Lahore Motive

By Nacholibre

(March 03, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian)3rd of March 2009 was indeed a fateful day for Sri Lanka. At home, the LTTE terrorists lost their last designated terror base in the island to the advancing Sri Lankan troops. Elsewhere in the world, the Sri Lankan Cricket contingent was deliberately targeted by a group of well-organized terror squad, equipped with automatic weapons, rocket launchers and grenades. Eye witnesses claimed that the terrorist group first blew off the tires of the bus and then fired a rocket at it but missed it completely. It is was way more than luck that our players escaped death in such a coordinated and a bizarre terror attack thousands of miles away from home.

What was the motive behind the attack?

That is the million-dollar question right now and already we see various sources coming up with various theories as to why it happened and how it happened. Sources from Pakistan says that dozens of suspects have been apprehended in connection to the attack and full investigations are under way.

The purpose of this short write up of mine is to point out a very clear common denominator that I was able to see in the media coverage that was done by the CNN and its Indian counterpart CNN-IBN in India. The bizarre episode of the attack was extensively covered by the CNN and CNN-IBN for a good part of yesterday with live streaming of ground developments, expert opinions, interviews and so on. I was watching the two channels for hours and I could not help noticing a dominant feature in both the channels as far as the interviews were concerned.

All the reporters who extensively interviewed many Sri Lankan players, officials and ministers were keen to ask two distinct questions from the interviewees. Not just one time but many, many times.

They repetitively asked the interviewees;

1. if Sri Lanka thinks that its decision to tour Pakistan was a major mistake.
2. if Sri Lanka hold Pakistan government responsible for this attack

However, I was glad to see that all the Sri Lankan players, officials and ministers who spoke live on the two channels were wise enough to handle the questions brilliantly and diplomatically without falling into the trap. They all said that they do not regret the decision to come to Pakistan but they do regret what has happened. The Sri Lankan foreign minister said that Sri Lanka sees this as a cowardly attempt of the terrorists to target a sporting team, that we all should rise against all forms of violence and terrorism perpetrated by the terrorists all over the world and that we do not blame the Pakistan government for what has happened.

Watching all this drama, I was thinking to myself, “Well, don’t we see the motive of the attackers right there in those two questions, which were repetitively asked from us!!!?”…

-Sri Lanka Guardian