SRI LANKA RETURNS TO COUNTRY AFTER A DEADLY AMBUSH IN 2009
ens of thousands of security personnel will be deployed in Lahore tomorrow when Sri Lanka become the first major cricket team to visit Pakistan since they were targeted in a deadly ambush in 2009 — with attack survivors among those returning to the scene.
Several Sri Lankan players and officials, including their head coach, have opted out of the Twenty20 fixture, after some voiced concern about security following ongoing militant attacks.
But Asanka Gurusinha and Hashan Tillakaratne, who came under gunfire in 2009 and are now Sri Lanka’s team manager and batting coach, will be with the squad as they are shuttled in and out of Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium under heavy guard.
Pakistan’s Ahsan Raza, a reserve umpire in 2009 who was among those shot — and needed emergency surgery to repair a collapsed lung and damaged liver — will also be on the field.
Eight people were killed and eight wounded in the March 3, 2009 attack on Sri Lanka’s bus convoy near the Gaddafi Stadium, an incident that brought cricket tours to Pakistan screeching to a halt.
Eight years later, Sri Lanka will become the first top cricket nation to play in Pakistan since the incident, accelerating a gradual resumption of international fixtures as security improves.
Sunday’s game, the third and final Twenty20 — with the other two played in UAE — comes after Lahore also hosted this year’s Pakistan Super League final and a oneoff fixture between Pakistan and a World XI last month.
Raza was wounded when Taliban militants targeted a bus carrying officials, killing the driver. Another bus’s driver was hailed as a hero after shepherding the players to safety under a hail of bullets.
“It’s a great honour that I will be umpiring in the match which is bringing Sri Lanka back to Lahore,” he said. “They have set their every fear aside... their tour will have a great impact on the revival of cricket in Pakistan.”
Tomorrow’s Twenty20 international is being hailed as a brave decision by Sri Lanka and a milestone for Pakistan as it attempts to end its sporting isolation.
Thousands of security personnel will guard routes to the stadium, and air surveillance and intelligence monitoring is also in place as Pakistan rolls out head-of-state level measures.
Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Najam Sethi called it a “historic moment”, pointing out that a generation of fans in the cricketmad country have grown up without seeing any international games in their home stadiums.
“Our stadiums have remained empty. Now all that is poised to change, for the better... I foresee a full fledged restoration in the next two years,” he told AFP.
PCB officials are already setting their sights on bringing the West Indies to Pakistan for three T20 internationals next month.
PCB Chairman