Chacha Cricket has long served as the unofficial mascot for Pakistan’s cricket team. PHOTO: AFP
The former wicketkeeper arrived at the famous stadium that day, but the Sri Lankan team did not. News on the television claimed that the players had been attacked on their way to the stadium. Bari, and several other PCB officials, could have said, “I told you so” but other more important matters were at hand.
Then PCB chairman Ijaz Butt, game development director Aamir Sohail and Bari went to the Services Hospital where the injured Sri Lankans were being tended to. “I must take my hat off to the Sri Lankan players,” says Bari, dressed immaculately and sitting upright on a large armchair in his drawing room. “Despite having just been attacked by armed men, they told us they would be the first ones to return to Pakistan if cricket was suspended in the country. They remained composed throughout and that helped us, as none of us had any prior experience in dealing with such a situation. I doubt players of any other country in the world would have done that.”
Sarfaraz Ahmed takes a comfortable catch during the first T20 against Zimbabwe. PHOTO CREDIT: SHAFIQ MALIK
Bari and the others knew that the match should not have taken place in Lahore, which was at the heart of Punjab’s political turmoil at the time. The PCB had, as a result, requested that the match be shifted to Karachi. The Sri Lankan team had even agreed to the change in venue but certain ‘relevant authorities’ had not. The match, therefore, went ahead as scheduled. So did the attack.
A judicial enquiry by the Punjab government into the incident revealed that a lapse in security and external forces were to blame. The judicial commission recommended the formation of a specialised wing within the PCB to deal with security matters. But by then, it was too late; cricket had already left the country along with the wounded Sri Lankan team.
But there are those who look not at what happened, but what could have happened. “It could have been much worse. Fortunately, no cricketer was killed,” says Bari. “As tragic as it was, thankfully everyone from the Sri Lankan team survived. Had that not been the case, cricket would not have returned so quickly to the country.”
The attack and the attackers
It was a typical morning in Lahore on March 3, 2009; spring had arrived, the sun was out and the weather was warm but not stifling. The city had just burst into life and a busy day lay ahead. Liberty Chowk, where the incident took place, is a bustling market place. Some of the shops had opened and others would in a little while.
Shahid Afridi led the team to a jubilant victory in the first T20 match against Zimbabwe. PHOTO CREDIT: SHAFIQ MALIK
Between 8:00am and 8:30am, the Sri Lankan cricket bus and another bus carrying match officials — travelling from their accommodation at the Pearl Continental Hotel to the Gaddafi Stadium — were ambushed at Liberty Chowk by several heavily armed men. They opened fire on the two buses. The men had advanced weapons at their disposal, but were clearly not well-trained or had specific instructions to not kill everyone on board. “One of the attackers even had a small rocket launcher with him,” says Robin Nazir, a witness present at the time of the shooting. “The men continued shooting, almost unopposed, for around 15 minutes. Luckily, the man with the rocket launcher missed, or he could have done some serious damage,” he adds, reiterating Bari’s words.
The Chowk hurtled into chaos. The attackers, untrained as they were, got caught up in the commotion. “We could see the attackers running in all directions, looking for a route to escape,” says Nazir. “It was clear that they didn’t have any exit strategy, they ran wherever they could. They were all young men, some clad in traditional clothing.”
A survivor’s tale
Ahsan Raza, the fourth umpire for the match, was inside the bus carrying match officials. “We heard gunshots, but I thought they were coming from far away,” says the official, wearing a blue International Cricket Council (ICC) shirt. “My first impression was that the shooting was taking place somewhere else, but we realised they were shooting at us once the bullets started hitting the bus. We tried to save ourselves, some of us ducked under seats and others tried to lay low on the bus floor.”
