2009 Attack On The Sri Lanka National Cricket Team - Criticism

Criticism

Politician and ex-Pakistan cricket captain Imran Khan criticised the security arrangements and said that the security provided was 10 times less than what is provided to government officials such as Rehman Malik.

Match referee Chris Broad was also critical of the security provided. He stated that he and his colleagues were left like 'sitting ducks' in the trailing minivan during the attack. He also accused the security personnel of fleeing the scene. He questioned why the Pakistan team which usually travelled with the Sri Lankan team was delayed by seven minutes that day and avoided being attacked. Javed Miandad was critical of Broad's comments and demanded that International Cricket Council ban him for life. Pakistan Cricket Board lodged a formal complaint against Chris Broad with the International Cricket Council on 9 March 2009. Ijaz Butt, the head of Pakistan Cricket Board accused Broad of lying. Umpire Simon Taufel also said that the umpire's minibus was abandoned while the players' bus was moved to the ground to evacuate the players. Slamming the security entourage for abandoning them and inability of the police to arrest the attackers Simon said,"You tell me why no one was caught. You tell me why. Supposedly 25 armed commandos were in our convoy, and when the team bus got going again, we were left on our own." Co-umpire Steve Davis said "he felt let down" by the security. International Cricket Council umpires performance manager for East Asia, Sri Lanka and Pakistan, Peter Manuel told Dawn that the minivan carrying the umpires was basically abandoned by the security personnel. 'It was unbelievable. Bullets were raining on us and not a shot was fired in our defense by the Pakistan security officials,' the outraged Manuel said. Sri Lanka coach Trevor Bayliss backed the comments made by Simon Taufel, Chris Broad and Steve Davis criticising the security. Intikhab Alab, Pakistan cricket team's coach, asked Chris Broad to apologise to his country and team due to the remarks he made against Pakistani police security. English cricketer Dominic Cork who was commentating in Pakistan on the series and who himself was caught in the attack later criticised the security and Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ijaz Butt.

Sri Lankan bowler Muttiah Muralitharan world's highest wicket taker said the security arrangement was the worst he had ever seen, and vastly inferior to that provided in Sri Lanka. He said 'The security people we had didn't even seem to fight back. Were they professionals with enough training? They didn't seem to know what to do. I was surprised the terrorists were able to just reload the magazines and keep firing, and they never got caught. It was shameful. If this had happened in Colombo they would never have got away.'

Eye witness Habib Akram, bureau chief of Samaa television news channel said that the gunmen were very calm as they moved and fired by turns and that there was hardly any fire returned by the police. His office overlooks the traffic circle where the incident took place. Closed-circuit television footage of the event reported by Geo TV showed four of the attackers walking or jogging away unchallenged from the site, into a marketplace while no policemen are seen.

Former president and former army chief Pervez Musharraf criticised the police commandos inability to kill any of the gunmen, saying "If this was the elite force I would expect them to have shot down those people who attacked them, the reaction, their training should be on a level that if anyone shoots toward the company they are guarding, in less than three seconds they should shoot the man down." Governor of Punjab province where the attack took place in Pakistan, gave medals and awards to honour valour and bravery of police officials for fighting the terrorists during the attack.