Pakistan deserve the punishment

johntoil SG

Former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram spoke to Mobile ESPN’s Faisal Kamal on attack on the Sri Lanka team.

Dejected is the only word to sum up Wasim Akram's mood in the wake of the gunmen attack on Sri Lankan cricketers on Tuesday morning.

Shocked, sad and simply shaken, Akram says it is sad for sports in Pakistan.

"I don't want to talk about cricket alone. The attacks are unwarranted and have put Pakistan to shame. Please pray for us," he said over the phone from Lahore. "I don't know who has done this but any attack on our guests is simply uncalled for. I hope the terrorists are caught and punished. They can't be Pakistanis," Akram added.

"I have played with several of the Lankan cricketers and am stunned to hear that reserve umpire Ahsan Raza is fighting for his life in the hospital. Raza is a former first-class player and recently took to umpiring. I have played with him and this is unthinkable," Akram said.

"We should stand united under the circumstances and the world should understand that terrorism is now a universal concern. I can see a similar hand working in Mumbai and India must now know that Pakistan are equally at the receiving end," Akram said.

The former Test captain says hosting the 2011 World Cup along side India is "now a distant dream."

"How do you expect a foreign teams to come to Pakistan now? We took pride in hosting our guests. This image has taken a beating. It's sad for Pakistan," an emotional Akram said.

Given Pakistan's unorganized sport governance, the International Olympic Committee is already contemplating a sporting ban on the troubled nation. The horrifying Lahore saga will do the nation no good for sure.

I don't really care where cricket is played. It's a game I don't understand or love. But, I do know Pakistan people love this game.

When we lost fellow Singaporeans to Pakistani terrorists, I see injustice prevails. When I see terrorists operate freely from their bases in Pakistan, I asked where is the law and army?

When I see Sri Lankans cricket players killed by terrorists, and the Cricket World Cup is ban from Pakistan, I see a Pakistani sad because Cricket World Cup is banned there. Would he be concerned over terrorists threats if the game was not banned in 2011, I doubt very much.

This is a sad day for terrorism, not cricket lovers.

Bangulzai SG

according to benazir, the terrorists were allowed to manifest during musharraf's regime

they had usually only operated in the FATA (federally administered tribal areas) but under musharraf's dictatorial regime they were allowed to roam into the N-W Frontier Regions and currently they also occupied the once-tourist haven in the valley of SWAT

i am talking abt the terrorist as in the Al Qaeda & Talibans & the Pakhtuns, not those separatist (like the Baluchistan Separatist Movements which are not terrorist in the name of religions)

see how can mr asif do, the same as her deceased wife who strive for democracy or will he succumb back to musharraf's style?

Worldlybusinessman SG

LTTE kena pawned by the pakistani!

Bangulzai SG

India questions who is in control in Pakistan

India's home minister said Pakistan could become a failed state and raised doubts about who was in control of the nuclear-armed country, a news report said Saturday.

Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram's comments came days after a daring attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in the Pakistani city of Lahore. Heavily armed gunmen killed six police and a driver and wounded several players Tuesday before fleeing unscathed.

"In Pakistan, with regret, I would say we don't know who is in control there _ whether it is the army or the president or the government," the Press Trust of India news agency quoted Chidambaram as saying at a seminar on Friday.

"It is not a failed state, but it is threatening to become one," Chidambaram said in Mumbai, India's financial and entertainment capital.

He could not be reached for comment Saturday.

Relations between India and Pakistan have deteriorated following the Nov. 26 terrorist attacks in Mumbai that killed 164 people.

Separately, India's External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said the attack on the Sri Lankan cricketers showed the Pakistani government's "lack of will or capability in tackling this menace."

At a conference in the Indian capital Friday, Mukherjee called for coordinated efforts by the international community to eliminate terrorism, "otherwise, no part of the world would remain immune to the flames."