Umpire Raza don’t want to be reminded of the tragedy

England duo voices Pak hopes on anniversary of Lahore attack

Ag AFP

LONDON: Trevor Bayliss and Paul Farbrace hope Pakistan can regularly host international cricket again, 10 years after the pair came under fire during a deadly attack in Lahore that left the country a no-go zone for sporting teams.

It was on March 3, 2009 that Sri Lanka’s team bus, taking the team to the Gaddafi Stadium for a Test against Pakistan, was hit by bullets and grenades in an attack by armed militants.

Eight police and bystanders were killed, with six others wounded in the incident. England coach Bayliss and assistant Farbrace were both carrying out similar roles with Sri Lanka at the time. “I was cleaning my sunglasses, and the next thing, the bus jolted,” Farbrace, who saw a piece of shrapnel draw blood when it struck his arm, told a BBC Test Match Special podcast marking the 10-year anniversary of the attack.

“I just turned and looked over my shoulder, looked out the window -- I could see this guy moving towards us with a gun, firing this gun.” It was six years until an international team visited again, with Pakistan forced to play the majority of their home games in the United Arab Emirates -- a situation that continues to this day.

Minnows Zimbabwe were the first to venture into Pakistan after the attack, playing two Twenty20 and three one-day internationals in 2015.Under heavy security, Sri Lanka made an emotional return to the Gaddafi Stadium for a one-off Twenty20 international in October 2017. The West Indies also played three Twenty20 internationals in Karachi last May.

As for his own memory of the attack, Bayliss said: “It was very calm. The only thing that was being said was on the bus, and no louder than this, was ‘oh, I’m hit’, ‘oh, so am I’, as the bullets were flying through and a bit of shrapnel.

Pakistan umpire Ahsan Raza, then a reserve umpire for the second Test, was on his way to the Gaddafi Stadium with other match officials when the team bus just a few yards ahead of them came under fire, killing eight police and bystanders and wounding six others. Two bullets pierced his lungs and liver, and after emerging from a coma, it was nearly six months before Raza could walk again.

“My wounds have healed but whenever I look at them I remember the gruesome incident,” Raza told AFP.“Whenever someone mentions that incident I request him not to remind me of that tragedy.”

The attack proved a heavy blow to cricket-loving Pakistan: international games were suspended in the country, and a decade later most foreign teams still refuse to tour.With Pakistan playing their home series in the United Arab Emirates, the national cricket board estimates it has missed out on nearly $200 million in revenues.