Khalil denies allegations of lack of security for Lanka team

Karachi, Mar 6: Pakistani bus driver Mehar Mohammad Khalil, who saved the lives of Sri Lankan cricketers during the terror attack in Lahore, today strongly denied allegations of lack of security for the visitors and said he could drive the team to safety only because policemen tackled terrorists.
"What happened was unfortunate and shocking but security was always there for them," Khalil said.

"I salute those brave policemen who lost their lives in the attack. If they had not kept the attackers engaged I would never have got a chance to race towards the stadium. They lost their lives for the visiting team," he said.

Sri Lankan cricketers, including Muttiah Muralitharan, and ICC Match Referee Chris Broad have lambasted the security arrangements for the team and match officials on that fateful day when six players were injured and eight others killed in the terror attack.

"Somehow in this incident there were no police with guns on the bus. If someone was there with a gun we would have had a chance of defending ourselves," said the world's highest wicket-taker in both Tests and one-dayers.

"I am angry at the Pakistani security forces. We were promised high level security and in our hour of need that security vanished and they left us to be sitting ducks," Broad had said. PTI