India condemns attack on Lankan cricketers in Pakistan

New Delhi, Mar 3 (ANI): India on Tuesday condemned the attack on Sri Lankan cricketers in Pakistan and whished speedy recovery of injured players.

New Delhi has asked Islamabad to take urgent and meaningful steps to dismantle the terror infrastructure, as Pakistani terrorists are a threat to the world peace.

Talking to reporters here, External Affairs Pranab Mukherjee asked Pakistan to take bold and courageous steps to deal with this menace. He said India had to cancel the tour of cricket team to Pakistan, as New Delhi was aware that Islamabad is not a safe place.

Mukherjee asserted that it is the responsibility of the incumbent government to take all precautions to ensure safety and security of players. He also reiterated New Delhi's stand that such incidents will continue to recur unless terror infrastructure in Pakistan and the soil under its control, is completely dismantled, and those responsible for terror attack, are brought to justice.

Meanwhile, Home Minister P Chidambaram called the incident as shocking.

"It's a shocking incident. It's quite clear that the security for Sri Lankan cricket team is hopelessly inadequate," Chidambaram said.

Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma has termed the attack as "horrendous" and "unbelievable."

He said that India's decision of not sending its team to Pakistan has been proved correct.

AICC spokesman Abhishek Singhvi said if Pakistan has become the epicentre of terror, then every country in the world must unite against this scourge by isolating the country and demanding immediate concrete results.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesman Rajiv Pratap Rudy said that the incident would force the global community to declare Pakistan as a terrorist state.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has claimed that lack of security measures in Pakistan was the main reason behind the mishap.

"What has happened is very shocking indeed. We express our heartfelt sympathy for players injured in the attack," said N. Srinivasan, secretary of BCCI.

Six Sri Lankan cricketers have been injured in a firing near Gaddafi stadium in Lahore, Pakistan. The injured players include, Ajantha Mendis, Tharanga Paranavitana, Thilan Samaraweera, Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene.

The Lankan team was airlifted from Gaddafi Stadium to the Lahore airport by a Pakistan Air Force helicopter on their way back home to Colombo. (ANI)