The country is still in mourning on the attack on the Sri Lankan team and cricket officials at Liberty Chowk in Lahore on March 3, 2009 at the hands of terrorists. The targets were the Sri Lankan players who were on Pakistan's tour and on their way to the Gaddafi Stadium, for the third day's play in the second test. The Sri Lankan team escaped with only injuries, which was nothing short of a miracle as they faced a hail of bullets while sitting in the bus. Moreover, unfortunately six policemen were also killed in the attack. It was reported that the attack by twelve sharp shooters was so sudden that the policemen had no time to retaliate. May they rest in peace However prior to Sri Lanka's acceptance of our invitation a number of foreign cricket teams refused to come to Pakistan and therefore the ICC Champions Trophy had to be called off. The attack on the Sri Lankan players' was probably the second of its kind after the ill-fated massacre on the Israeli squad by Palestinian guerrillas during the Summer Olympics in Munich in 1972. So much for the news which was the lead story in the world media and will go down in the history of cricket. The Punjab governor and the PCB chairman's have insensibly stated that the Board will lodge a protest with ICC against Match Referee Chris Broad's claim of inadequate and pathetic security arrangements by the government which resulted in this disaster. Don't these gentlemen know that millions of people in Pakistan and in foreign countries have seen the CCTV recordings showing the terrorists firing on the bus and continued to do so for about 20 minutes without any resistance. There was no security visible and not a single shot was fired by the police. What kind of invisible protection was provided to the Sri Lankan team? Steve Davis and Simon Taufel echoed complaints from English match referee Chris Broad in claiming that they were abandoned by the Pakistani security forces when the gunmen opened fire. "In our hour of need we were left on our own," Taufel told reporters. "I'm angry that we were isolated. I'm angry that we didn't get the same level of security that the player's got." Davis said the match officials had been promised high-level protection but the security forces left them to fend for themselves. "We were certainly left without any security in our van when we were being fired upon," he maintained. Why should these gentlemen lie after barely escaping the attack? Why PCB chairman, who is already under fire by the Standing Committee of the Senate, should called Broad's statement 'fabricated'? Reports revealed that Chris Broad was lying on the floor of the bus during the attack soaked in the blood of the Pakistani umpire Ahsan who was critically injured. And the PCB chairman calls his statement 'fabricated'. It's a pity. Doesn't he know that cricket, unfortunately, in Pakistan seems to be dead and it might take a few years to revive it, if the country luckily is able to root out terrorism which is posing a serious threat to its very existence. Like Pakistan, Sri Lanka too has been in the grip of terrorism by Tamil Tigers since years. Therefore it is quite likely that the Tamil Tigers may have had a hand in the Lahore episode. Unfortunately our security failed to kill or apprehend any of the twelve attackers and it definitely will not be easy to find out who they were or why did they attack the Sri Lankan team. The security lapse was so blatant that all the attackers escaped easily. On the other hand, when Mumbai was attacked, the Indian security forces gave a tough fight killing all the attackers except the one who was captured alive - Ajmal Kasab. He has given leads for the identification of all the other attackers. However in the Lahore episode it would now be most difficult if not impossible to find out the origin of the attackers. In case of Pakistan, India and even Sri Lanka for that matter, who are in the grip of terrorism, it would not be safe to host field games with huge audiences for quite some time. The players and crowds on open grounds will always be vulnerable. Even Bangladesh, which went through an episode of revolt in military barracks, has cancelled the tour of Pakistan cricket team which was due this month, for security reasons. The militants in Pakistan are however out to destroy not only the country's modern way of life, but also its economy, culture, education and sports. The writer is former director news, PTV E-mail: burhanhasan@hotmail.com