Hopes
of international cricket returns to Pakistan have begun breathing again with
the death of the organiser of the 2009 attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team.
Qari Ajmal a fugitive leader of the banned Lashker e Jhangwi was killed in a
joint operation by the NATO and Afghan troops in Afghanistan province of Patika
on October 9, 2016. With his death almost all the culprits involved in the attack
have finally met to their ends.
That attack on the Sri Lankan cricket
team is globally considered as one of the most
impactful act of sports terrorism, when a bus carrying cricketers and
officials was attacked with AK-47 rifles and grenades near Gaddafi Stadium in
Lahore on March 3, 2009. Seven
players and an assistant coach were wounded while two passengers and six Pakistani
security personnel died defending them during the attack. Since then
international teams and sportsmen refused to play in Pakistan and similar kind
of terror incidents were started increasing on local sports fraternity. Sports
were declining in the country and in terms of quality and world rankings
Pakistan were legging behind in various sports disciplines The country has become a "Sporting
Pariah" and is forced to hold home cricket series and other sports events
in the UAE.
Pakistan security officials during their
investigation arrested more two dozen suspects in connection with the attacks
belonged to Jaish e Mohammed and Lashkar e Jhangwi, outlawed militant groups
with close links to Al Qaeda. According to their reveals the attack was believed to have
been carried out by Lashkar e Jhangwi, led and masterminded by Mohammed Aqeel
alias Dr. Usman.
Under
the operations of the Zerb e Azb and National Action Plan in 2014, Pakistan witnessed
a shift of internal security command from provincial police to military establishment.
These para military forces have launched serious and robust military operations
against all kind of religious extremists and ethnic militants across the
country. Anti-terrorism and Military courts established in the provinces and moratorium
on death sentence was lifted from laws.
On
June 22, 2016, an anti-terrorism court in Lahore
indicted six people for involvement in the 2009 attack on Sri Lanka’s cricket
team in an in-camera proceeding
held at Lahore Central Jail. These suspects namely Adnan Arshad, Ibrahim
Khalil, Obaidullah, Javed Anwar, Abdul Wahab, and Zubair pleaded not guilty.
Earlier the court had already declared two suspects, Mohsin Rasheed and Abdul
Rehman, as proclaimed offenders.
However,
on August 2016 in Lahore in a police encounter four terrorists were killed among them three Zubair alias Naik Muhammad,
Abdul Wahab and Adnan Arshad were
allegedly involved in the attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in 2009. The
rest of the convicted are behind bars. Their leader Mohammed Aqeel, who escaped a
police raid at his home on 9
March 2009, was later captured in
October 2009 while holding hostages and trying to blow himself up. He was
sentenced to death by a military court in 2011 and in the evening of December 19, 2014
Aqeel was hanged till death with many other militants.
The head of the Lashkar e Jhangwi Malik Ishaq
and the main alleged instigator of the attack, had already been killed in July 2015 during a crossfire between
militants and personnel of Counter-Terrorism Department. And, now on October 9,
2016, with the death of Qari Ajmal the alleged organiser of the attack, almost
all the culprits involved in the terror incident have been vanished.
The impacts of the
Zarb e Azb and National Action Plan are remarkably positive, as they have definitely
succeeded in restoring some peace and stability in Pakistan. The law and order
situation has improved and religious militancy has reduced in the country. And,
these operations are the reasons that culprits involved in the Sri Lankan
cricket team attack, and depriving Pakistani spectators to watch international
sports and cricket at home, are no more in the world.
Now people can
hope that international cricket activities and other sports events can be
staged at home soil without any untoward incident. Yet, it is still up to
Pakistan sports authorities and let's see when they start to prioritise sports.
By M. Wasim
mwasim.370@gmail.com
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