Terrorism in Lahore: Focus on Indian Involvement-VIII

 By Dr. Abdul Ruff Colachal

(Part-VIII)

India Fishing in Troubled Arabian waters

The self-projected “superpower of South Asia controls the region effectively thanks to its military power and its ability to stage subversive plots in the region. Pakistan is the worst suffer although it has the support of USA which now, in the name of tracking “terrorists”, tries to play it against Indian hegemon. US blackmailing and genocides go hand in hand in Pakistan. It seems Pakistan is wedded to turmoil on a permanent basis.. Country’s economic decline in the global credit crunch was also a major factor for the continuing political turmoil in Pakistan. Pakistan is facing a "mortal threat" not so much from internal militancy as from external anti-Islamic forces. Pakistanis must unite to face a "very grave situation" that was worsening.

It has become a habit to quickly name “Islamic terrorists” or “fundamentalists” or “jihadis” or Osama or Taliban and terrorize Muslims for terrorism activities even when the ground realities pinpoint anti-Islamic forces in targeting Muslims and Islamic nations. Frank Gardner, the BBC's security correspondent, said although it was too early to say with any certainty, the attacks appeared to have been by militants with a "global jihadi agenda". He said it appeared their intention was not just to attack Sri Lanka's cricket team but to embarrass the Pakistan government as well.

One of the chief goals of Indian terror in Lahore was to prevent Pakistan cricket from re-emerging on the international scene and stop other teams to visit Pakistan for ever. The attacks are expected to have massive ramifications for the cricket world, with the ICC considering whether Pakistan can co-host World Cup matches in 2011. The game of cricket brings players, spectators and nations together in a common, peaceful, purpose, and this appalling attack is a grotesque violation of that. However, India has made   cricket a farce with insistent match-fixing to boost its players for awards and other benefits.

The dismissal of Muslim League led Punjab government by the president Zardari did fuel the suspicion about a possible Muslim League (N) involvement in the Lahore terror. He pointed to the fallout between President Asif Ali Zardari and former PM Nawaz Sharif, who was last week banned from elected office by the Supreme Court. The degree of political disunity in Pakistan that exists at the moment is only contributing to the problem. This gives one to infer US engineered terrorism in Lahore by provoking the dismissal of the government.

Pakistan's interior ministry chief Rehman Malik increased speculation by saying he could "not rule out the involvement of a foreign hand in the incident", but India, as usual, remained cool to Pakistan’s charges against India in Lahore case. But a clever Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee said the Lahore attack showed Pakistan government's “lack of will or capability in tackling this menace", that would also mean India accepts takes the blame for Mumbai Nov26 indirectly, although it still refuses to admit its own role in Mumbai terrorism.. The head of Interpol, Ronald Noble, has arrived in Islamabad but his talks with Malik were scheduled to be about November's Mumbai attacks.

The UK, the birth place of cricket as a sport for colonies, has condemned the "shocking and senseless" gun attack on Sri Lanka's cricket team as a "grim day for sport". The Conservative MEP Sajjad Karim, who was in the Taj Mahal hotel in Mumbai when gunmen attacked last year, said he was amazed the gunmen in Lahore were able to carry out such an attack. UK foreign Minster quickly blamed “terrorists” and said the central and local governments to take action against groups he described as "front organizations" for Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Blaming Muslims (“fundamentalists” or “terrorists”) for terrorism is the usual tactics adopted by anti-Islamic forces and their media. There has been much speculation in the media since, with some reports pointing the finger at Lashkar-e-Taiba and others at al-Qaeda and the Taleban. Dozens of people have been held for questioning. A spokesman for Lashkar-e-Taiba, Abdullah Ghaznavi, told AFP the reports of his group's involvement were "false, incorrect and baseless". The West and their ally in anti-Islamism India stated it was not known who carried out the Lahore attack but conveniently passed the blame on to the Lashkar-e-Taiba "militant" group had "deep roots in the Punjab".

The Pakistani government has come under fire for the security it provided for the Sri Lankan team. Umpires traveling in a bus behind the cricketers have said they were left unguarded. English match referee Chris Broad said they were "sitting ducks". International Cricket Council president David Morgan told the BBC it would be "very difficult for international cricket to be hosted in Pakistan for quite some time to come". The former England cricketer Dominic Cork has vowed never to return to Pakistan after he was caught up in the attack but escaped injury. Pakistan's cricket circles have reacted angrily to the security complaints. Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ijaz Butt accused Broad of "fabrication". After Pakistani umpire Ahsan Raza was shot, Broad reportedly covered him with his own body to protect him from more bullets. Former cricket star Javed Miandad said the International Cricket Council should ban Mr. Broad for life.

One could argue the Pakistani security personnel has fallen a victim to the terrorists’ target. Unfortunately, even though they have all necessary evidence about Indian involvement in the carnage in Lahore, the Pakistani government has not yet accused Indian so far because they still hope for peace with their Hindu terror neighbor, ill-focused on Pakistan and Bangladesh. 

Taking quite seriously the prior warning before a possible attack from New Delhi and its agents in Dhaka, the Bangladesh government has halted all visits by foreign teams because it can't guarantee them sufficient security, forcing the forthcoming visit of Pakistan has now been postponed indefinitely. Pakistan were originally scheduled to play two Twenty20 matches and five one-day internationals from March 10-22, and after the terror attacks on Sri Lankan and Pakistanis in Lahore, allegedly by Indian agencies to avenge its anger towards Colombo in not having called off  its team visit to Pakistan.  Obviously, knowing the mindset of India for decades now, Bangladesh does not want to risk endangering the sportsmen from Pakistan which is already hard-pressed by security problems and external threats.

The immediate fallout of the Lahore attack was rescheduling of matches and cancellation of a couple. Sri Lankan team returned without completing the tour.  But Indian refused to stop playh8ng did not even bother to sympathize with the victims of terror in Lahore and stop cricket for at least a day or an hour. And keep talking about being “victims of terror”. But India sheds a lot of crocodile tears and is “satisfied” with return of “democracy” in Pakistan on 16 March, while Indian democracy is being buried in Kashmir secret grave yards….

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Yours Sincerely,

DR. ABDUL RUFF Colachal

Columnist & Independent Researcher in World Affairs,

The only Indian to have gone through entire India

South Asia.