Shattered glass of the bus carrying the Sri Lankan cricket team. PHOTO: AFP
Raza’s evasive action came a bit late though. “I was hit twice, but luckily I survived.” The umpire, who has over 75 matches under his belt but was then standing in his debut Test series, lifted his blue shirt to reveal a long grisly scar running across his stomach. The other bullet, he indicated with a casual flick of his left forefinger, hit him just below the shoulder blade. “I was conscious throughout the attack despite being hit,” adds the 41-year-old, who would have been unable to celebrate his 41st birthday on May 29 had either of the bullets hit him just a few inches higher or lower. “It was only when I was taken to the hospital and anaesthetics were administered that I fell unconscious.” At the hospital, Dr Shoaib Nabi operated on Raza’s lung while Dr Javved Gardezi went to work on his stomach. Raza eventually recovered to tell the tale, one he is not particularly eager to narrate.
Still fresh in his memory, Raza revealed that the attack continued for almost 20 minutes but he was unwilling to divulge too many details. “It is not because the incident was traumatic; I moved on from it a long time ago, but I would rather concentrate on the future than continue to languish in what occurred so long ago.” But the incident that occurred on March 3, six years ago, did leave their scars — those that run deeper than the ones on his stomach. “I used to jump up in fright whenever I heard gunshots, even if it was celebratory aerial firing at a wedding or on New Year’s Eve,” he says. “That has considerably improved now, but I still feel the effects of that day. One of my lungs was damaged so I have had fitness problems and have gained a lot of weight.”
The past, though, does not hinder Raza enough to stand in the way of him carrying on with his role as an umpire. The Lahore-based official stood in three of the five matches against Zimbabwe, more than any other umpire. “I take immense pride in my work. Not only do I umpire myself, I have also been teaching umpiring courses for the last two years,” he says.
Police personnel collect weapons left by the attackers. PHOTO: AFP
Raza has also found the Sri Lankans to be especially welcoming whenever their paths meet. “Kumar Sangakkara hugged me when we met before a match after the incident,” says Raza. “He took me to the Sri Lankan dressing room and told all the players who weren’t there in 2009 who I was and what had taken place.”
Others who shared the experience have also formed a bond of camaraderie with the umpire. Australian umpire Simon Taufel, who was also present on the bus with Raza, has spoken of his desire to see cricket reinstated in Pakistan. He often calls up Raza on Skype and exchanges pleasantries. “He especially calls me every year on March 3,” reveals Raza. “We often talk in order to catch up and see how the other is doing.”
The stadium stood silent
At the Gaddafi stadium, its 68-year-old curator Haji Bashir, who has prepared the stadium for all of its 39 Tests and 58 one-day internationals since its inception in 1958 before the 40th Test was cut short, was busy applying the final touches to the pitch that fateful morning. He had not heard any gunshots while on the ground, but saw someone walk purposefully towards him. “I was told by one of my men that the Sri Lankan team had been attacked,” says Bashir. “My first reaction was to pray for the well-being of our guests. My prayers were answered but the stadium became barren and all life was sucked out of it.”
Now 74, Bashir reveals the frustration he and his men have had to endure for the past six years. “We prepared the pitch and the ground every year in the hope that this time around, some team would come,” he says, his voice heavy with emotion. “The wait is finally over, however, and the ground is once again as beautiful as it once was.”
Cricket’s glorious return
While the damage is yet to be fully undone, with estimates of losses ranging anywhere from $100 million to several times that amount, cricket’s six-year hiatus finally ended with Anwar Ali’s opening delivery of the first T20 against Zimbabwe in Gaddafi on May 22, 2015. Judging by the frenzied fervour of the crowd, it was like cricket had never left.
Two days before the first match, PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan claimed that both Sri Lankan and Bangladesh’s cricket teams are willing to tour the country if the Zimbabwe tour concludes without any untoward incident. The Test is the start of hopefully a snowball effect that will see the sport thrive in the cricket-obsessed nation once again.
As things stand, too many people were to blame for cricket’s exile. The country has been starved of its greatest pastime for too long. Too much time has been lost and a lot still needs to be made up for. But for now, cricket is back and the only way from here is forward. May it never leave again.
Taha Anis is a subeditor on The Express Tribune Sports desk.
Published in The Express Tribune, Sunday Magazine, May 31st, 2015.
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