Feel Sorry for Pakistan

By Helasingha Bandara

(March 04, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) It is now unavoidable that Pakistan is falling into the category of rogue nations, just like her sister Afghanistan after the attacks in London, Mumbai and now at the bus that was taking Sri Lankan cricketers to the stadium. It is sad that Sri Lanka has to decide against playing In Pakistan that produced such great cricketers of Imran, Wasim, and Miandad calibre.

Buddhists all over the world were appalled when Taliban dynamited the tallest Buddhist statue of the world that had been carved in Afghanistan. Every one thought that the uneducated religious fanatics had no sense of heritage. Their actions brought shame and peril upon them. They are destined to dwell l in poverty, wear rags and live in mud huts and they see no world beyond the caves of Afghanistan.

When Afghanistan was invaded by the US it drew sympathy from the whole world because humans are humans that they always take the side of the perceived under dog. However the brutal mentality those fanatics possess and crimes they commit upon human race, particularly on the weaker gender, deserve condemnation from all quarters. The irony is that the blind faith makes them believe in a heaven and makes them indifferent to the miseries they caused upon themselves and others in this life. We all want to live but these lunatics want to kill and die.

We wanted to believe that Pakistan is different. They have always been Sri Lanka’s friends. The Sri Lankans have to be grateful for the cooperation that Pakistan has shown over the last three decades while India has maintained double standard from time to time. When Sri Lanka won the World cup in 1996 all major cities of Pakistan burst into a celebrative mood with fire crackers thundering every where. Can we easily forget such friendship?

Sadly the Sri Lankans have no alternative other than to sever cricket connections with Pakistan for the mad acts of a few uncivilised brutes. The government of Pakistan has no escape other than accepting responsibility to rout out terrorism from Pakistan soil. There are no good terrorists and bad terrorists. One cannot use terrorists and drop them later. A case in point is Rajiv Gandhi and the Tamil tigers in Sri Lanka. Terrorists are like virus, allowed to infest the body it is hard to get rid of them. Surely Pakistan does not want it to be a rogue state or a rogue nation. It is full of honourable, decent and respectable people. They all have to work together to clean their house before it is too late.

Who organised the attack on Sri Lanka players? What is the motive? Why sportsmen? Can the killers be caught? Pakistan authorities are plagued with such questions and tasks to find answers to those questions if they want to clear the international image. The answer to most ills within Pakistan is the educating of its masses. As long as the masses remain uneducated they are easy pray for the opportunist and the extremist. 25% literacy is not acceptable in the world arena where Sri Lanka has done well to achieve 89%. -Sri Lanka Guardian