Pakistan: 12 Gunmen Strike in Heart World Cricket (updated)

12 Comments

1. 

   Gaianne on March 3, 2009 at 3:43 am

   So who did it?  

   Tamil Tigers?  

   Or Pakistani partisans seeking the easy way to win the match?  (Not too subtle!)  

   Or the CIA?  Given that US policy is to break up Pakistan by destabilizing the (its own, US installed) puppet government, this too has to be considered.  

   I am sure there are other suspects–quite a long list, really.  If the CIA, why not India?  And so on.  

   • 

     BooMan on March 3, 2009 at 7:56 am

     The CIA doesn’t want to break up Pakistan.  It wants the government to strengthen and exert more control over its territory.

     • 

       Gaianne on March 3, 2009 at 9:09 am

       No, and no.  It seems as crazy to me as it does to you, but breaking up Pakistan is precisely US strategy.  Where we tend to err is in the natural tendancy is to think US policy should advance US interests, whereas it often is designed to promote special interests.  If we are insightful enough, the discrepancy can put us on the track of who those special interests are.  

       In any case, this strategy goes back at least a year and a half, when the US began destabilizing its puppet of that time, as I noted in this diary.  

       The Islamic government I anticipated has not arrived, but the US did successfully destabilize Musharraf, and he is long gone.  The US is now destabilizing its current puppet.  

       Your last sentence is wrong, but contains a clue:  The US does not want a Pakistani government exerting control, but wants free rein to operate without the interference of any government whatever.  

       Is this goal even possible?  

       Certainly we will find out.  

       • 

         BooMan on March 3, 2009 at 9:42 am

         you’re just wrong.

         The number one national security priority of our country is the prevent the dissolution of the Pakistani government.  Period.

         • 

           Gaianne on March 3, 2009 at 9:53 am

           theater.  

           But even so, your assertion needs evidence.  

         • 

           BooMan on March 3, 2009 at 10:49 am

           no. i mean anywhere in the world.

         • 

           Gaianne on March 3, 2009 at 7:39 pm

           Okay:  On the face of it, this document supports your assertion–indeed, all but proves it.  

           But:  As important as what they say is what they do.  With that in mind, let’s look at the document itself:  It is calling for big expenditures, much in the spirit of the Iraq occupation–rebuild infrastructure, more police, yada yada.  Lots of pork, applying methods that are already known to fail their stated objectives.  

           Somebody is going to get rich off of this.  

           Now, look at the last paragraph, about the “Trust Deficit.”  This is an implicit admission that US statements and actions have been diverging for some time.  

     • 

       Oui on March 3, 2009 at 10:49 am

       .

       Pakistan Attack on Sri Lankan Cricket Team: Echoes of Mumbai?

       (TIME) – In a commando-style operation, a dozen gunmen attacked the Sri Lankan cricket team in the heart of Lahore, Pakistan’s cultural and political hub, at 8:45 Tuesday morning. The attackers fired rockets, grenades and multiple rounds of ammunition at the team’s bus and police escorting it, killing eight people and injuring six. To some eyewitnesses, it was last November’s Mumbai attacks replayed on Pakistani soil.
       See photo’s of attack

       Pakistan Interior Ministry: “State of War”

       "But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."

   • 

     Oui on March 3, 2009 at 10:19 am

     .

     Who could have attacked Sri Lanka’s cricketers?

     A senior Pakistani official said the raid bore the hallmarks of the same militants who attacked India’s financial capital Mumbai in November. India and the United States blamed the militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba for the three-day assault on Mumbai.

     Following are the major militant groups operating in Pakistan who could be behind the attack …  

     "But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."

2. 

   Oui on March 3, 2009 at 7:51 am

   .
   Comments on blog (Gulf News) about attack on Sri lankan cricketers –

   All my dear Sri Lankan friends,

   I am a Pakistani and on behalf of the entire Pakistani nation, I apologise to the entire Sri Lankan nation. I would like to remind you that we are the nation who has given our lives to save our guests. Your national heroes are still heroes because our national heroes, our brothers have given away their lives to save Sri Lankan team. We are not the nation who attacks its guests. We are against terrorism and we are the biggest victims of it.
   Zuhaib
   Dubai,UAE  

   "But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."

3. 

   idredit on March 3, 2009 at 9:47 am

   could this attack have been mistaken?

   BBC noted that following the Mumbai attack in India, the Sri Lankan cricket team was chosen to replace the scheduled Indian team.

   BBC

   [.]

   The tour planned by India for January this year had been a catalyst for major refurbishment efforts at the five test venues.

