The situation in Pakistan continues to run downhill. By now, the power struggle between rival government factions is underway with former Pakistani prime minister Sharif walking away from his house arrest in Lahore and his supporters violently clashing with police. The current prime minister is set to address the nation on Monday.
But this latest political clash merely reflects the breakdown in government control over the country. One little-reported – but significant – recent incident was the March 4 daylight attack on the Sri Lankan national cricket team in Lahore as it played Pakistan.
LAHORE, Pakistan (Reuters) – Pakistani investigators were following “important leads” to identify who was behind the attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said on Wednesday.
The ambush in broad daylight, and the apparent ease with which around a dozen gunmen escaped after a firefight with police of almost 30 minutes, sent shudders through a world fearful of nuclear-armed Pakistan’s inability to contain rising militancy. . . .
Desperate for leads, police rounded up scores of people without establishing any link, according to officials, although one mid-level officer in the probe told Reuters a cellphone had been found that led to the arrest of at least one real suspect.
Seven Pakistanis, including six police and the driver of a bus carrying match officials, were killed in Tuesday’s attack on the Sri Lankan team as it was being driven to the Gadaffi Stadium for the third day of a match against Pakistan.
‘Shudders’ is right – particularly in India. Lahore is, after all, only 35 miles from the Indian city of Amritsar, just across the border. And the ruling party in India is watching carefully. From the Times of India:
Describing Pakistan as “Somalia of South Asia”, Congress on Tuesday said the terror attack on Sri Lankan cricketers in Lahore is a result of Pakistan’s long-standing policy of ceding its territory to fundamentalists and the Taliban.
The attack reflects the continuing chaos in Pakistan and “this is a result of the policies which Pakistan has followed from 1979 to 2009,” Congress spokesman Manish Tewari told reporters here.
“NWFP, Baluchistan, Swat and now Lahore…Pakistan has been ceding its territory to the fundamentalists and the Talibans of the world”, he said.
Decrying the political leadership of Pakistan, Tewari said, “it is not only a failed state but fast becoming the Somalia of south Asia”.
“It (Pakistan) has become a time bomb which can explode anytime. After 1972 Munich Olympics, this is perhaps the first time that players, who act as bridge between nations, have been targeted.”
Pointing out that Pakistan was a nuclear state, the spokesman said the world has to see how to dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism there.
Asked whether Pakistan was a victim of terrorism, Tewari said the country was to be blamed for what is happening there.
Having a nuclear-armed Somalia on one’s border is an uncomfortable prospect. And if Pakistan does degenerate into anarchy, will India intervene? Can it afford not to, particularly after the Mumbai attacks? Or in light of reports that Pakistan possesses 40-50 nuclear devices?
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