ECONOMICS

CASE STUDY
SRI- LANKAN CRICKTERS ATTACKED
IN PAKISTAN

By:-
Tanya Gupta
0911665
II-BBA-B
DEFINING THE CASE
Even those of us who don't follow cricket shouldn't miss the continuing
coverage of the attack on the Sri Lankan team visiting Lahore, Pakistan, for an
international match. The attack may well prove to be one of the pivotal moves
in the complex chessgame of South Asian politics.
A dozen masked gunmen armed with rifles and rocket launchers attacked a
vehicle carrying members of Sri Lanka’s national cricket team on
Tuesday,March 3, in the north eastern city of Lahore near Gaddafi Stadium,
wounding at least two players and killing five police officers, officials said.
The attack in Lahore came at a time of unrest in both Pakistan and Sri Lanka,
both of whom are trying to defeat insurgencies. It was unclear who was behind
the assault, but it appeared to have been carefully coordinated. In the event,
seven policemen were killed, five players, a coach and an umpire were injured.

Identifying the problem of the case

The problem of the case is that it was known that an attack could take place.
Pakistan has become a safe haven for terrorists. It is going to put a lot of people
off investing in and visiting Pakistan. Thus when a team from outside was
coming to play in their country they should have strengthened their security. It
was a very soft target. So the team was meant to be extremely well-protected.
How is it that gunmen could have penetrated the security, carried out the attack
and then all escaped?".And they should have further tightened security knowing
 that Sri Lanka had agreed to this tour — allowing Pakistan to host its first test
matches in 14 months — only after India and Australia backed out of scheduled
trips over security concerns. Now, the assault will end hopes of international
cricket teams — or any sports teams — playing in the country for months, if not
years.Chris Broad said ”They had promised 'presidential-style security' for the
party, only to leave them 'sitting ducks' when they were ambushed”.

Coverage of the case

The assassination of 11 Israelis by Palestinians in the Munich Olympic Village

in 1972 remains the most dastardly act of violence in modern sports history. But
Tuesday's terrorist attack by a dozen armed gunmen on the Sri Lankan cricket
team in Lahore is no less diabolical even if there have been fewer casualties,
and no player has died.
The team bus transporting Sri Lankan players to the Gaddafi Stadium was
attacked by gunmen on Tuesday morning, leaving policemen and a bus driver
among those dead and five players injured in Lahore.

The players injured were Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara, Thilan

Samaraweera,  Ajantha Mendis, and Tharanga Paranavitana, Chaminda Vaas
and Suranga Lakmal while local police subsequently reported that five people
were killed by gunmen who fired AK47s and rockets at the team bus, also
throwing grenades.

Samaraweera sustained a thigh injury and was treated in hospital, while four
other players and Sri Lanka's assistant coach Paul Farbrace were also injured.

Jayawardene received a cut to his ankle, Sangakkara was cut on the shoulder,
Mendis received a shrapnel would to the back, Paranavitana was wounded in
the chest, Samaraweera was hurt in the leg while Farbrace received a minor
shrapnel wound to the arm.

Samaraweera and Paranavitana were taken to hospital but neither was seriously
injured and the players are to return home later today.

The second Test betwen the two sides was cancelled as a result. The bus driver,
Mohammad Khalil has been widely hailed as a hero for his role in getting the
players into the stadium and away from the gunmen. However, the driver of the
bus behind, carrying the match officials, was also killed while reserve
umpire Ahsan Raza was shot in the abdomen and is in intensive care in a
Lahore hospital.
According to the Pakistan government,” This embarrasses the Pakistani
government enormously. It was all too predictable. The aim was clearly to
perpetrate mass casualties and mass horror”.

Relevance of the case to the present study

This main cause if the attack was security issues, which is now a very important
concern in most of the south-asian countries, especially Pakistan, Afghanistan,
india, Bangladesh and Sri-lanka. Infact, now these countries can’t even trust
weather if they help a country will they get that help in return when needed.this
has been proved by this attack on the sri-lankan cricket team. There is bitter
irony in the fact that the Sri Lankans, who had tried to help out Pakistani cricket
by becoming the first overseas team to tour there in 14 months, should have
been the target of this terror attack.
That in itself manifests the incoherent nature of contemporary terrorism where
innocent people are killed just like that, as happened during 26/11 in Mumbai.
The utter mindlessness of this act will have left the global anti-terror
protagonists even more bewildered, and the international sports fraternity,
especially cricket, bedevilled.

Cause of the problem

The reason why the attack happened is unclear since everyone has different
views about it: some think that there aim was clearly to perpetrate mass
casualties and mass horror, while others are of the view point that it's the work
of extremists. They are trying to undermine the state. They are trying to shake
the stability of the state, demoralize the security forces. They are trying to create
a vacuum of power in which eventually they can take over. There are some
people who also give a vague reason that it was very deliberately motivated and
it had only one purpose, to ensure that sports events in Pakistan cannot take
place.
The Pakistani politician Imran Khan, a former captain of the country's cricket
team, said the Sri Lankan visitors had been given inadequate protection. "This
was one of the worst security failures in Pakistan," he said. "The Pakistan
government guaranteed the Sri Lankan cricket team that they would provide
them security." None of the attackers was killed or apprehended at the scene.

Solutions to the problem

Since the event has already taken place, nothing can be done about it now. But
in future and specially during the world cup, it becomes the responsibility of the
cricket committee and the country where the event is being held to make sure
that there is complete security offered to the teams. Now the cricket committee
should be even more cautious while choosing the venue for it’s matches to be
held.
Not only in terms of cricket but instead the world should now be aware and
careful while planning out any major even, so that no such case can take place.
There should be extra attention paid to the security.
Taking into consideration this case in specific, no team should be sent to
Pakistan for any more matches, atleast till their country becomes stable.

Implication and it’s effects

At the very least, it makes a cricket tour of Pakistan by any team in the short-to-
medium term untenable, which, in turn, threatens the very future of the sport.
And, If no country is willing to go to Pakistan, it seems unlikely that any
country will host a Pakistan team either. The sport shrinks dramatically if
Pakistan cricket is isolated, even for no fault of its own.
India and Australia have pulled out of cricket tours in Pakistan in the recent past
citing security concerns.
The sport's world governing body, the International Cricket Council, last month
decided not to hold the Champions Trophy in Pakistan due to safety worries.
The ICC has decided not to allot any of its international events to Pakistan in
the calendar announced until 2015 though other Asian cricket playing nation
India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh would host important tournaments, including
the 2011 World Cup.