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Attack on Srilankan cricket team in Lahore

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http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article5843065.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=797093

Pakistan offers $125,000 bounty for terrorists who attacked cricketers


Pakistan offered a reward of $125,000 this morning for information about the 12 masked gunmen who ambushed Sri Lanka’s cricket team, as conspiracy theories multiplied about who was behind the Mumbai-style attack.

While police continued to scour the eastern city of Lahore for the gunmen, all of whom escaped, the government of the eastern province of Punjab appealed for help from the public in most national newspapers.

Officers announced today that they had arrested "some suspects" behind the attack, but the gunmen were still at large.

"The dignity of the country has been hurt," the Punjab government said, alongside blurred images of the gunmen grabbed from CCTV footage.

"Assist us in identifying the terrorists who fired at the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore."

As the hunt for the gunmen continued, Haji Habibur Rehman, Lahore police chief, said that none of those detained in the city had directly carried out the attack. He did not say how many had been arrested.

"So far we have not made any headway toward the perpetrators," he was quoted as saying by the Associated Press news agency.

Pakistani officials say yesterday’s attack outside Lahore’s Gaddafi stadium bore all the hallmarks of Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Pakistani militant group blamed for a similar commando-style attack on Mumbai in November.

However, several have hinted at a “foreign hand” in the attack, fuelling speculation among ordinary Pakistanis - despite a complete lack of evidence - that India carried out the attack as revenge for the Mumbai attacks.

One newspaper printed what appeared to be a fake report from the Punjab police’s Crime Investigation Department (CID) warning in January that India’s intelligence agency might try to attack the Indian cricket team.
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The report, dated January 22, 2009, says that India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) “has assigned its agents the task to target Sri Lankan cricket team during its current visit to Sri Lanka, especially while travelling between the hotel and stadium.”

It appears to be signed by Malik Muhammad Iqbal, the additional Inspector General of Police, CID Punjab.

When contacted by The Times, Mr Iqbal declined to confirm or deny the authenticity of the report.

“That is something which has been leaked,” he said. “I cannot comment on intelligence matters.”

Other Punjab police officials declined to comment.
Several security experts and political analysts said the report was clearly a fake, designed to deflect attention from LeT and to shift blame onto the federal government that took charge of Punjab last week.

It nonetheless illustrates how Pakistan’s charged political climate contributes to the popular sense of denial about the threat posed by the al Qaeda and Taleban militants sheltering near its border with Afghanistan.

Asif Ali Zardari, the President, vowed today to continue the fight against the militants who are also blamed for the assassination of his wife, the former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, in December 2007.

"This is an existential battle,” he said in an op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal. “If we lose, so too will the world. Failure is not an option."

However, Western diplomats fear that he is being undermined by members of Pakistan’s powerful army and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency who have links to LeT and other militant groups.

One former ISI chief with clear Islamist sympathies has even speculated publicly that yesterday’s attack could have been carried out by Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tiger rebels, backed by Indian intelligence, as a payback for Mumbai.

"It's all too obvious that it is the handiwork of the Indian intelligence," said retired general Hamid Gul.

Despite the lack of supporting evidence, such theories easily gain credence among ordinary Pakistanis stunned at the attack on their most cosmopolitan city – and a sport that is a national obsession.
Pakistanis could not do this,” was a typical response from Shazia Sardar, a 28-year-old immigration officer. “The people who did this were not Muslims.”

However, most serious Pakistani commentators dismissed talk of an Indian conspiracy and urged the government to confront the homegrown militants who have ruined Pakistan’s reputation as a sporting venue.

“The worst thing that can happen to a state is to go into denial. How long will we deny that we have groups that have run amok and whose obvious agenda involves destroying Pakistan as a nation state?” wrote Ejaz Haider in the Daily Times.

“To point to India… without bothering to look at other evidence for which we now have a long trajectory, is not simply ignorance; it is deliberate perfidy.”


Meanwhile, Sri Lanka’s cricketers were being welcomed home by tearful relatives and the country’s sports minister, Gamini Lokuge, amid tight security at the international airport in Colombo, the Sri Lankan capital.
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"I never thought I will be able to come home alive," said Mahela Jayawardene, the team captain, as he was greeted by his relieved wife Christina.

Batsmen Thilan Samaraweera and Tharanga Paranavitana, who were both hit by bullets, were among the first of the 25-member touring party to leave the airport to be taken to a private hospital in Colombo.

