After 3/3, The unfortunate thing is that the opportunist and so called irresponsible Indian media just jumped over the opportunity to isolate Pakistan by depicting the dark future of Pakistan cricket. This is unfortunate that instead of showing sympothy with Pakistan, they started shouting and the dirty game of maligning Pakistan’s image.

The true picture is, if we say that the cricket is in our blood, it wont be wrong! Even today the cricket is palyed on every other street, ground of Pakistan. And yet after the attack on cricket, the cricket and the spirit is still alive and will remain alive, God willing!

As I pointed out in my previous post, few questions regarding the 3rd March Attacks on Sri Lankans, I am still seeking the answers of those. Now what I have heard from people of my surroundings, I couldn’t resist myself from thinking this incident with respect to another perspective that attributes to the government’s hands in the incident.

Why Government officials will do it?

To fail the Long March revolution! As they say that everyone forgets internal conflicts and gets united when the country comes under fire. And we know that these days, a depressive political turmoil across the country is going on especially when Supreme court over threw PML N government in Punjab and imposed Governor Rule.

Since then, PML N has decided to support the Lawyers Movement full time. And the circumstances suggest that there is a big number of people that are going to participate and support the Long March revolution as it is being considered the first step towards democracy i.e.  restoration of judiciary.

And to prevent the fear of Long March, the government may have planned the entire thing of Lahore Attacks thats why I think the attackers kept on wondering here and there on the roads of Lahore in the prominent day light and no one could dare to touch them.

The government may have hopped that the intensity and effects of the attacks will be too much that due to international pressure, the political parties can again get into the reconciliation drama and will be united again. And the participants of Long March will get indulged into ‘Save Country’ thing rather then ‘Long March to save judiciary’. Also the government might have hopped to get further aid from the World on the name of so called ‘War on Terror’.

These analysis are merely based on my assumptions and could be wrong and the haters of this post should understand that I have right to express what I and people in my surroundings feel as about what might have happened.

This article was initially published at Sri Lanka’s Daily News, then on Teeth Maestro , Times of India and many other news sources. With the concent of Samad Khurram, I am publishing it at this blog also, so that more Sri Lankans can read it.

This letter is our expression of deep sorrow and grief at the savage attacks on the Sri Lankan cricket team while they were touring our country. As Pakistani citizens, we are shocked, angered, and greatly embarrassed at being the source of such anxiety to the people of Sri Lanka. There never can be a justification for such horrendous acts of violence, and the Pakistani nation strongly condemns this evil act.

The dastardly attacks were carried out by miscreants who do not share the common values that the peaceful citizens of both Sri Lanka and Pakistan cherish and uphold. Pakistan has been the victim of many terrorist attacks in the last few years, and it is evident that this cowardly act was another attempt to cause increased turmoil and chaos in a country that is already suffering through a period of extreme violence and anarchy.

We therefore thank the Sri Lankan team for agreeing to play in Pakistan even when other countries refused citing security concerns. In hindsight, those apprehensions seem very valid, but the courage of the Sri Lankan Cricket Board and players in agreeing to play is laudable, and the nation of Pakistan shall be forever indebted to your country. This tour was crucial for the revival of cricket in Pakistan, and we greatly appreciate your efforts in agreeing to be a part of this process.

Our two nations have always enjoyed close cricketing ties. Lahore, the city of this massacre, is the same town that witnessed the Sri Lankan team under Arjuna Ranatunga proudly win the cricket World Cup in 1996. The Pakistani fans cheerfully celebrated alongside Sri Lanka, for this was the victory of a close friend against the Australians who had been notoriously harassing South Asian cricketers. It is, now, of course, deeply distressing that the sport of cricket, which has always been the source of such joy to the people of Pakistan, is the cause of our humiliation today.

In the long tradition of jovial relations this comes as moment of disbelief and grief for Pakistanis. We have failed to protect perhaps the only team that had braved to enter our territory.

The only consolation in this episode is that all of the players survived. We sincerely pray for the swift recovery of Mahela Jayawardena, Thilan Samaraweera, Tharanga Paranavitana, Kumar Sangakkara, Ajantha Mendis, Suranga Lakmal, Chaminda Vaas and Paul Farbrace, and hope that they are able to return to cricket soon.

We express our appreciation for the remarks of the Sri Lankan Government and Foreign Ministry, forever solidifying the bonds between our nations. The Pakistani Foreign Office also reaffirmed today that Pakistan greatly values its relations with Sri Lanka, and we endorse this statement and look forward to extending this close friendship. In times of great distress, our allegiance to one another is what sustains us, and the Sri Lankan commitment to friendship with Pakistan displays the benevolent spirit of your nation.

