Source: Terrorists 'wouldn't dare hurt cricketers', says Imran Khan | The Australian, Sarah Elks | October 11, 2008
PAKISTANI cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan said yesterday the Australian cricket team would have been safe from terrorist attacks if it had gone to Pakistan, as terrorists knew that such an attack would have lost them public sympathy.
More than 1300 people have been killed this year in a string of bombings by insurgents, including last month's destruction of the Marriott hotel in Islamabad, which killed 60, and Thursday's attack on the heavily fortified headquarters of the anti-terrorist squad in the same city.
The Lion of Lahore, who was on the Gold Coast yesterday as the plenary speaker for the National Radio Conference, said Cricket Australia's reluctance on security grounds to send the team to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy, which was partly responsible for the tournament being indefinitely postponed, while allowing a tour of India to go ahead, caused great resentment in the country.
In an interview with The Weekend Australian after his wide-ranging address to the conference, Mr Khan, who captained the Pakistan cricket team from 1982 to 1992, said that although he could understand Cricket Australia's position, the players would not have been in any danger in Pakistan.
"Personally I would not worry about these things," Mr Khan said. "But I can imagine other people worrying about them. It hasn't helped when you're sitting outside and you have news coming in of the Marriott being bombed, although the tour was cancelled before the Marriott."
South Africa was the main agitator behind the postponement of the Champions Trophy.
"I never thought that cricketers were going to ever be threatened at all, simply because cricket is such a passion in the country that terrorists would never dare to do it because they would not want the people to turn against them," Mr Khan said.
"They rely on public sympathy, which they have right now because the American war on terror, amongst the masses, is seen to be a war against Islam. So they have their sympathy."
It was the US rather than Cricket Australia in Mr Khan's sights yesterday. He referred to the "war on terror" as a "war of terror". He said the war in Afghanistan, which shares a border with Pakistan, was particularly pointless and useless.
"The more troops you send there, the more (troop) casualties you have," Mr Khan said.
"All they have to do is learn from history. Those that don't learn from history are condemned to repeat the same mistakes. The Soviets killed 1.3million Afghans, they lost 50,000 soldiers themselves, and what was the result in the end? They had to leave. They were bled dry by eight years of conflict. They didn't win the war.
"There's no way the Americans are going to win there."
PAKISTANI cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan said yesterday the Australian cricket team would have been safe from terrorist attacks if it had gone to Pakistan, as terrorists knew that such an attack would have lost them public sympathy.
More than 1300 people have been killed this year in a string of bombings by insurgents, including last month's destruction of the Marriott hotel in Islamabad, which killed 60, and Thursday's attack on the heavily fortified headquarters of the anti-terrorist squad in the same city.
The Lion of Lahore, who was on the Gold Coast yesterday as the plenary speaker for the National Radio Conference, said Cricket Australia's reluctance on security grounds to send the team to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy, which was partly responsible for the tournament being indefinitely postponed, while allowing a tour of India to go ahead, caused great resentment in the country.
In an interview with The Weekend Australian after his wide-ranging address to the conference, Mr Khan, who captained the Pakistan cricket team from 1982 to 1992, said that although he could understand Cricket Australia's position, the players would not have been in any danger in Pakistan.
"Personally I would not worry about these things," Mr Khan said. "But I can imagine other people worrying about them. It hasn't helped when you're sitting outside and you have news coming in of the Marriott being bombed, although the tour was cancelled before the Marriott."
South Africa was the main agitator behind the postponement of the Champions Trophy.
"I never thought that cricketers were going to ever be threatened at all, simply because cricket is such a passion in the country that terrorists would never dare to do it because they would not want the people to turn against them," Mr Khan said.
"They rely on public sympathy, which they have right now because the American war on terror, amongst the masses, is seen to be a war against Islam. So they have their sympathy."
It was the US rather than Cricket Australia in Mr Khan's sights yesterday. He referred to the "war on terror" as a "war of terror". He said the war in Afghanistan, which shares a border with Pakistan, was particularly pointless and useless.
"The more troops you send there, the more (troop) casualties you have," Mr Khan said.
"All they have to do is learn from history. Those that don't learn from history are condemned to repeat the same mistakes. The Soviets killed 1.3million Afghans, they lost 50,000 soldiers themselves, and what was the result in the end? They had to leave. They were bled dry by eight years of conflict. They didn't win the war.
"There's no way the Americans are going to win there."