"Both of them may need further treatment and surgery," said Geethanjana Mendis, a sports medicine specialist who assessed their injuires before they flew home.
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He said the entire team needed medical evaluation, but none of the injuries were life threatening.

Six players and a British assistant coach were hurt in yesterday's attack, which also left six Pakistani policemen and two civilians dead, including one of the team convoy's drivers.

In Washington last night, Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, offered his sympathy to the victims of the attack but said Pakistan must be seen to be dealing with the 'terrorist problem in its midst.'

"My first thoughts are with those who died and those who have been casualties as a result of this terrorist attack," he said.

"Obviously, when people are competing in sport and suddenly there's a terrorist attack, it is all the more tragic.

"What we have to do is to make sure that action against terrorism in Pakistan is effective. We know that the vast majority of al Qaida fighters are in Pakistan, not in Afghanistan.

"We know that there are groups in Pakistan that are terrorist groups that need to be brought under control, arrested and brought to trial.

"I have been pressing for some time the Pakistan government to make sure that arrests happen, terrorists are brought under control and Pakistan is seen to be fulfilling its role in the world community in dealing with the terrorist problem in its midst."
 
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I did it to save Pak's image: Bus driver
4 Mar 2009, 1452 hrs IST, AFP
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LAHORE: He's been called a hero for saving the lives of the Sri Lankan cricket team, keeping a cool head and driving his bus to safety when it
came under a gun and grenade attack.

Driver Meher Mohammad Khalil says he did it for Pakistan. "The thought that the Sri Lankans are guests and my country's image will be ruined if any of the players got seriously hurt spurred me," Khalil said. "I kept my foot on the accelerator and drove the bus."

Khalil was behind the wheel when gunmen attacked the convoy bringing the Sri Lankan team to the stadium in Lahore on Tuesday.

Eight people were killed, but none of the players suffered serious injury.
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"It was shocking and then I heard Sri Lankan players shouting 'Go! Go!' and I did my best to take them to safety," Khalil told AFP at the stadium, from where his charges were dramatically airlifted to safety by the Pakistani air force.

"Had we stopped, a rocket launcher would have hit us," the 42-year-old said. "That could have been disastrous."

Up to a dozen men -- armed with grenades, a rocket launcher and automatic weapons -- besieged the Sri Lankan team bus barely half a mile from the Gaddafi Stadium where they were due to start the third day's play in the second Test.
 
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Do not cry like children. Stop running from your responsibilities. No one will believe anything unless there is any proof.

We have a lot of people here that dont have the courage to face the truth even when it slaps them in the face,,,, and I am not talking about India..
 
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Sri Lanka to protect their close relations with Pak


Mar 4

Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama called on the Pakistan ’s President Asif Zardari in Islamabad today in connection with the terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan Cricket team on Tuesday.

Sri Lanka High Commissioner Designate Air Chief Marshal Jayalath Weerakkody, Director General of South Asia Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Ranjith Uyangoda and Counsellor of Sri Lanka High Commission Mr. M.H.M.N. Bandara also participated in the discussion.

Meanwhile, in Colombo, Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake gave a statement in Parliament stating that the relations between Sri Lanka and Pakistan are very close and all steps shall be taken to protect this relationship.

newsonair: Latest News, AIR, Radio, Business, RSS from India, India, Breaking News Online, Current Headlines India, Today Top Stories
 
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I tell you a story:
There were two neighbours. One neighbour was jealous of the prosperity of another. So one day he planned to damage the other. He brought a snake and feedd it with milk by borrowed money and used extensively against the other neighbour. Now the situation is that the jealous neighbour has no source to borrow money from, hence cant feed the snake. As a result the snake is now biting his own master.

Now compare the snake with Taliban and LeT
 
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I tell you a story:
There were two neighbours. One neighbour was jealous of the prosperity of another. So one day he planned to damage the other. He brought a snake and feedd it with milk by borrowed money and used extensively against the other neighbour. Now the situation is that the jealous neighbour has no source to borrow money from, hence cant feed the snake. As a result the snake is now biting his own master.

Now compare the snake with Taliban and LeT

:rofl: That's convenient.

So you're saying that LeT and Pakistan are enemies now? Alright, fine, then you cannot accuse Pakistan or supporting LeT anymore, can you? :rofl:
 
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there would probably be no WC matches in Pakistan which is saddening as they had some of the pitches where a lot of runs can be scored.

Bring Back Musharraf!
 
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:rofl: That's convenient.

