LAHORE: Indian involvement in the terror attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team cannot be ruled out, Lahore Commissioner Khushro Pervaiz was quoted as saying Tuesday. Pervaiz also said that security officials had successfully protected the Sri Lankan team, Geo TV reported. India was trying to weaken Pakistan, added Gen (retired) Hameed Gul, a former chief of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). He told Geo News that India wanted to declare Pakistan a terrorist state and the firing on the Sri Lankan team was related to that conspiracy. Six escorting security personnel were killed and six Sri Lankan cricketers as well as the assistant coach were injured when the team cavalcade was targeted by heavily armed gunmen close to the Gaddafi Stadium while they were going to play the third day of the second Test against Pakistan. Reacting to the attack, India's foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee said in New Delhi: "The terrorism infrastructure facilities available in Pakistan must be completely dismantled and the perpetrators (of the attacks) brought to justice, otherwise perpetration of these types of incidents will take place. "I request the Pakistani authorities not to divert the attention of the international community, but to take courage in both hands and dismantle the terrorism infrastructure and take stiff measures against the perpetrators. Only then will such issues be adequately addressed."
BEIRUT: Thousands of people converged Saturday on central Beirut to mark the fourth anniversary of the assassination of Lebanese former premier Rafiq Hariri.Waving Lebanese flags and carrying pictures of the slain leader, men, women and children gathered under sunny skies in Martyr's Square where members of the parliamentary majority were to address the crowd. The rally comes as final preparations are underway in The Hague for the launch of the international tribunal set up to bring Hariri's killers to justice. It also comes as the country prepares for legislative elections in June that will pit Western-backed political parties against a Hezbollah-led alliance backed by Syria and Iran.Hariri died in a massive car bombing on February 14, 2005 that also killed 22 others. The assassination was widely blamed on then Lebanese power-broker Syria, which has denied any involvement. The attack on the Beirut seafront was one of the worst acts of political violence to rock Lebanon since t...
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