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The real victims are Pakistanis
By Will last year, at the start of March, 5 Comments »
I don’t have much to add to today’s news which wouldn’t feel or sound contrite. The sense of inevitability was gut-wrenchingly strong that cricketers would be used as pawns in terrorists’ games of attention-seeking. It was going to happen at some point: a high-profile event, part of daily life for peaceful Pakistanis, now disrupted to the point of ruin.
In fuelling their own flawed agenda, they’ve not only ensured international cricket won’t be played in Pakistan for a significant amount of time, but they’ve brought the country closer and closer to being a failed state. Not a bad morning’s work, really.
But the real victims are Pakistanis themselves. If the last few years have been rocky, the next decade looks every bit as unsettled.
One final question: how long before Barack Obama wades in?
5 Comments »Mumbai terror strikes
By Will 2 years ago, at the end of November, 5 Comments »
Mumbai is under attack from terrorists.
A series of terrorist strikes in Mumbai on Wednesday night which left 80 dead and 250 injured has put a major question mark over the fate of the Champions Twenty20 League, scheduled to begin here next week, and cast a serious doubt over the second Test between India and England next month.
More (cricket angle) at Cricinfo, or the BBC, or IBN or NDTV. It’s a depressing mess out there. My former colleague, Alex Chamberlain, is unfortunately one of those involved. You can read his account of events at the BBC.
5 Comments »Terrorists considered attacking Ashes squads
By Scott 4 years ago, mid-October, 2 Comments »
I’m not altogether sure what to make of this revelation::
A friend of one of the four bombers who killed 52 people when they bombed trains and buses in the British capital on July 7 last year told The Sunday Times newspaper that the Al-Qaeda cell was initially ordered to kill the England and Australian cricket teams during the Edgbaston Test in Birmingham.
The claim was made by a family friend of bus bomber Hasib Hussain, who killed 13 people in London’s Tavistock Square. According to the 32-year-old friend, whose family has links to a terrorist training camp in Kotli in northern Kashmir, the bombers were instructed to get jobs as stewards at the Edgbaston cricket ground and to spray sarin gas inside the changing rooms.
The second Test between England and Australia began in Edgbaston on August 4 last year.
The friend – whose real name was not published – said the attack may have been called off and the Tube bombings planned instead because one of the bombers, Shehzad Tanweer, was a cricket fan.
It’s a scary thought, but sooner or later one must expect a terrorist strike on a major sporting event. Yesterday England played Macedonia in front of a crowd of 71,000. And a crowd of 100,000 is expected for the first day of the fourth Test at Melbourne.
Juicy targets for psychotic terrorists.
2 Comments »