So you're saying that LeT and Pakistan are enemies now? Alright, fine, then you cannot accuse Pakistan or supporting LeT anymore, can you? :rofl:



Ha ha, u seem to be quite clever. Dear, there are more than one power centre in Pakistan. On one hand the civillian govt is against Let whereas somother treat Let and Taliban as strategic asset. Now u are clever enough to get what i mean.
 
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You have a realy big mouth and you talk a lot crapy stuff...I live in the same country where you live, does that mean I start bashing my motherland...did britain managed to stop the 7/7 bombings???

My answer is they didnt, does that mean they are incompetent. In future you better watch your mouth.:pakistan:

Typical northern ****,cannot partake in a civilised debate and then starts throwing threats around,I did not bash my motherland only the fool's that are running it o.k.
 
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We have a lot of people here that dont have the courage to face the truth even when it slaps them in the face,,,, and I am not talking about India..

****** little traitor, when will the mods take action on you? You are no Pakistani, stop abusing our flag.
We out of all, us Pakistanis accept our problems and know what difficulties we're facing, unlike the Indians you are protecting in this case, "Incredible India" rings a bell?
How can you tell your own countrymen to suck it up and accept the "reality", we have often accepted reality, and we still do.
Thank god there are only a few like you or hopefully you're the only moron from Pakistani origin, but I highly doubt that.
 
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^^lol. Iowe is pretty funny. His posts remind me of the terribly dense little man that tries to think laterally but ends up thinking upside down ;)
 
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^^lol. Iowe is pretty funny. His posts remind me of the terribly dense little man that tries to think laterally but ends up thinking upside down ;)

and you all are what reminds me of General Pervez Musharaff quote.

"Today we are the poorest, the most illiterate, the most backward, the most unhealthy, the most un-enlightened, the most deprived, and the weakest of all the human race"

I would say General Pervez Musharaff would know what he is talking about wouldn't you....


Musharraf Berates Entire Muslim World
Wants Young Muslims To Study In The West
By Zaffar Abbas in
Islamabad BBCNews.com
2-15-2

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has said Islamic countries will remain backward unless they concentrate more on scientific and technological development. Muslim nations are internally involved in fratricidal conflicts and perceived by the outside world as terrorists with little attention being given on their uplift, he said.

"Today we are the poorest, the most illiterate, the most backward, the most unhealthy, the most un-enlightened, the most deprived, and the weakest of all the human race."

General Musharraf made his comments in an address to a conference of science and technology attended by ministers from Muslim countries. President Musharraf said the time had come for Islamic nations to take part in collective self-criticism. Once such an assessment is made, it would not be difficult to realise that the entire Islamic world was far behind the developed world, he argued. 'The most unhealthy' The Muslim Ummah, or the Islamic world, he said was presently living in darkness. "Today we are the poorest, the most illiterate, the most backward, the most unhealthy, the most un-enlightened, the most deprived, and the weakest of all the human race," he told the delegates. Musharraf wants to rid Pakistan of extremism

President Musharraf then made a comparison of the economic growth in Islamic countries with some developed countries. While the collective Gross National Product of the all Muslim countries stands at $1,200bn, that of Germany alone is $2,500bn and that of Japan $5,500bn. He said one of the main reasons for this disparity was that none of the Muslim countries had ever paid any attention to educational and scientific development. He asked the countries participating in the conference to concentrate on scientific and technological development in order to compete with the developed world. The real jihad The Pakistani leader suggested the setting up of a multi-billion dollar fund for such a purpose. Beside this, he said, there was a need for creating centres of excellence in the field of science and technology. He also called for the creation of scholarships for young scientists to seek knowledge from universities in developed countries. President Musharraf described it as the real jihad, or holy war. Unless this was done, the Islamic world and Muslims would always be perceived as backward, illiterate - those who only indulge in extremism and violence.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/audio/35770000/rm/_35770419_musharraf16_abbas.ram

what do you all think

this would be a good topic on its own thread,, if I knew how to do it...
 
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I'd say what I've said all along.

Muslims are not a race.

It is stupid to talk of religion and success/inventions.

Just talk of Pakistan if you want to.

Or we could go back 600-1000 years and talk of the Muslims as the most advanced.

Peaks and troughs, colonialism, growth, repeat.

Hope you got that.
 
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Hahaha,

Old people, old stories. Each time I log on this forum I see the same Indian forum members quarreling with patriat Pakistani members.

I appreciate the Pakistani Forum Administrators and Mods petience who still allow these people despise thier country's state.

Lets make this forum only a debate portal nothing more worse than that.
 
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