photo of Samaraweera (left) from Daily Mirror
And, I suppose, WTF Sri Lanka. It’s absolutely shameful to shoot cricketers, I mean, who shoots cricketers? It’s the one glimmer that unites everyone across this godforsaken subcontinent. Sri Lanka is one of the few teams which has agreed to play in Pakistan recently, and now they’ve been shot. It’s actually quite scary, because five or so policemen are reported dead and Paranavitana, Sangakarra, Mendis and Thilan Samaraweera reported hit. Which is like, Pakistani terrorists have recently shot automatics at cricketers, shot tourists in Mumbai and, like, Bin Laden is living there. Wtf.
I’m hearing on NDTV that eight players have been wounded. It appears not seriously, but any attack with grenades and automatics is pretty serious.
Now they’re speculating about this being connected to the LTTE civil war, which is fucktarded. Pakistan is a military partner in that war, and I don’t think these jihadis have any particular affinity for the LTTE. The LTTE cleansed something like 75,000 Muslims out of their homes in the North. Just because you only know two facts about a situation doesn’t make them connected.
Twitter stream for ‘Pakistan’
Twitter stream for ‘Sri Lanka’
Decent Sydney Morning Herald article
Don’t think that I always try to find faults with you; but I see a “technical fault” in your heading, which summerize your thinking of this whole concept of terrorism and war.
How can we possibly think it was a problem with “Pakistan” as a country? In fact that’s the prime objective of people behind these terror attacks!
Sri Lanka’s “favorit” terror group LTTE carry out terror attacks in Colombo and all over; with the objective of degrading the image of Sri Lanka. To paint a picture that Sri Lanka is not safe. And people like you guys, join the bandwagon and help the terrorists by giving much needed publicity for the terrorists, by blaming everything on the Sri Lanka as a “state”. The same thing happens in Pakistan. The terror groups carry out these attacks, just with the objective of getting the attention of international comunity, to say that Pakistan is not safe. And when you say “WTF Pakistan” you re-inforce their mission!!!
The problem is not about Pakistan. It’s about Terrorism. No matter in which country on this earth; terrorism is a reality, and we should get rid of them. Did you say “WTF USA!” when 9-11 happened? “WTF-London Police!” when tube bombing happened?
Get the message clearly! Terrorism is a world over cancer. There’s no remedy for terrorism, than simply wiping them out. Not only the terrorists; any voice who speak on behalf of them should be completely wiped out. Anyone who preech that “we should hold negotiation talks with terrorists” should be wiped out too. That’s the only way out! No other paths left. Kill them all!
Er… OK. That’s a bit messed up.
Pakistan’s security situation is messed up on multiple levels, and their economy is teetering on collapse. I understand that Pakistani people are cricket fans and generally cool. However, the Pakistani state, as flawed as it is the only one we can call on to take responsibility for this situation, as they are sadly burdened with the Mumbai bomber cell, and a lot of Al Qaeda. The fact that the stadium is named after a terrorist like Gaddafi is a clue into itself as to where Pakistan has gone wrong.
The state is, I think, the appropriate entity to take responsibility for its own security (and that of its guests), and Sri Lanka also bears responsibility for going there at all.
The terrorists are obviously assholes, who shoots cricketers? My God. However, what they want is for people to be terrorized and react with foolish shit like ‘kill them all!’ The way to defeat terrorism starts with not being terrified and dealing with issues rationally.
Yea man totally, that’s what happens when you buddy up with terras… I mean Pakistan’s intel agency funds and trains jihadists… It’s totally their fault, but they’re our friends nonetheless, we should support their war against terrorism. But playing in Pakistan for any international team I think is out of the question now…
Man, now this is totally fucked up! This really shows that there hasn’t been enough security measures on the part of the Pakistanis. I just get the feeling that perhaps the SL board should have been more insistent on a proper security report. It’s quite clear that SL was sent to tour Pakistan because the SL board is near to bankrupt, and they desperately need the money. So they just got a stupid security report just for the sake of it and sent the boys there. I feel that Lokuge and Liyanagama should be shot between the eyes for not having insisted on a proper report by an independent security consultant. Perhaps they would’ve got the bugger running the ‘Perera & sons’ adjoining the SSC to do a ‘security report’ so that they could show it to any concerned players…so sad…
@VIC “kill them all” eh? what a great plan.
