ANY journalist who doesn’t immediately write the thoughts that come to him on the spur of the moment needs to think again. If I had not fired off my letter to a Sri Lankan newspaper immediately after the 3/3 tragedy I do not think I would have received the kind of response I did from Sri Lanka.

My letter to Daily News of Colombo was intended to convey the feelings of the people of Pakistan over the Lahore tragedy and to reassure our friends on the island paradise that Pakistanis were equally shocked at the terrorist attack and that in spite of the security lapse on the government’s part the peoples of the two countries would remain friends.The messages I received were more than heart-warming and would be an elixir for any Pakistani. The letter writers were ‘ordinary’ people, with no intellectual pretensions. But I could detect sincerity.

Certain sentiments were common to them all: one, Pakistan should not be demonised, because this country itself was a victim of terrorism; two, Pakistan visited Sri Lanka for the 1996 World Cup when others had shunned it. By visiting Pakistan at this hour, Sri Lankan cricketers were merely reciprocating the Pakistani cricketers’ gesture; three, all of them sympathised with the families of the Lahore policemen killed by the terrorists; four, they had a word of praise for Mohammad Khalil for his driving skills which saved their cricketers’ lives; and fifth — and that is something amazing — all of them hoped that Pakistani cricket would revive and that it was Sri Lanka’s duty to help.

Nalin Tennekoon spoke of the Pakistanis being “very special to us”, said no one in Sri Lanka was “angry with the Pakistan people”, hoped to see cricket between the two countries “sooner than later” and expressed “our sympathies with the security officers who laid down their precious lives”. Like others Nalin offered her salute “to the brave driver of the Lankan team bus. May the Triple Gem and gods bless Pakistan with great fortune”.

Kumar Abeygoonewardena said he was “a great admirer of Imran Khan, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Shoaib Akhtar ...so you can guess whether I was a batsman or a bowler! Please rest assured that this dastardly act …will only strengthen our relations further”.

Wiranthie De Zoysa, who introduced herself as “… a 26-year-old (female) Sri Lankan citizen residing in Colombo” asserted her love for Pakistan but rightly blamed the government for the security lapse. While all teams refused to visit Pakistan, she said, the Sri Lankan team “remained the Brave Lions that we are always proud of. Whether they win or lose games we know our team gives out 100 per cent and not less, and we are always by their side as Cricket Fanatics of Sri Lanka”.

Pakistanis, she said, “will always remain close to our hearts ... and Sri Lanka as a nation will help you get through this ordeal.... Long live the game of cricket in Pakistan! We have always admired your cricket team and will remain fans of them forever — masters of the game such as Imran Khan, Aaamir Sohail, Saeed Anwar, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis… Long live cricket in Pakistan!” While Indikaa expressed her sentiments in two short sentences and said “both are together”, Chrisanthie Defonseka addressed Pakistan directly: “Pakistan, we like to tell you loud and clear that you have always been a true friend of Sri Lanka, helping her with military power in the fight against terrorism. You came and played cricket with us in 1996, when others did not have the backbone to do so.“I personally have always cheered for Pakistan cricket … because you never backstabbed Sri Lanka by helping terror groups, while pretending to be our friend. You never did protest marches asking our government to stop the war against terror. Let us hope that the … lives [lost] and the trauma suffered by our cricketers will not be in vain, if this event be an eye-opener to all countries who [have been ignoring]… terrorism in Sri Lanka. But of course they will not tolerate [terrorism] … in their own countries! Pakistan, we are not angry, only shocked and sad as you are! Long live the cricket ties between Sri Lanka and Pakistan!”

Ralph Gunawardena introduced himself as a cricketer who “had the privilege of playing with Mushtaq Mohammed and Bishen Bedi for a combined Dubai team against Richard Hutton’s English team in Dubai way back in March 1983 and was the opening bat”. He said the terrorists had “tarnished the good image of Pakistan cricket, and now we all must get together and rebuild Pakistan’s good name for [the] sake of cricket. We can still remember how Pakistan came forward to help Sri Lanka cricket when other countries refused…We cannot allow Pakistan cricket to be isolated from world cricket. Pakistan is a great country, had great players and will be having great players in the future, too. Let’s work together for the benefit of cricket in both countries”. He ended his missive with an ‘Inshallah’.
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