Why did people think sportsmen/cricketers would be immune?

[The Outsider]

There was no shortage of people saying nothing will happen to cricketers in Pakistan or for that matter even in India after the Bombay incident. I never understood the logic behind it. It's not that we are dealing with some lovers of sports or culture - these are barbarians and would do anything to disrupt a civil society. In fact, I had written earlier that I could see no reason why cricketers would be immune - just because something has not happened does not mean there is any logical reason why it has not happened. Tendulkar is a wanted on the LeT list I believe and cricketers in general provide one of the softest, high profile targets to terrorists. They have to come out in the public, walk around in open spaces etc. etc. I am glad that the first such attempt failed and am pretty sure that their security will be taken much more seriously in the future.

[cochise]

It has always been a ridiculous assumption to think sportsmen are immune. They are prime targets for terrorists who have no scruples in achieving their aims.

[suraj]

There was no shortage of people saying nothing will happen to cricketers in Pakistan or for that matter even in India after the Bombay incident. I never understood the logic behind it. It's not that we are dealing with some lovers of sports or culture - these are barbarians and would do anything to disrupt a civil society. In fact, I had written earlier that I could see no reason why cricketers would be immune - just because something has not happened does not mean there is any logical reason why it has not happened. Tendulkar is a wanted on the LeT list I believe and cricketers in general provide one of the softest, high profile targets to terrorists. They have to come out in the public, walk around in open spaces etc. etc. I am glad that the first such attempt failed and am pretty sure that their security will be taken much more seriously in the future.

I guess everyone keeps hoping that sense will prevail even in teh worst of scenarios; its just wishful thinking till events unfold in reality that defy any sense or logic

[triam]

There was no shortage of people saying nothing will happen to cricketers in Pakistan or for that matter even in India after the Bombay incident. I never understood the logic behind it. It's not that we are dealing with some lovers of sports or culture - these are barbarians and would do anything to disrupt a civil society. In fact, I had written earlier that I could see no reason why cricketers would be immune - just because something has not happened does not mean there is any logical reason why it has not happened. Tendulkar is a wanted on the LeT list I believe and cricketers in general provide one of the softest, high profile targets to terrorists. They have to come out in the public, walk around in open spaces etc. etc. I am glad that the first such attempt failed and am pretty sure that their security will be taken much more seriously in the future.

This thought was perpetrated by the great Immy khan and his side kick Javed Miandad.

[Dhondy]

Imran's opinion is coloured by his own experiences. Despite being a rabble rouser, he has escaped assassination in a tinderstack like Pakistan. Held up at gun point, manhandled, but never at the receiving end of serious harm. When a man feels immortal, he begins to think other sportsmen would be treated the same way. Historically too, Munich, yes, but any other example?

[The Outsider]

Our very own Shiv Sena has threatened matches and dug up pitches - yes nothing of this magnitude but I doubt it was because of lack of a will. And even so we are now delaing with a completely different breed of terrorism. Movements like IRA and LTTE or even Palestine might have been violent, terrorist movements but they have had some semblance of good will towards the population they were supposedly fighting for. Taliban has shown no interest in earning the good will of people it claims to represent - it wants to establish a stranglehold by force and would go to any extent to achieve it.

[jf1gp_1]

. I am glad that the first such attempt failed and am pretty sure that their security will be taken much more seriously in the future.

Apart from SL everyone took it seriously; teams refused to tour pak because they knew this could happen. question is what were SL doing in pak in first place ?

[veer]

About couple of weeks back, when IPL let pakis go, cancelled contracts, cancelled tour, I had/still have feeling that something is gonna happen in one of those IPL games.. dont know when and where.... but never expected on SL team..

[bunny]

Usually the agenda of terrorists is to achieve autonomy of a small portion of some country, and as such making sportsmen/entertainers the target is unlikely to help their agenda. When the agenda is to take control of an entire country they can go to some unforeseen lengths. Having said that its not clear what exactly the terrorists have achieved by attacking SL players. And its still not clear to me what the terrorists achieved by attacking Mumbai. They will lose support from a lot of people, and also the govts will eventually be pressurized enough to start destroying the terror cells. These terrorists seem to have no agenda. They just seem to have a truckload of ammunition which they keep emptying here and there.

[THX_1138]

Let me the first to admit that I was in grotesque error! I have consistently called all these security concerns rubbish, but I was disastrously incorrect in my assessment. An assessment that in retrospect was more intuitive rather than empirically reasoned. To those who i ridiculed or disagreed with, I owe you an apology for my erroneous reasoning. My Bad.

[THX_1138]

Imran's opinion is coloured by his own experiences. Despite being a rabble rouser, he has escaped assassination in a tinderstack like Pakistan. Held up at gun point, manhandled, but never at the receiving end of serious harm. When a man feels immortal, he begins to think other sportsmen would be treated the same way. Historically too, Munich, yes, but any other example?

Well a number of cricketers have had brushes with violence during the 90s when a tour to South Africa or Australia was an opportunity to sample the vibrant night life. Brian McMillan once was mugged, though in his home country, and he gave the mugger a sound thrashing... but i do recall an incident when Saqlain Mustaq and another Pakistani player was mugged and threatened with a knife when they were departing from a night club in the late hours of the night during a trip to South Africa. But apart from that, this might be the first instance since the days of Black September when athletes of a foreign state have been targeted by extremists.

[fineleg]

I just read this on Wiki - seems like Germans goofed up big time: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munich_massacre

[umpire]

Read above wiki link and this one line says it all During the memorial service, the Olympic Flag was flown at half-staff, along with the flags of most of the other competing nations at the request of Willy Brandt. Ten Arab nations objected to their flags being lowered to honor murdered Israelis; their flags were restored to the tops of their flagpoles almost immediately.[29]

[Indus_Army]

Shwetabh: In all four sub-continent countries, where majority of the people adore cricket and cricketers, any movement will suffer a massive backlash if the cricketers are harmed. So, it is quite logical for those attention-seekers to steer clear of negative publicity. Obviously, the fundamentalists ba$tards have crossed the line in Pakistan and I sincerely hope that the general public opinion over there turns against them. Shiv Sena might go as far as tampering the pitch. But, if they attempt physical harm on any cricketer, I'm sure the public will lynch them.