This is generally muslim morale …… This religion doesn’t have a respect on other religions or anything…..they just want to kill some guys of other religions and go to heaven………see how saudi people treat other religions…we can’t even take a small buddha statue in to their country(it will be thrown in to the bin at the air port)….you don’t know what they teach in Mosques…. Most of them brainwash people…teach them to hate other religions, not to be with them…so from young age they grow up having hatred towards other religions………(this was told to me by a Muslim friend of mine)….Indi is right…Its a problem with pakistan……..u can even change that title WTF Muslims…..this religions is a cancer to the world…..
While VIC’s “wipe out terrorism” is as stupid now as when Bush first said it (terrorism is a strategy, not an entity, moron — can you “wipe out” murder by killing all murderers?), I agree with him that blaming Pakistan is hardly sensible. There are a lot of things wrong with SL, but would you say WTF SL if that kamikaze Tiger had flown into the Hilton instead of the IR building? I’m sure a lot of people would have said just that. There were Sri Lankans caught up in the Mumbai attack — WTF India for oppressing the Kashmiri Muslims? C’mon, let’s have a little less hysteria here.
This is an attack by enemies of the Pakistani regime, most likely. Next in line could be enemies of the GoSL. A distant third could be India — lol. Blaming Pakistan is absurd. Five of their cops gave their lives to protect our cricket team.
This is an outrageous comment. Most religions have had attrocities committed in their name at one time or another. As David pointed out, five Pakistani police officers laid down their lives for our team, and chances are they were all Muslims. Even in our anguish for our cricketers, this is no time to be hurling insults at Islam and Pakistan. Rather, we must offer our thanks and sympathies to the families of the fallen, and our solidarity with a nation that has been a friend of Sri Lanka through thick and thin.
You know I always thought that sport transcended all this, that no matter how bad relations were between two peoples/ countries/tribes; sport managed to overcome all and if only for a brief window, actually unite people.. I truly believed that. Even Uncle P, reportedly a fan of cricket, never messed with this (I personally doubt it is the LTTE although things are alot different and anything is possible I guess) and for all intents and purposes sportsma, be they foreign or local, were relatively safe from being targeted…
You have to go back to the Munich Olympics for a similar attack which just shows how rare it is. I am just shocked by this and having lived in Sri Lanka,being shocked by anything is a strange feeling.
“I am Ali Hammad from Pakistan…
I appologise on my behalf to all brave Sri Lankan cricket players who accepted our invitation to play in our country despite all the threats.
I am sorry on behalf of my countrymen… we are sorry… we were unable to protect your team..”
This is a comment posted on LBO. I would feel terrible, like Ali Hammad, if anything like what happened in Lahore happened in Sri Lanka.
We need to distinguish between those who engage in terrorist practices and ordinary Pakistanis who must be heart broken at what has befallen their country. I agree that the states, both Pakistani and Sri Lankan, bear some responsibility, but not sole responsibility. No state, however efficient, however caring, can prevent all terrorist attacks.
And we must continue to play cricket and do everyday things. To not do so is to let the terrorists win.
Hi Blacky… Had lunch?
Indi,
I think you should read your own father’s comment here
“No state, however efficient, however caring, can prevent all terrorist attacks. ”
That sums up it all.
I agree my comment “Kill’em all” might sound a little too much of emotional.
IMHO, Pakistan State and it’s people should not get any blame here. Of course their security forces would have had much tighter security, knowing that this kind of a thing is possible. But they did their best.
Remember, Pakistan had been a great supporter of Sri Lanka cricket. If someone says, “we shouldn’t have toured Pakistan, because all other countries refused to do so” it’s wrong. SLC did the right thing by helping Pakistani Cricket out, in their own disaster. No one would have thought it’ll end up in this. Most probably, the objective would have been to damage the SL-Pakistani relationships in Cricket and in diplomatic matters.
I am not a diplomat, or a decision maker in Pakistani Cricket Board or SLC. But my opinion is this. The tour must continue! Of course, may be after few month’s break. Of course with much more tighter security measures. That’s the best answer we could give to the people who were involved in the attack.
fair enough, I’m sure Pakistani’s feel terrible. It is obviously the terrorists fault. The Pakistani state bears responsibility for doing something about it, not for the act itself.
After Al Qaeda/Taliban stirrings, Mumbai and now this, however, it’s obvious that something is deeply wrong with the Pakistani state. How much this is anybody’s fault I don’t know, but something should probably be done about it. I know they’re between a rock and a hard place, but their troubles are spilling out into the region.
That whole region is destabilised. Has been for a while now. The question that needs to be asked is, who has something to gain?
Most mulims support these terrorists……… they think that they can go to heaven by killing innocent people
Thian Samaraweera becomes the 1st player to score back to back double centuries and then be shot
ah yes.. and thats very true.. u deserve an oscar for the best lunatically inspired social outlook! congrats!
of course, a new non-movie category would have to be created..
haha ;D i guess success really does earn you ‘mortal’ enemies… lol
Muslims are some of the more sane people on this island.
