Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Cricketers are not safe now. But who IS ?

The latest attack on Sri Lankan team in Lahore comes close on the heels of the terror attack on Mumbai. Theories are flying thick and fast on whether this attack was originally intended for the Indian team which was supposed to be touring Pakistan at that very moment, on whether this will permanently affect cricket matches in the subcontinent, on whether the 2011 world cup matches can be staged as planned, and so on.
I am surprised by one thing. Twelve terrorists armed to the teeth plant themselves on a busy square in broad daylight, waiting in ambush for the bus. And nobody notices them??? How did they reach there? Did they simply grow out of the ground or what? (Note that Pakistan had promised 'complete and total security' to Sri Lankan team.)
Whats more - firing continues for about 30 minutes, leading to the death of Pak police ostensibly providing security for the bus. AND NOT A SINGLE TERRORIST IS EITHER CAPTURED OR KILLED. All this, when the TV channels are showing the terrorists freely running around as if they are wandering in a park. So picture this - the security personnel are INSIDE the vehicle and are armed, I hope (so the vehicle actually provides them cover) and the terrorists are OUTSIDE in the open. And yet they manage to do what they intended to do and actually disappear from the scene.
I don't intend to say that the security personnel who died were ineffective. If they died doing their duty, it cant be for nothing. But how is it that in broad daylight, NOT A SINGLE terrorist got captured or killed? Even as I type this post, NDTV is airing CCTV coverage showing terrorists calmly walking through the streets and some happily driving away on mobikes. I find this completely mysterious. And then - even if you don't want to believe that Pakistan governance is not hand-in-glove with the terrorist elements, such events make you doubt your self.
The press is going berserk and proclaiming that 'now even cricketers are not safe'. But then in the kind of times that we live in, who IS safe?

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