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd
Kevin Rudd
Kevin Michael Rudd is an Australian politician who was the 26th Prime Minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010. He has been Minister for Foreign Affairs since 2010...
also condemned the attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team, calling it "shameful and cowardly". He demanded answers from Pakistan after claims that police left Australians travelling with Sri Lanka's cricket team in the lurch as the bus was attacked. "I am sufficiently concerned about what has been said by the Australians that we need an explanation and we intend to get one."
- China condemned the attack. Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said that the Chinese government expressed deep condolences to the victims and sincere sympathy to the wounded.
- France expressed solidarity with the Pakistani people and authorities at this "pressing time".
- Home Minister P. Chidambaram
P. Chidambaram
P. Chidambaram or Chidambaram Palaniappan, sometimes written Palaniappan Chidambaram is an Indian politician with the Indian National Congress and present Union Minister of Home Affairs of the Republic of India. Previously he was the Finance Minister of India from May 2004 to November 2008...
expressed shock over the attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Pakistan:
"We condemn the incident. We are sorry for the Sri Lankan team. We hope that the players ... I read two, three names ... Samaraweera, Mendis ... I hope they are safe and will recover. We are shocked by that incident." Further he said that Pakistan was threatening to become a failed state
Failed state
The term failed state is often used by political commentators and journalists to describe a state perceived as having failed at some of the basic conditions and responsibilities of a sovereign government...
and it was not clear who was in control of the country.
- Foreign Minister
Foreign minister
A Minister of Foreign Affairs, or foreign minister, is a cabinet minister who helps form the foreign policy of a sovereign state. The foreign minister is often regarded as the most senior ministerial position below that of the head of government . It is often granted to the deputy prime minister in...
Ali Babacan
Ali Babacan
Ali Babacan is a Turkish politician and the current Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey responsible for the Economy. He was previously Minister of Economy in the 58th cabinet from the Justice and Development Party . On August 29, 2007, he was named Minister of Foreign Affairs of in the cabinet of...
called Pakistan's Foreign Minister
Foreign minister
A Minister of Foreign Affairs, or foreign minister, is a cabinet minister who helps form the foreign policy of a sovereign state. The foreign minister is often regarded as the most senior ministerial position below that of the head of government . It is often granted to the deputy prime minister in...
Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi and condoled with him personally and on behalf of the government and the people of Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
on the tragic loss of lives of policemen in the attack.
- Prime Minister Gordon Brown
Gordon Brown
James Gordon Brown is a British Labour Party politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 until 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour Government from 1997 to 2007...
, commenting on the attacks, said that Pakistan must clamp down on terrorists in its midst and said that a vast majority of Al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda is a global broad-based militant Islamist terrorist organization founded by Osama bin Laden sometime between August 1988 and late 1989. It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless army and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad...
fighters were in Pakistan, adding the government must make arrests to show it is "fulfilling its role in the world community". British foreign secretary David Miliband
David Miliband
David Wright Miliband is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for South Shields since 2001, and was the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs from 2007 to 2010. He is the elder son of the late Marxist theorist Ralph Miliband...
stated that Pakistan was facing a "mortal threat" from internal militancy.
- President Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
expressed deep concern over the attack. United States Secretary of State
United States Secretary of State
The United States Secretary of State is the head of the United States Department of State, concerned with foreign affairs. The Secretary is a member of the Cabinet and the highest-ranking cabinet secretary both in line of succession and order of precedence...
Hillary Clinton called these attacks an "eerie replica" of 2008 Mumbai attacks
2008 Mumbai attacks
The 2008 Mumbai attacks were more than 10 coordinated shooting and bombing attacks across Mumbai, India's largest city, by Islamist attackers who came from Pakistan...
and said Pakistan was facing a serious internal security threat. Christopher Dell
Christopher Dell
Christopher William Dell is a career United States Foreign Service officer who currently serves as the U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Kosovo, after having been posted to Angola and Zimbabwe.-Education:...
the top US diplomat in Afghanistan commenting after these attacks said that Pakistan posed a bigger security problem for the rest of the world than Afghanistan.
