ATTENTION-Anger in Sri Lanka over Lahore attack

There is anger in Colombo after details of the brazen attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore started flowing in. Families of cricketers were numbed but former cricketers reacted with outrage.

"As a sportsman we are very sad about the whole thing but before we went on this tour we all knew there are so many problems in Pakistan. I don't know who is responsible for this but then again I'm telling that our minister and the government should take the responsibility," former Sri Lankan Captain Hashan Tillakaratne said.

It is a political test for Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse also as he had sent the team to Pakistan as a goodwill gesture after other teams had refused to tour there. Predictably, his political opponents stalled Parliament for a couple of hours on Tuesday.

"This is what happens in sports when politics is involved. The Sri Lanka Cricket never planned this tour," said former Sri Lankan cricketer Ravindra Pushpakumara.

A worried Rajapakse, currently in Nepal, rushed his foreign minister to Lahore and sent a special plane to bring the players back home.

"It is a sad day for cricket, and we from Sri Lanka condemn all forms of violence. And particularly when violence is directed at a sporting team and a national team that is renowned, we are further saddened by this unfortunate incident," Sri Lanka foreign minister Rohitha Bogollagama said.

Questions are now being raised on why the government agreed to lower security for its players when it was aware of terrorists threats to the team? Even if they return home tonight, it will surely take a long time before the players get over the trauma.