Lahore 3/3
By Col. Riaz Jafri (Retd)
Westridge, Rawalpindi
While my heart goes out for the Lahore martyred policemen I do wish to praise the dauntless courage and bravery of the driver Muhammad Khalil, who with complete disregard to personal safety and life exposed himself fully to the naked danger in the face of death and drove the bus away to safety. Well done Khalil. We are proud of you.
We are also proud of our Sri Lankan guests and friends who faced the horrendous ordeal in a most befitting manner, calmly, coolly, boldly and above all, manly. They proved themselves to be real sportsmen. Well done, dear friends. Do I need to assure you, that we as a nation are ashamed of and extremely sorry for what happened to you? At the same time we are thankful to Allah (swt) that the worse didn’t happen and you are all safe. May Allah (swt) keep you – dear friends - always safe, healthy and happy. Ameen.
As an old soldier I have a comment or two about the security provided to the Sri Lankans. It is a common knowledge that the authorities had prior intelligence information of a possible attack on the team – especially while commuting between the hotel and the stadium. Therefore, the entire route - just about five miles or so – should have been secured by 'picketing' it at suitable intervals, especially the vulnerable points like crossings, roundabouts, bylanes and blind corners. The policemen sitting in a vehicle escorting the bus can't do much when they themselves are ambushed and have to fight their own battle under fire. Similarly, it seems there were no arrangements for any standby reinforcement as none arrived during the 25 minute gun-battle that went on between the terrorists and the few remaining policemen who survived the attack. After watching the footage of the unfortunate event, on wonders:
Why were the policemen not wearing bullet-proof jackets, which could have surely saved some lives?
Why was the area not cordoned off and the attackers allowed to escape so easily, some almost sauntering away leisurely?
Why did they appear not to be coming under any fire while they carried out the attack and were seen changing positions at will?
Are our Police including the Elite Force really trained and equipped to counter effectively such ambushes and surprise attacks?
Are those entrusted with the planning of the security operations fully trained in this art on the most advanced, modern and scientific lines?
Could the precious lives lost been saved is the question that must be agitating many minds? Or, have they given their lives in vain and are soon to be forgotten? A lot leaves to be desired in this regard. And, who is responsible for it all? Please allow me to recall an old saying, “The greatest disloyalty a commander could do to his men is to launch them unprepared into a war”. Hope the families of the ‘fallen heroes’ would not be forgotten too like the ones who ‘died in vain.’