Others
United Nations - Secretary General Ban Ki Moon strongly condemned the attacks according to UN spokesman Marie Okabe. She also added that "Any attack targeting civilians, in this case athletes, is despicable and unjustifiable, and we urge authorities in Pakistan to do all in their power to find the culprits and bring them to justice."The International Cricket Council
International Cricket Council
The International Cricket Council is the international governing body of cricket. It was founded as the Imperial Cricket Conference in 1909 by representatives from England, Australia and South Africa, renamed the International Cricket Conference in 1965, and took up its current name in 1989.The...
- Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat
Haroon Lorgat
Haroon Lorgat is a South African, of Indian origin, businessman and chartered accountant. He was appointed Chief Executive of the International Cricket Council in April 2008 and assumed office on 4 July 2008, succeeding Malcolm Speed, an Australian.Lorgat was an executive director of Kapela...
said:
"We note with dismay and regret the events of this morning in Lahore and we condemn this attack without reservation. It is a source of great sadness that there have been a number of fatalities in this attack and it is also very upsetting for the wider cricket family that some of the Sri Lanka players and one match official have been injured in this attack. At this time our thoughts and prayers are with the injured people and also the families of those who have died."
The West Indies Cricket Board
West Indies Cricket Board
The West Indies Cricket Board is the governing body for professional and amateur cricket in the West Indies...
made a statement through president Julian Hunte
Julian Hunte
Dr. Julian Robert Hunte, OBE was the foreign minister of Saint Lucia from April 2001 to 26 October 2004, when he was succeeded by Petrus Compton...
and said "It was a sad day for International Cricket", and gave their full sympathy to the Sri Lankan players and the umpires.
- Indian and New Zealand players wore black armbands while playing their next One Day International as a show of solidarity towards the Sri Lankan players injured in the attack as did Australia and South Africa while playing their next test.
Criticism
Politician and ex-Pakistan cricket captain Imran KhanImran Khan
Imran Khan Niazi is a Pakistani politician and former Pakistani cricketer, playing international cricket for two decades in the late twentieth century. After retiring, he entered politics...
criticised the security arrangements and said that the security provided was 10 times less than what is provided to government officials such as Rehman Malik
Rehman Malik
27 April 2009 He has been the interior adviser since 27 March 2008.Senator A. Rehman Malik is a Pakistani politician, member of the Senate of Pakistan, and the current Interior Minister of Pakistan under the Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani administration. His Second name is Shetan Malik and he...
.
Match referee
Match referee
A match referee is an official appointed to oversee professional cricket matches. Match referees for Test matches and One Day Internationals are appointed by the International Cricket Council...
Chris Broad
Chris Broad
Brian Christopher Broad, usually known as Chris Broad is a former England Test cricketer and current Test official. An opening batsman, Broad had a 25-match long international Test career during which he hit six centuries, together with 34 One Day International matches with a respectable over 40...
was also critical of the security provided. He stated that he and his colleagues were left like 'sitting ducks' in the trailing minivan during the attack. He also accused the security personnel of fleeing the scene. He questioned why the Pakistan team which usually travelled with the Sri Lankan team was delayed by seven minutes that day and avoided being attacked. Javed Miandad
Javed Miandad
Mohammad Javed Miandad Khan , popularly known as Javed Miandad , is a former Pakistani cricketer who played between 1975 and 1996. He is Pakistan's leading run scorer in Test cricket. He has served as a captain of the Pakistan national cricket team...
was critical of Broad's comments and demanded that International Cricket Council ban him for life. Pakistan Cricket Board
Pakistan Cricket Board
The Pakistan Cricket Board is a sporting organization that is responsible for governing all professional cricket including Test cricket and One Day International matches played in Pakistan...
lodged a formal complaint against Chris Broad with the International Cricket Council on March 9, 2009. Ijaz Butt, the head of Pakistan Cricket Board accused Broad of lying. Umpire Simon Taufel
Simon Taufel
Simon James Arthur Taufel, , is an Australian cricket umpire who is a member of the ICC Elite umpire panel...
also said that the umpire's minibus was abandoned while the players' bus was moved to the ground to evacuate the players. Slamming the security entourage for abandoning them and inability of the police to arrest the attackers Simon said,"You tell me why no one was caught. You tell me why. Supposedly 25 armed commandos were in our convoy, and when the team bus got going again, we were left on our own." Co-umpire Steve Davis
Steve Davis (umpire)
Stephen James Davis, , is a current Australian Test cricket match umpire, from South Australia. He was appointed to the Elite Panel of ICC Umpires in April 2008.-Umpiring career:...
