“I have lived in Lahore all my life and what happened to the Sri Lanka cricket team is shocking, we weren’t expecting this. But now is a time to support us in our hour of need, we don’t need people turning away from us.

Pakistan is a country that has gone through so much in the last six or seven years and though there have been terrorist incidents, cricket teams have never been targeted before so our entire nation is appalled by this ghastly incident.

Sport usually transcends boundaries, irrespective of culture, religion, colour or creed so to see that challenged by these terrorists is a huge concern.

We are a resilient nation but we still need other countries to stand by us. The entire cricket world should rally around us. This is the time to support Pakistan, not knock us down. I can understand teams’ reservations about touring Pakistan but having said that it’s also an excellent opportunity to stand shoulder to shoulder with Pakistan when they need it most.

Pakistan is a not a new cricket nation or a minnow in the cricket world, we are a former World Cup winner and a country with a rich history in the sport which has produced many great players and icons. Cricket is our way of life. Cricket is the best entertainment to Pakistani people so to snatch it away would be the worst thing that could happen to us.

We don’t have many people promoting us around the world but cricket and our icon players do give us a lot of recognition.

I felt uncomfortable with the ICC’s statement in the press conference held in London, when they suggested it would be hard for teams to play in Pakistan for the foreseeable future. I would have liked to have heard them being a little more caring to Pakistan – their statement sounded a little plastic.

I wanted more emotion and support from the ICC for Pakistan. It’s common knowledge that after an incident like this, teams would be reluctant about touring Pakistan. But as a governing body I thought they should have been a bit more caring. To even contemplate taking the World Cup away from us at this stage could only be described as a knee-jerk reaction.

If Pakistan is forced to play at neutral venues it will have a negative impact on not only our team but the whole country. We have a growing media and cricket is a huge part of that, the cricket manufacturing industry in Sialkot is growing, there is more money in cricket than there has ever been and youngsters want to play the game.

All these things and more will take a huge dent if cricket is taken away from the country. It would be catastrophic.” 

Ramiz Raja was talking to Bigstarcricket.com Managing Editor Richard Sydenham

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