Congrats Pakistan and Pakistani people

[Kalia_Test]

It is confirmed to be a suicide bomber terrorist attack...many reputed media outlets and Pak Minister himself admitted it.... I can however understand that they want to underplay the incident and 'cover it up' but guess what - The world knows the truth. Pakistan is NOT safe for international teams to travel. While we can empathize with few genuine cricket fans in Pakistan who want to watch their team home, the reality is that human life is more important than a few banners here and there.

[HippoSucks]

dude this is not court of law.. this is case of blast in country where terrorism is big big issue and last time cricket team toured here they were attacked, the government of team which is touring now was against it and every independent risk assessment body believes there is high chance of terrorism. then your information minister whose job is to have all the information first hand before any media outlet confirms that it was suicide blast and until now has not really redacted that statement (i am not 100 percent sure ) and then biggest media organisations of your country released same information now many of them also said it was cylinder blast but come on this is not case where country has to prove innocence this is case where terrorism is one of the most likely event and plenty of news and other information points to that direction and like i said if you have tons of information which points to contrary please share it and i will have no issue discussing that. you cannot just hide behind and say it cannot be terrorism case until proven..ok why can it be cylinder blast until proven ? what is the difference ? we are all going by news and there are conflicting reports but there are also reports that idea was to cover it up until zimbabwe team is there and like i said that minister still has not redacted the statement has he ? it might be one thing or another but you cannot say terrorism is impossible here after looking at media and what happened and statements given .

Just because some explosion occurred near a cricket stadium, you can't extrapolate from one previous incident that occurred 6 years back and say that this must be a suicide blast. We all know how idiotic some of their officials are. On one hand we think that there is little coordination between the officials and that they are not very knowledgeable and in a situation like this we take what they say to be the absolute truth. It can be anything until proven to have some specific cause. The reports say that while the match was on-going, it was said to be a transformer blast to cover-up the incident for the time-being and prevent a stampede. No report suggests that the cylinder blast was a cover-up, The Zimbabwe team has left the country. If they were going to cover it up only until they left, then the real information should have been released by now. Having said that, I still think that it was unfortunately a suicide attack. But until there is concrete proof, we can't take conflicting new reports and pick one of them as the correct one.

[Guldozer]

dude this is not court of law.. this is case of blast in country where terrorism is big big issue and last time cricket team toured here they were attacked, the government of team which is touring now was against it and every independent risk assessment body believes there is high chance of terrorism. then your information minister whose job is to have all the information first hand before any media outlet confirms that it was suicide blast and until now has not really redacted that statement (i am not 100 percent sure ) and then biggest media organisations of your country released same information now many of them also said it was cylinder blast but come on this is not case where country has to prove innocence this is case where terrorism is one of the most likely event and plenty of news and other information points to that direction and like i said if you have tons of information which points to contrary please share it and i will have no issue discussing that. you cannot just hide behind and say it cannot be terrorism case until proven..ok why can it be cylinder blast until proven ? what is the difference ? we are all going by news and there are conflicting reports but there are also reports that idea was to cover it up until zimbabwe team is there and like i said that minister still has not redacted the statement has he ? it might be one thing or another but you cannot say terrorism is impossible here after looking at media and what happened and statements given .

If I'm going to be honest I don't think that the ministers always knows what they are on about. In 2011 Pakistan's Interior minister said that the world cup semi-final was fixed. Now would you believe that too? Also, the first instinct of anyone would be that the blast was due to a terrorist given past occurrences, but that doesn't necessarily mean its always a suicide attack. The minister himself probably didn't know for sure what had happened.

[Old guy]

Just because some explosion occurred near a cricket stadium, you can't extrapolate from one previous incident that occurred 6 years back and say that this must be a suicide blast. We all know how idiotic some of their officials are. On one hand we think that there is little coordination between the officials and that they are not very knowledgeable and in a situation like this we take what they say to be the absolute truth. It can be anything until proven to have some specific cause. The reports say that while the match was on-going, it was said to be a transformer blast to cover-up the incident for the time-being and prevent a stampede. No report suggests that the cylinder blast was a cover-up, The Zimbabwe team has left the country. If they were going to cover it up only until they left, then the real information should have been released by now. Having said that, I still think that it was unfortunate a suicide attack. But until there is concrete proof, we can't take conflicting new reports and pick one of them as the correct one.