said "he felt let down" by the security. International Cricket Council umpires performance manager for East Asia, Sri Lanka and Pakistan, Peter Manuel told Dawn
Dawn (newspaper)
Dawn is Pakistan's oldest and most widely read English-language newspaper. One of the country's two largest English-language dailies, it is the flagship of the Dawn Group of Newspapers, published by Pakistan Herald Publications, which also owns the Herald, a magazine, the evening paper The Star and...
that the minivan carrying the umpires was basically abandoned by the security personnel. 'It was unbelievable. Bullets were raining on us and not a shot was fired in our defense by the Pakistan security officials,' the outraged Manuel said. Sri Lanka coach Trevor Bayliss
Trevor Bayliss
Trevor Harley Bayliss is a former coach of the Sri Lanka national cricket team. Bayliss is a former cricketer for New South Wales and a former coach...
backed the comments made by Simon Taufel
Simon Taufel
Simon James Arthur Taufel, , is an Australian cricket umpire who is a member of the ICC Elite umpire panel...
, Chris Broad and Steve Davis criticising the security. Intikhab Alab, Pakistan cricket team's coach, asked Chris Broad to apologize to his country and team due to the remarks he made against Pakistani police security. English cricketer Dominic Cork
Dominic Cork
Dominic Gerald Cork is a former English cricketer. Cork is a right-handed lower-order batsman who bowls right-arm fast-medium, and is renowned for his swing and seam control. Making his début in first-class cricket for Derbyshire in 1990, he was selected to play for England in 1992, aged 21. He...
who was commentating in Pakistan on the series and who himself was caught in the attack later criticised the security and Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ijaz Butt
Ijaz Butt
Mohammed Ijaz Butt is a former Pakistani cricketer who played in eight Tests from 1959 to 1962...
.
Sri Lankan bowler Muttiah Muralitharan
Muttiah Muralitharan
Muttiah Muralitharan , often referred to as Murali, is a former Sri Lankan cricketer who was rated the greatest Test match bowler ever by Wisden Cricketers' Almanack in 2002...
world's highest wicket taker said the security arrangement was the worst he had ever seen, and vastly inferior to that provided in Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
. He said 'The security people we had didn't even seem to fight back. Were they professionals with enough training? They didn't seem to know what to do. I was surprised the terrorists were able to just reload the magazines and keep firing, and they never got caught. It was shameful. If this had happened in Colombo
Colombo
Colombo is the largest city of Sri Lanka. It is located on the west coast of the island and adjacent to Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte, the capital of Sri Lanka. Colombo is often referred to as the capital of the country, since Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte is a satellite city of Colombo...
they would never have got away.'
Eye witness Habib Akram, bureau chief of Samaa television news channel said that the gunmen were very calm as they moved and fired by turns and that there was hardly any fire returned by the police. His office overlooks the traffic circle where the incident took place. Closed-circuit television
Closed-circuit television
Closed-circuit television is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors....
footage of the event reported by Geo TV
Geo TV
Geo TV or Geo Television is a Pakistani television network, founded by Mr. Mir Shakil ur Rehman in May 2002 and owned by Independent Media Corporation. The channel began test transmission on 14 August 2002, with regular transmission beginning 1 October 2002...
showed four of the attackers walking or jogging away unchallenged from the site, into a marketplace while no policemen are seen.
Former president and former army chief Pervez Musharraf
Pervez Musharraf
Pervez Musharraf , is a retired four-star general who served as the 13th Chief of Army Staff and tenth President of Pakistan as well as tenth Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee. Musharraf headed and led an administrative military government from October 1999 till August 2007. He ruled...
criticized the police commandos inability to kill any of the gunmen, saying "If this was the elite force
Elite Police
The Elite Punjab Police, also known as the "Elite Force" or "Police Commandos", is a branch of the Punjab Police specializing in Counter-Terrorist operations and VIP security duties, as well as acting against serious crime and performing high-risk operations which can't be carried out by the...
I would expect them to have shot down those people who attacked them, the reaction, their training should be on a level that if anyone shoots toward the company they are guarding, in less than three seconds they should shoot the man down." Governor of Punjab province where the attack took place in Pakistan, gave medals and awards to honor valour and bravery of police officials for fighting the terrorists during the attack.
