Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said Tuesday's attack by gunmen here on Sri Lanka's cricket team was a “conspiracy” while Lahore Commissioner Khushro Pervaiz was quoted as saying that Indian involvement in the terror attack could not be ruled out. Up to eight people, a majority of them policemen, were killed, including a team-convoy car driver, and nearly 15 others, including six players and a coach of the Sri Lankan team, were injured when gunmen armed with rockets, grenades and automatic weapons attacked a convoy taking the team to the Gaddafi stadium to play Pakistan. Star wicket-keeper batsman Kumar Sangakkara and mystery spinner Ajantha Mendis along with Thilan Samaraweera, Tharanga Paranavitana, Suranga Lakmal and Thilina Thushara were injured in the attack. Assistant coach Paul Farbrace also sustained minor injuries. “There are a few injuries, but everyone is safe and all the players are out of danger,” Sangakkara told reporters. The entire touring squad was air-lifted by helicopter from the Gaddafi stadium to an airbase from where they flew home, cutting short their tour. Tuesday's attack shocked the cricket world and cast a shadow of doubt on the future of cricket not only in Pakistan but India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh as well. Deadly terrorist attacks in Mumbai last November, Colombo government's ongoing war to wipe out Tamil Tiger rebels, and the recent bloodshed caused by mutinous soldiers in Bangladesh besides allegations that the country has become a hotbed for militant extremism are also causes for serious security concerns in south Asia. A statement from the Pakistani prime minister's office said Gilani spoke to Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse, who was in Nepal on an official visit and “expressed his profound regrets over this unfortunate incident.” “The incident was a well-planned conspiracy meant to create terror and isolate Pakistan's cricket,” the statement said. Rajapakse said it was a “cowardly” act on a team that was visiting as goodwill ambassadors. He ordered Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama to fly to Pakistan to oversee the evacuation of the Sri Lankan players. Sri Lanka, which has called off the rest of its cricket tour, had only agreed to play in Pakistan after India pulled out of a series for security reasons following the Mumbai attacks in November. In that attack, 10 terrorists killed 164 people in an assault blamed on a banned Pakistan-based militant group, Lashkar-e-Taiba. In September, 53 people died in the bombing of the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad. Lahore Commissioner Pervaiz told Geo News India was not above suspicion. Gen. (retired) Hameed Gul, a former chief of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), told the channel that India was trying to weaken Pakistan. He said that India wanted to declare Pakistan a terrorist state and the firing on the Sri Lankan team was related to that conspiracy. Reacting to the bloodshed, India's foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee said in New Delhi: “The terrorism infrastructure facilities available in Pakistan must be completely dismantled and the perpetrators (of the attacks) brought to justice, otherwise perpetration of these types of incidents will take place. “I request the Pakistani authorities not to divert the attention of the international community, but to take courage in both hands and dismantle the terrorism infrastructure and take stiff measures against the perpetrators. Only then will such issues be adequately addressed.” Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and Gilani consulted army chief of staff Ashfaq Kayani following the attack. A government statement issued after the meeting said Kayani discussed “professional matters.” Zardari is struggling to contain Taleban insurgents who have seized swaths of northwestern Pakistan, and manage an economic crisis that forced the nation to borrow $7.6 billion from the International Monetary Fund. Pakistani officials said the “terrorist” attack bore all the commando-style hallmarks of the Mumbai attacks, with one group of gunmen firing a rocket-propelled grenade to create a diversion, while others fired on the convoy. Political analyst Hasan Askari said he suspected internal militants trying to further destabilize the weak civilian government. “Some of them may be doing such activities because they consider our government pro-India and pro-US,” he said. “The attack was meant to embarrass Pakistan at an international level and show the world that these groups are powerful and the government is helpless.” The Pakistani foreign ministry said Tuesday's attack was “perpetrated by the enemies of Pakistan-Sri Lanka friendship” albeit providing no further details. The statement said a special investigation team has been set up for the probe. “Full investigation is being carried out into the attack and the perpetrators of this heinous crime would be given exemplary punishment,” the statement said. Sri Lanka is a major buyer of Pakistani arms, especially bullets and the defense relationship has been a source of friction in South Asia. “Our suspicion is that the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) could be behind it,” one senior Pakistani security official said. “We have seen tit-for-tat attacks in both countries in the 1990s and Lahore could be a reaction to what happened in Mumbai, which India blamed on us,” the official added. Pakistan has supported Colombo in its fight against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) but both countries have troubled relations with regional power India. In Sri Lanka, officials declined to speculate on suggestions that its own rebel LTTE may have been involved. “We are uncertain as to who perpetrated this attack,” Foreign Secretary Palitha Kohona said. “It's the death of cricket in Pakistan,” said Shaukat Qadir, a security analyst and retired Pakistani army brigadier general. “This was our first test after 14 months.” After the Mumbai attack, “only Sri Lanka had the courage to come and play here,” he said. “This will be a terrible blow to all Pakistanis. Whoever has done this has done a tremendous ill favor to Pakistan and cricket as well as Sri Lanka.”