   When India pulled out, to be fatefully replaced by Sri Lanka, hopes were that a successful series, played on good wickets in smart-looking stadiums, would go some way to re-establishing Pakistan’s credentials as a world cricket host.

   was the attack to even scores?

   Who could have done it?

   Details of the attack in Lahore are still sketchy, but the video footage is a stark reminder of the November attacks in the Indian city of Mumbai, in which about 10 suspected militants held the city hostage for three days.

   On Tuesday, a similar number of men staged an equally audacious attack. They ambushed the bus that was taking the visiting Sri Lankan cricket team to the stadium for a match with Pakistan.

   Though the targets of the two attacks were vastly different, the attacks themselves were both spectacularly staged against high-value targets and made international headlines.

   The style of these attacks is also reminiscent of an attack by a group of militants on the Indian parliament in the winter of 2001.

   Even scores?

   The Indian authorities blamed that attack – and the Mumbai assault – on a Pakistan-based militant group, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).

   After some procrastination, the Pakistani authorities also endorsed the Indian claim in relation to the Mumbai attacks, saying at least nine men affiliated with LeT had sailed out from its southern port city, Karachi, to attack the Indian financial hub.

   It has arrested several top LeT leaders in connection with that attack.

   Could it be, then, that the LeT has turned back on Pakistan to even scores?

   LeT is one of a number of militant groups that are believed to have been raised, trained and funded by the Pakistani security apparatus to fight Indian troops in the disputed region of Kashmir.

   [.]

4. 

   idredit on March 3, 2009 at 6:19 pm

   on a slip of the tonque

   Pakistan’s drift into the hands of extremists

   -Tariq Ali, Guardian, UK

   The intention of the attack on Sri Lanka’s cricket team was to send a clear message to Washington: Pakistan is ungovernable

   The appalling terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan cricketers in Pakistan had one aim: to demonstrate to Washington that the country is ungovernable. This is the first time that cricketers have been targeted in a land where the sport is akin to religion. It marks the death of international cricket in Pakistan for the indefinite future, but not just that, which is bad enough. The country’s future is looking more and more precarious. We do not know which particular group carried out this attack, but its identity is hardly relevant. The fact is that it took place at a time when three interrelated events had angered a large bulk of the country and provided succour to extremist groups and their patrons.

   The first is undoubtedly the foolish decision by Washington (backed by Britain) to send more troops to Afghanistan, which has now united all those resisting them in that country and the North-West Frontier province of Pakistan. Instead of searching for a viable exit strategy, Obama has gone for a surge. On several occasions, I have warned that escalating the war in Afghanistan could seriously destabilise Pakistan and its army.

   Second, Senator Dianne Feinstein’s revelation that the US drones being
   used to target “militants” and “terrorist havens” inside Pakistan were, in fact, being despatched by the US from military and air-force bases inside Pakistan (obviously, with the approval of the Pakistani military and civilian leaders) created mayhem in the country. The shock and dismay should not be underestimated. Half-hearted government denials further fanned the flames. Since many in the country regard Zardari and his cronies running the country as US drones, the anger was multiplied.

   [.]

   ~~~~~~~

   Warning of attacks on Sri Lanka cricket team was ignored

   Pakistani officials received specific warnings that militants were planning to ambush the Sri Lankan cricket squad, but they were unable to prevent today’s deadly attack because of the country’s spiralling political crisis, opposition MPs claimed tonight.

   [.]

   The head of Pakistan’s interior ministry, Rehman Malik, said the country was “in a state of war” and the authorities were investigating whether the attackers had intended to take hostages. “The way they came prepared and in large numbers indicates such a plan,” he said.

   But tonight attention was focusing on the apparently lax security arrangements, after a document emerged in the Pakistani media showing that local police had warned in writing of the possibility of the Sri Lankan team being targeted.

   The letter, dated 22 January this year, from a member of the criminal investigation branch to the then provincial police chief, said he had “learnt” that an attack was planned on the Sri Lankan team, either at their hotel or between the hotel and the sports stadium.

   Police and administration officials met on 23 January to assess the threat, but before action could be taken, the government of Punjab province – of which Lahore is the capital – run by the party of the former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, was dismissed, following a court ruling .

   The federal government, led by Asif Zardari, then installed its own administration, and the upper ranks of the police and administration were replaced.

   Opposition politicians accused the government of ignoring specific warnings. “Intelligence reports said there might be an attack on the cricket team,” said Pervez Rashid, a senior member of the sacked Punjab government. “They made no appropriate security arrangements.”

   It appeared that no police had been deployed along the 5km route.

   This appears to be setting the stage for civil war or a military coup. Not good. Af/Pak could blow before 2011.