If you want to say something like ‘most Muslims support these terrorists’ then try to take a minute to a) spell Muslim correctly and b) Google your facts.
The PEW Global Attitudes Project has an interesting 2005 study called Islamic Extremism: Common Concern for Muslim and Western Publics. The answer is that no, Muslims do not support terrorists, though far too many do say violence against civilians is justified (25%). And over 50% of Pakistanis reported confidence in Bin Laden, which is pretty freaking bad. Hopefully that has changed and will change with Bush being less of a bogeyman.
And those numbers move significantly between nations, among Muslims. Islam needs to be part of the solution, but it didn’t create terrorism.
I feel sorry for Pakistan.
And this is a good example what separatism based on racial/ethnic lines. Ali Jinna must have not asked for Pakistan, if he had known that it’s going to be a failed state within six decades of its set up.
If you look at Indian media , you can see how jubilant they are because of the golden opportunity opened for them to continue with their Pakistan bashing. After funding and providing ideological support for militant groups to destabilize her neighboring states, now they are blaming India for hosting terrorism. Now they can team up with Obama lead US and fuck both Afganistan and Pakistan together.
I feel sorry for Pakistan.
And this is a good example of what separatism based on racial/ethnic lines can lead to. Ali Jinna must have not asked for Pakistan, if he had known that it’s going to be a failed state within six decades of its set up.
If you look at Indian media , you can see how jubilant they are because of the golden opportunity opened for them to continue with their Pakistan bashing. After funding and providing ideological support for militant groups to destabilize her neighboring states, now they are blaming Pakistan for hosting terrorism. Now they can team up with Obama lead US and fuck both Afganistan and Pakistan together
Rohan, this is a very narrow minded comment. Just put yourself in the player’s shoes…would you go and play there if you knew that the security was quite bullshit and there was a good chance that the bus you travel in would be blown up by a rocket?
It’s just a whole load of bullshit, this ‘if we don’t play, we let the terrorists win’. I’ve noticed that players rarely say this, but it’s mostly journos who say such crap.
The whole reason why England went to play in India despite the Mumbai attacks was because Pietersen (the captain @ that time) knew that he would fetch a high price in the IPL and, if he didn’t take his team there, he could say goodbye to the millions of dollars on offer. If the exact same thing had happened in Pakistan, he would’ve said to the PCB ‘Stuff it up your ass’ and just stayed at home.
This is the reality. Everyone just has to learn to accept this.
The issue is that this was a known risk. No other country has toured the nation in 14 months. And despite these know risks, 12 gunmen were able to bring bags of guns into Lahore, shoot up the bus and escape in trishaws. Some money quotes:
Another message from a Pakistani friend:
“Hi David, just wanted to say how deeply sad and angry we Pakistanis are at what happened today in Lahore. Thank God, none of the players got critically injured though we lost many policemen. It may be the end of international cricket in Pakistan for years to come. Pakistanis are embarassed as sri lanka showed a great gesture by agreeing to visit us. Hope things improve in the entire region!”
When inquired about what his possible action plan would have been the had the terrorists tried to enter the Bus, the ever-eloquent yet assured Sri Lankan vice-captain Kumar Sangakkara had this to say:
“Mama Kohomath Ethanin Maaru Wenna Hitiye.â€
They specifically targeted Srilankan team……. they didn’t attack their team…..you know why coz they are muslims…. if they wanted they could have attacked them…… but they wanted to kill us..this is how they think
Exactly. I’m sure that bastard Prabhkaran is a closet Muslim, and so is George Bush, what with all the brainwashing and intolerance.
You mean to say my Muslim friends actually really hate me? Really? They must also be trained to hide it really well then…
I second Rajivmw…five policemen laid down their lives to protect our boys. The PCB may have fucked up with the security arrangements and the SLCB with letting them go to Pakistan but the Pakistanis have stuck their neck out for us in the past. The extremists are the assholes, not the Pakistani people, at the end of the day they have come out worse in this mess.
“C’mon, let’s have a little less hysteria here.”
Balcker, I think it is completely unfair of you to ask such impossible things from Indi.
He is what is is.
We just read him and file his posts under “that ” category and move on read something that is well thought of . Ofcourse on a another blog.
It is similar to buying the Daily News and Daily Mirror and The Island in Sri Lanka.
Some Pakistani bloggers contacted me and I learned a lot from them. It’s discussed in the post OK Pakistan