The attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team as they traveled through Lahore on their way to a test match against Pakistan has shocked everyone. Pakistanis are shocked because cricket, by far and away their national game, holds such a dominant position in their lives that they could never associate it with a terrorist attack. Leading figures have asserted their conviction that whatever else terrorist might do, they would never target cricket, because they knew the anger such an attack would kindle among many millions of Pakistani cricket enthusiasts.
Unfortunately it was precisely because the perpetrators of Tuesday’s wicked crime knew the effect it would have on ordinary people, that the attack took place. It was always a fallacy to imagine for one minute, that bigots who could devote themselves to the savagery of terrorism, would respect a high-profile and widely-followed sport. In their warped, demonic mindset, their actions have to resonate as loudly as possible and the Lahore ambush of the Sri Lankan team bus fitted the bill precisely. Both the Australian and Indian cricket authorities had previously decided they would not send cricket-touring teams to Pakistan because of the security situation. The Sri Lankans, perhaps because of their own long experience of Tamil Tiger terrorism, were more sanguine. Though they knew there were risks, their team courageously decided to travel to Pakistan. It is fortunate that their bravery has only been repaid with minor injuries to their players.
Pakistan, of course, is unlikely to see another international cricket tour. But the ramifications of Tuesday’s terror attack go much further. Sport worldwide is almost certainly now back in the sights of terrorists. It has been 36 years since the murder of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics in a crime that revolted the watching world. It might seem extraordinary that since then, there have been no terror attacks on any other sporting event, with often highly paid players moving up and down a pitch in front of thousands of spectators in a combined space.
Unfortunately, the Lahore attack will probably inspire other fanatics. High-profile sportsmen are likely to be targeted, especially during major sporting occasions like the Lahore test. The demands of security will impose added financial and administrative burdens not only on sporting authorities and event organizers but also upon spectators, who will be obliged to pass through rigorous searches before they are permitted to take their seats in a sporting arena. The whole ethos of sport indeed is now again under threat. Complaints that games such as cricket and football have already been changed fundamentally by the arrival of the big bucks of media and sponsors are real enough. But if millionaire sports stars are now to feel themselves under threat from terrorists, the changes could become more radical, with perhaps matches being played out before the television cameras in high-security stadia from which all members of the public have been banned. As a result of Tuesday’s outrage in Lahore, sports leaders worldwide suddenly face some tough and highly regrettable new challenges.
