Just as in Palestine, all Sri Lankans faced a hard time during country’s war

Sri Lankan cricketer Muttiah Muralitharan on Sunday said that just as in Palestine today, it was a hard time for Sri Lankans of all religions and races during the country’s long-running civil war.

Recalling the 2009 terrorist attack on the Lankan cricket team in Pakistan, he said that the team knew how to react to the attack due to their exposure to such attacks back home.

Muralitharan was at the 54th International Film Festival of India (Iffi) where a biographical Indian Tamil-language film on him ‘800’ was screened. Muralitharan has been rated the greatest Test match bowler ever, holding the world record for the most wickets in both Tests and ODIs. He retired in 2010 after registering his 800th wicket in a Test.

The cricketer, speaking during an in-conversation session at Iffi, said that, growing up, he was among the more vulnerable during the Lankan civil war being part of a minority community.

“I never felt it at that time, but it was a difficult time for Sri Lanka. It was not an easy journey. If you were a kid in those days in Sri Lanka, for any religion and for any race, it was a hard time for everyone,” said Muralitharan.

“Now you see Palestine. Now we see it is exaggerated because of the media and something. But similar things happened. Sometimes bombs used to explode. It was a life of uncertainty.”

He said that the period of the civil war lasted through his growing up years until his career ended, impacting him throughout.

“That life was until I finished my career. War finished in 2009 and I retired in 2010. It was for all cricketers. I am a little special because I come from a minority community. I was more in focus than other cricketers. That was a difficult time. But now when I tell you the story it looks scary and everything, for me it was a way of life,” Muralitharan said.

He said that during the attack on the Lankan cricket team in Pakistan, they were sitting ducks waiting to be attacked due to the poor security provided to them.

“We were playing in Bangladesh and we were suddenly told that India is not going for security reasons because they got inside information that they may be attacked. We were told that is why we have to go. We asked a question at the time whether they are giving good security to us. They said they will give Presidential security,” Muralitharan said.

“Always India, Pakistan, Bangladesh these countries are like our brothers so whenever something happens you fill in. It was the nature of the countries and the governments. So we went there because of that.”

However, it was later realised that the two security personnel provided to the team in the bus were without even guns, Muralitharan said.

“We heard some gunshots (on the bus on the way to the stadium). So we joked that this happens in Pakistan so we didn’t care and we went around the roundabout near the stadium. Halfway through it started hitting the bus. Everyone said go down. We had gotten used to it during bombs. The bus stopped and the bullets were raining all over us,” he said. (Times of India)

The Sri Lankan team later learnt that they had escaped the attack with two rocket launchers and two grenades.

“They said they hit the bus with two rocket launchers, but both missed us. One hit the policemen in the vehicle ahead of us and they were all dying. They also threw two grenades, but both rolled over. The driver of our bus saved us,” Muralitharan said.

He said that when filmmaker Sripathy M approached him with the biographical movie project, he asked him to take it up only if he is ready to portray the true story despite the political and other pressures.

Muralitharan, speaking about his cricketing days, also said that he has always maintained that Anil Kumble is a better bowler than him.

He said that it is also tough today to break his record because fewer test matches are played now.

Source – Times of India

– Agencies

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