Sri Lankan Cricket Team Attack in Pakistan Rouses Anger Against Militants

Posted by Satyam Khanna, Think Progress at 2:03 PM on March 5, 2009.

On Tuesday in Lahore, Pakistan, terrorists waged a brazen attack in broad daylight against members of the Sri Lankan cricket team. The attack has roused Pakistani anger against the militants. “Cricket is so popular here,” said Imran Khan, a former Pakistani cricket legend-turned-politician. “The militants want to gather public support for their campaign. By attacking cricket, they only lose support and isolate themselves.” On The Wonk Room, Dr. Awab Alvi -- a popular Pakistani political blogger based in Karachi -- offers his perspective:

Barack Obama has naturally condemned this tragic event but the US needs to realize that the lawlessness in Pakistan cannot be quenched by the mere use of force. It must stand to be one of the biggest blunders of the Bush administration when on Nov 3rd the then-President Gen. Pervaiz Musharraf, an ally of George W. Bush, deliberately destroyed the judiciary. […]

The American forces must now continue to engage with the Pakistan Army to help empower them to cleanse the trouble spots in Pakistan, while pressure needs to be applied upon the elected government to improve and empower the independence of Judiciary in Pakistan. It is only when a society feels the security of a free and fair society will it have the will to shun terrorism and bring into accountability the perpetrators, for now the corrupt and ruthless have a far stronger hand as compared to the weak and downtrodden.

A new Center for American Progress report questions the now-frequent U.S.-led Predator strikes inside Pakistan. “While these strikes may bear some meaningful short- and medium-term successes, as a long-term strategy their value is less clear,” writes Colin Cookman.

Update: Yglesias writes that, while the focus on Afghanistan because that’s a war with troops on the ground, "just about everyone seems to agree that the more serious problems are actually in Pakistan."

Tagged as: pakistan, attack, cricket team, militants, sri lankan cricket team, pakistan army, colin cookman

Satyam Khanna is a Research Associate for The Progress Report and ThinkProgress.org at the Center for American Progress.