Attack on cricketers funded by SL elements: SL prez to Gilani

Written By DNA Web Team | Updated:

Gilani said he had asked Rajapaksa to share more information about the funding so that Pakistan can send a team from the interior ministry to go into the issue further.

Pakistan premier Yousuf Raza Gilani today said Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa had told him the terrorists involved in the attack on his country's cricket team in Lahore were funded from elements in the island.

Gilani said he had asked Rajapaksa to share more information about the funding so that Pakistan can send a team from the interior ministry to go into the issue further.

"In Libya, the Sri Lankan president told me that they have clues that the attack on the Lankan Team was funded from Sri Lanka. I told him that if he was willing to share these clues, we could send our officials from the interior ministry," Gilain told reporters after visiting minister for Religious Affairs Hamid Saeed Kazmi at a hospital here.

Six players and 20 others were injured when the convoy of the Sri Lankan cricket team was attacked by a group of terrorists outside a stadium in Lahore on March 3.

Gilani also said his government was pursuing a long term and multi-pronged strategy to root out terrorism from the country.

After the successful military operation in Swat and Malakand, the government is working on an exit strategy, he said. "The army will stay in the area till peace is completely restored. The option of building a cantonment in Swat is also on the table," he said.