No but it shows cricket teams are target and not far fetched when minister himself confirmed that it was suicide blast so there are conflicting reports ..also you know very well reasons the information won't be released even if team left but I will give them benefit of doubt here . My point is lot of informations points towards it being suicide blast including official statement of minister whose job is to have this information ...so is cylinder blast but you cannot just say it's cylinder blast and totally discount it being suicide blast this logic does not work here . Truth is we need official statement clearing everything up but to say one is true and other is not based on information we have would be nothing more than speculation What I disagree with is using logic of being innocent until proven guilty ..which does not work here as its either cylinder blast or suicide blast and both are backed up by statements so saying we should only speculate that it's cylinder blast and give benefit of doubt with suicide blast makes no sense as we are judging based on information we have not based on what is better for Pakistan or better for cricket returning in Pakistan .

[HippoSucks]

No but it shows cricket teams are target and not far fetched when minister himself confirmed that it was suicide blast so there are conflicting reports ..also you know very well reasons the information won't be released even if team left but I will give them benefit of doubt here . My point is lot of informations points towards it being suicide blast including official statement of minister whose job is to have this information ...so is cylinder blast but you cannot just say it's cylinder blast and totally discount it being suicide blast this logic does not work here . Truth is we need official statement clearing everything up but to say one is true and other is not based on information we have would be nothing more than speculation What I disagree with is using logic of being innocent until proven guilty ..which does not work here as its either cylinder blast or suicide blast and both are backed up by statements so saying we should only speculate that it's cylinder blast and give benefit of doubt with suicide blast makes no sense as we are judging based on information we have not based on what is better for Pakistan or better for cricket returning in Pakistan .

Yes cricket teams have been targeted in the past. But let's say a bus if going through some city and a car with a cylinder in it explodes. Will it be reasonable to say that is a suicide attack only because there was a terrorist attack on a bus a few days back? I don't think that is reasonable. I think we can all agree that a good percent of their officials are idiots. But there is certainly a possibility of it being a suicide blast. So the people who are claiming that it was certainly a cylinder blast are wrong as well. The other poster's logic is that until it is proven that it is a suicide blast, you can't say that it is certainly a suicide blast and reprimand them for it. Same thing applies for a cylinder blast. Until it is proven that it was a cylinder blast, you can't rule out other possibilities. Unfortunately they haven't confirmed any particular scenario yet which has led to so many speculations.

[Ironhide]

Pakistanis can believe it was not a suicide blast but what matters is reality and perception outside Pakistan which was the sole reason for arranging this tour and providing so much security and this is what the world media thinks:

BBC: Pakistan will host a third and final one-day cricket match against Zimbabwe on Sunday despite a bomb attack near the venue on Friday, officials say. A policeman was killed and six wounded when the bomber blew himself up during the second game in Lahore.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-32943376

Al Jazeera: The Pakistan Cricket Board has said that Zimbabwe will play the last ODI of their tour of Pakistan despite a suicide blast near Gaddafi Stadium Lahore that killed one sub-inspector and injured several others on Friday.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/05/zimbabwe-play-odi-lahore-suicide-attack-150530083337692.html

Cricinfo: The third and final ODI between Zimbabwe and Pakistan in Lahore will go ahead as scheduled after the visiting team had a meeting with PCB and security officials following what federal information minister Pervaiz Rashid said was a suicide attack near Gaddafi Stadium during the second match. Two people, including a sub-inspector, were killed and several people injured in the incident. The explosion was initially explained as an electricity transformer blast by police, in a bid to avoid panic.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/pakistan-zimbabwe-2015/content/story/882329.html And Here are the links from Pakistan's own Big news organisations:

LAHORE: A blast near the premises of Qaddafi Stadium on Friday—which took place during a one-day international match between Pakistan and Zimbabwe — was confirmed as a suicide attack by Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid, who said a sub-inspector lost his life while trying to stop the suicide bomber. Talking to Geo News, Rashid said an attempt to attack the stadium was foiled by the gallantry of a police official, who lost his life while trying to stop the attacker near Kalma Chowk in Lahore. He added that six people were wounded in the incident. The information minister praised the actions of Pakistan Broadcasters Association for "Covering up" the news while the cricket match was ongoing so as not to spread panic.

http://www.dawn.com/news/1185016/suicide-blast-near-qaddafi-stadium-kills-sub-inspector

LAHORE: A sub-inspector lost his life and six others were injured as a major suicide blast was thwarted on Ferozepur Road outside Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore during the second ODI match between Pakistan and Zimbabwe. Courageous policemen stopped the bomber before he could enter the outer wall of the stadium where he blew himself up, killing a sub-inspector. The Pakistan Broadcasters Association in conjunction with the Ministry of Information had earlier decided to not report the incident in order to responsibly avoid any untoward incident such as a stampede during the match at the stadium.

http://www.geo.tv/article-186383-Two-policemen-wounded-in-minor-blasts-outside-Lahores-Gaddafi-Stadium

[Old guy]

Yes cricket teams have been targeted in the past. But let's say a bus if going through some city and a car with a cylinder in it explodes. Will it be reasonable to say that is a suicide attack only because there was a terrorist attack on a bus a few days back? I don't think that is reasonable. I think we can all agree that a good percent of their officials are idiots. But there is certainly a possibility of it being a suicide blast. So the people who are claiming that it was certainly a cylinder blast are wrong as well. The other poster's logic is that until it is proven that it is a suicide blast, you can't say that it is certainly a suicide blast and reprimand them for it. Same thing applies for a cylinder blast. Until it is proven that it was a cylinder blast, you can't rule out other possibilities. Unfortunately they haven't confirmed any particular scenario yet which has led to so many speculations.

That's what I said I am all for discussing this as information we have is mishmash but something tells me that very fact that they have not cleared it shows it was actually suicide blast .. I mean news is all over world even on bbc and yet no official statement correcting it or redaction by that minister and no I do not believe any amount of incompetence will make any elected minister to call cylinder blast a suicide blast ..incompetence here is lack of coordination between various agency and different things being said by different people and I hope they clarify it soon. Also I am not talking about reprimanding them no one is reprimanding them it's just matter of risk assessment which was bad for Pakistan even before blast ..you can read what New Zealand have to say about it or Zimbabwe government itself . Pakistan is not banned from hosting events it's just very risky for teams and I will be honest this lack of proper information is not going to help them even if it was not suicide blast . As you yourself said we cannot rule out suicide bomb as lot of evidence and circumstances before tour related to cricket or unrelated point to it ..I never said its 100 percent certain .. from first post I posted here I maintained that information we have the mix of both stories will only lead to speculation but does not change the fact suicide blast is very likely and should not be ignored just because it might be damaging to Pakistan.. Just remember cricket is not banned in Pakistan it's just unsafe and even before this unfortunate event Icc considered it risky enough to not send umpires. I do not think this type of communication failure is gonna help Pakistan in anyway as it will create even more panic and lack of trust

[Pravda]

No matter how much the while media says, the paki logic is wait for sometime, and after it has been coolen down then again ask for foreign tours saying we are safe and we have even did a wonderfull job in succesfully organizing a series This is what happen now, what happened to SL attackers the story has been covered up from top to bottom,only thing the paki thinks is how to cover up and bring foreign team to come to their holy land and portray they are a peace loving country Same the current suicide blast also would be a cover up, after some time, if they are so much genuine the simple thing they should have done is show the auto of the blast nooooo they cannot ........... The whole world knows why