Pakistan cricket yesterday marked the first anniversary of a devastating gun and grenade attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team, searching for a revival of fortune and path out of isolation.
Seven Sri Lankan players and their assistant coach were injured and eight Pakistanis killed when attackers on foot opened fire and hurled grenades at the tourists’ bus en route to the Gaddaffi Stadium in the city of Lahore.
The attackers escaped, the second Test was abandoned and the Sri Lankan team flown home as condemnation poured in and the al-Qaeda-linked menace in Pakistan was again flung into the spotlight.
The attack ended hopes in the cricket-mad nation of hosting international matches in the immediate future.
Pakistan had already been a virtual no-go zone for foreign teams since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, which put the nuclear-armed country on the front line of the US-led invasion of Afghanistan and the war against al-Qaeda.
The Sri Lankan team had been in Pakistan only to replace India who canceled a tour after the November 2008 Mumbai attacks, which were blamed on Pakistani militants, and suspended a four-year peace process.
Police and the law minister of Punjab Province, Rana Sanaullah, laid wreaths at the scene of the attack in Liberty Square yesterday, saluting six police and two civilians who were killed.
“We are here to remember the sacrifices given by our brave policemen. The whole nation is proud of them,” Sanaullah said.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and players would also hold a memorial ceremony, lay flowers and observe a one-minute silence, officials said.
“It was tragic and shook our cricket,” PCB chief operating officer Wasim Bari said.
“We must remember all those who gave their lives to save the Sri Lankan cricketers and PCB chairman Ijaz Butt will visit the site to offer prayers for those killed in attacks,” he said.
A month after the March 3 attacks last year, the International Cricket Council (ICC) stripped Pakistan of the 14 matches it had been scheduled to host for the 2011 World Cup with no international team willing to play there.
Butt has said Pakistan lost at least US$40 million over India’s tour cancellation and feared an annual US$70 million loss in television rights if teams continued to refuse tours.
But Bari hoped for a better future.
“We hope that as ground realities change, things will improve and international cricket will be revived in Pakistan,” Bari said.
More than 1,130 people have perished in suicide and bomb attacks across Pakistan since the Sri Lankan assault, bringing to more than 3,000 the number to have died in an al-Qaeda and Taliban-linked campaign since July 2007.
“It was tragic,” said former Pakistan captain Ramiz Raja, a commentator during the Test when the Sri Lankans were attacked. “Pakistan is suffering its impact not only in cricket but also in other sports as we have not been able to host any international sporting event since then.”
Raja called for a “rebirth,” likening the gravity of the incident for Pakistan cricket to what New York and Washington suffered after the Sept. 11 attacks, and the Indian financial capital after the Mumbai attacks.
“But I salute Pakistani fans for keeping the interest in cricket alive, despite having no matches,” said Raja, a member of an ICC task force striving to revive cricket in Pakistan.
Australia have not toured Pakistan since 1998 citing security fears. Over the last year, Pakistan have been forced to play their home series in United Arab Emirates and New Zealand.
They are due to play Australia in two Twenty20 matches and two Tests — originally scheduled for Pakistan — in England later this year.
“For the sake of millions of people who love the game of cricket, international events will come back to Pakistan. I sincerely hope this is not very far,” Bari said.
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