Implications
Insurance for cricket matches in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka will now cost more.The New Zealand team cancelled its December 2009 tour of Pakistan. Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
also put off a scheduled tour by Pakistan due to security concerns after this attack.
The 2011 Cricket World Cup
2011 Cricket World Cup
The 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup was the tenth Cricket World Cup. It was played in India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh. It was Bangladesh's first time co-hosting a World Cup...
was to be co-hosted by Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
and Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
, but in the wake of this attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team the International Cricket Council
International Cricket Council
The International Cricket Council is the international governing body of cricket. It was founded as the Imperial Cricket Conference in 1909 by representatives from England, Australia and South Africa, renamed the International Cricket Conference in 1965, and took up its current name in 1989.The...
(ICC) were forced to strip Pakistan of its hosting rights. The headquarters of the organising committee were originally situated in Lahore, but have were then shifted to Mumbai. Pakistan was supposed to hold 14 matches, including one semi-final. Eight of Pakistan's matches were awarded to India, four to Sri Lanka and two to Bangladesh.
The Union Home Minister of India, P. Chidambaram
P. Chidambaram
P. Chidambaram or Chidambaram Palaniappan, sometimes written Palaniappan Chidambaram is an Indian politician with the Indian National Congress and present Union Minister of Home Affairs of the Republic of India. Previously he was the Finance Minister of India from May 2004 to November 2008...
, said that the Indian Premier League
Indian Premier League
The Indian Premier League is a professional league for Twenty20 cricket competition in India. It was initiated by the Board of Control for Cricket in India , headquartered in Mumbai, and is supervised by BCCI Vice President Rajeev Shukla, who serves as the league's Chairman and Commissioner...
should consider postponing the forthcoming T20
Twenty20
Twenty20 is a form of cricket, originally introduced in England for professional inter-county competition by the England and Wales Cricket Board , in 2003. A Twenty20 game involves two teams, each has a single innings, batting for a maximum of 20 overs. Twenty20 cricket is also known as T20 cricket...
league matches due to be held over 45 days from April 10 to May 24, in 9 Indian cities, since in the light of these attacks, security forces would be stretched too thin between the league matches and the five phases of the forthcoming general elections
Indian general election, 2009
India held general elections to the 15th Lok Sabha in five phases between 16 April 2009 and 13 May 2009. With an electorate of 714 million , it was the largest democratic election in the world to date.By constitutional requirement, elections to the Lok Sabha must be...
in India. The elections were slated to be held between April 16 and May 13 and it was nigh impossible to reschedule them while IPL organizers appeared to be unwilling to postpone the tournament. Former England coach Duncan Fletcher
Duncan Fletcher
Duncan Andrew Gwynne Fletcher OBE is a former Zimbabwean cricketer, formerly captain of the Zimbabwean cricket team and the current coach of the Indian Cricket Team. He has been appointed as coach of the Indian Cricket Team on April 27, 2011...
said that English players contracted to the IPL would now be more concerned for their safety. Former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly
Sourav Ganguly
Sourav Chandidas Ganguly is a former Indian cricketer, and captain of the Indian national team. Born into an affluent family, Ganguly was introduced into the world of cricket by his elder brother Snehasish. He is regarded as one of India's most successful captains in modern times. He started his...
said after these attacks Pakistan is not a safe country to play cricket.
The Sri Lankan Foreign minister has said the Sri Lankan cricket team "will give highest consideration to the invitation extended to it to undertake visit again.
Sri Lanka will not allow Pakistan’s isolation in cricket."
See also
- Sri Lankan cricket team in Pakistan in 2008–09Sri Lankan cricket team in Pakistan in 2008–09-2nd ODI:-3rd ODI:-1st Test:-2nd Test:-Only Tour Match:Pakistan Cricket Board Patron's XI vs Sri Lankans:-References:...
- Terrorism in PakistanTerrorism in PakistanTerrorism in Pakistan has become a major and highly destructive phenomenon in recent years. The annual death toll from terrorist attacks has risen from 164 in 2003 to 3318 in 2009, with a total of 35,000 Pakistanis killed as of 2010. According to the government of Pakistan, the direct and indirect...
- List of terrorist incidents in Pakistan since 2001
- 2010 Togo national football team bus attack