Our nation expresses pride at the bravery of the van driver who, according to Kumar Sangakkara, heroically managed to deliver the players to safety. Tribute must be paid to the six Pakistani police officers who sacrificed their lives while trying to protect the Sri Lankan team.

Citizens of Sri Lanka, we share your grief. We are all one today.

Lets analyze whose fault was this really, in terms of few facts. But before that, lets have a look at the latest CCTV video of the attackers.

For the sake of argument, even if we agree that this was done by RAW, in order to isolate Pakistan and to malign Pakistan’s foreign image, this incident leaves many unanswered questions. Let me list them for you.

1) Why the promised security was not provided?

2) As revealed by the Ansar Abbasi,  the govt. officials had received the intelligence on 22 of January that RAW is going to attack the Sri Lankan team on their way from hotel to the stadium, why didn’t they tightened the security to prevent the attacks?

3) Police Station is just near the attack scene, hardly 2 minutes drive away, why didn’t more of the Police squad arrive on time when the bloody fight continued for half an hour?

4) how the attackers managed to wonder here and there in Lahore with heavy weapons in the bright day light?

5) Why the Rickshaw driver got vanished when he called Police to tell what he witnessed?

If I am to answer this, I’d call it a grieve security lapse by the government officials. If they had assured the security, even RAW would not have been able to get succeeded in their objectives. So I believe the wholly solely responsible for this terrible security lapse is Governor Salman Taseer, who really mis-handled the government and the security matters. It is also said that Salman Taseer’s government was preparing Police force to counter the protesters of Long March, thus ignoring the promised security for the Sri Lankan cricketers. I recommend Salman Taseer to stop blamegame, accept it was your fault and step down immediately before it is too late.

I was in classroom when we heard the loud sound of those bloody shots, we got curious making ideas about what really happened and one of my friends passed on a joke and we carried on. But I was sensing that something is wrong and something terrible has happened. And Just after 5 minutes, I received an SMS from friend saying that few terrorists have attacked the Sri Lankan team bus and the Police squad. Just then, A friend of mine also got a phone call from his relative, and he was in the middle of the call when he shouted loudly about the incident.

Everyone including our instructor got scared and our instructor was kind enough to let us go.  My university is just near Liberty, the attack place, we could see the traffic jam and a panic kinda situation on the road outside my university. Rumors kept on coming from here and there stating that there is a huge life loss in this attack, few said that Sri Lankans are also among the casualties. I immediately ran to the Internet lab, hoping to watch the live TV streams about what really happened. I was shocked to see that bloody fight between terrorists and the Police, as SAMAA TV were airing the footage of the attack.

My heart got relaxed to know that Sri Lankans are safe, but at the same time, my heart started mourning to hear about the casualities of local Policemen. I witnessed the panic situation among the students and personnel of our university. I happened to talk to the security guard at the gate of our university, he told me that 2 of the terrorists have just passed by the road outside our university. He told that they were carrying bads and weapons. He further said that they have went towards the Ferdous Market that was later confirmed by the news channels.

I started receiving SMSes, phonecalls inquiring about me and telling me to stay safe as the attackers are still on the move. I had an urge to go and see the attack place but I couldn’t as the security officials had blocked the traffic.

I spent 3 hours in the university after the incident as I had classes to attend. In those 3 hours I witnessed panic and scary situation of the students. Various of them were saying that there is going to be no more cricket in Pakistan, this is the bloody incident of the history. Just after a while, we saw the search helicopters kept flying in the entire area for quite a while and that caused even more tension among the students.

Somehow, I managed to come home. It took me some effort because no Rickshaw was willing to travel in that situation. After reaching home, I immediately started surfing web, listening to mainstream media and the blogosphere to keep myself updated.

And with the residents of Lahore I met today, all of them condemned the attacks in strong words. Their reaction was quite natural; apologatic and scary. The place of the incident, as reported by news channels and few of my friends who happened to pass by there, is quite empty, only Policemen, bomb disposal squad and news reporters are there.

The current atmosphere of the city is still sad and scary. As Pakistan has associated the attacks towards India, this is what people have already been expecting. And in the blogosphere, there are various reports about the involvement of RAW, the Indian Intelligence Agency, behind the attack, trying to destabilize Pakistan. Bloggers have also apologized to the Sri Lankans about what happened today.