Jayawardene trying to forget Lahore attack
Sri Lankan batsman Mahela Jayawardene does not even want to talk about the March 3 attack on his team in Lahore last year while Meher Khalil, who drove the Lankans to safety under a hail of bullets and grenades, still shivers with horror whenever he recalls the episode.
Sri Lankan batsman Mahela Jayawardene does not even want to talk about the March 3 attack on his team in Lahore last year while Meher Khalil, who drove the Lankans to safety under a hail of bullets and grenades, still shivers with horror whenever he recalls the episode.
Jayawardene was the Sri Lankan captain and Khalil was driving the team bus when the militants launched a brazen attack at the Liberty Chowk roundabout, leaving six Pakistani policemen and a van driver dead and injuring five Sri Lankan players, their assistant coach and a reserve umpire.
"It is one year today since that incident and I don't want to talk about it," Jayawardene told the Geo super channel.
"I don't want to revisit those horrifying moments, we are trying to forget it," he said.
Sri Lankan players, Tillakeratne Dilshan and Thilan Samaraweera were seriously injured in the attack while Pakistani reserve umpire Ehsan Raza, who was behind the team bus in the van taking the ICC match officials to the stadium, was shot twice and required two life-saving operations to survive.
Meher Khalil remembers that fateful day rather vividly.
"I still recall those moments with horror. My life definitely changed after that attack for the better. But I am just thankful to God that no Sri Lankan player was killed in the attack," Khalil told PTI.