Attack on Sri Lankan Cricket Team

      "When you sleep with dogs, you wake up with fleas". The symbiotic/ incestuous relationship between the Pakistani Military/ Intelligence Service and Islamic terrorists, Taliban, al Qaeda and Laskar has over-reached this time. The attack on the Sri Lankans has ignited a firestorm of protests that threaten not only the cricketing future of Pakistan, but also the Pakistani state. More than 2 billion people from Australia to India to Zimbabwe and over 100 other countries follow this game with gusto and passion and while they hold the Pakistani players in high esteem, they hold the Pakistani Government and its Security forces complicit in this attack. It's not cricket!!!.

      The terrorists were well trained and the attack was disciplined and highly co-ordinated. They were well armed with grenade launchers, plastic explosives, grenades, car bombs as well as automatic rifles. The place of attack was strategic, a turn-off, where the bus would be slowing down. They knew the time that the bus would arrive and they were waiting. Did they get inside information? Why were more stringent measures to protect the players not taken? Why were there not more armed escorts? Who staged the attack and what was the role of Pakistan's intelligence service? They are known to have a close working relationship with the Tamil Tigers. Were the Tigers involved? Given their recent losses this would not be surprising.

      Laskar e Taiba was responsible for the November Mumbai terrorist attack, which was co-ordinated from Pakistan. All the terrorists except one were killed. Compare this to those who killed Benazir Bhutto. No one has been arreested so far. Neither have the bombers of the Karachi hotel in 2002,( where the New Zealand cricket team was staying), been caught. Is this because of incompetence? Or is it complicity? The Pakistan government is again having having problems. It has recently barred former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his brother from running for office in their stronghold of Punjab province. Pakistan is on the brink. As I have written before, there is a real danger of the Pakistani state breaking up.

      Illiteracy and unemployment are two force driving the radicalisation and sowing the seeds of disintegration. Islamic fundamentalism feeds on this. There are no shortages of dis-affected, disenchanted and alienated among the the people, young and old. This is a breeeding ground for recruitment for mayhem. The problems are endemic. They are deeply rooted. For too long the people have been neglected and it is easy to foment division and violence. Aristotle warned that " Poverty is the parent of revolution", and poverty combined with religious zealotry is a toxic mix. The explosion is coming and it will rival the blood-letting of Partition. Already bombings and other forms of violence are a daily occurence in Pakistan. It is not only in the Tribal Regions/ North-West, but in Lahore, in Karachi,  in Islamabad between Shia and Sunna and Mohajirs, between the followers of Sharif and Bhutto, everywhere and everyone seem to be going at it. 

       There is no one leader who can lead Pakistan out of this mess. There is only the military. They have stepped in and remove civilian authorities on many occasions.The last time it was Musharraf ousting Nawaz Sharif, so don't be surprised when they step in again. The experiment that began so bloodily 60 years ago has run its course . The unravelling began when civil war led to the creation of Bangladesh in 1971, when Zia seized power  and hanged Ali Bhutto. The succeeding years has swung back and forth between the military and civilian rule. The murder of Benazir Bhutto started another round of  musical chairs. There was a brief hint of hope when Sharif and Zardari struck an alliance to get rid of Musharraf, but that has ended acrimoniously and now this fiasco.