It was only last week in these columns that we referred to the breakdown of regional cooperation among member-states of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) - due mainly to the role non-state actors play in the geo-politics of the region.

This week, they once again came crashing into the limelight, bang, bang, bang with the attack on the Sri Lankan cricketers in Lahore and the shameless blame game that followed between Pakistan and India, fuelled mainly by their local television stations. Islamabad says this attack was aimed at destabilizing Pakistani-Lanka relations - a hook for a six off the Indian 'bowlers' who are saying that this displayed Pakistan's policy on terrorism, a straight drive for four past the Pakistani 'bowlers'.

The attackers, about the same age as the cricketers, dressed in western jeans, t'shirts and tennis shoes want a different world order -- their coaches teach them to play by different rules. It was ironic, that at the same time, UNICEF, the UN agency for children, was carrying out a campaign in the local media depicting a youth with a gun, with a cricket bat super-imposed, saying that's what he would like to do - play cricket.

The attack reverberated around the world, even in non-cricket playing countries. US President Barack Obama commenting on the incident said Pakistan's frontier region is still a safe haven for 'terrorists'. He is pumping in more resources, both men and material into Afghanistan to eliminate the scourge of 'terrorism'. Some of Pakistan's problems are home-made, but quite a lot induced by President Obama's predecessors.

In the 1980s, the US to get rid of the Soviets from Afghanistan helped train Pakistani students with the help of Pakistani Generals. They were known as the Taliban. The Taliban took charge of Afghanistan and succeeded in cart-wheeling the country back into the Middle Ages. The US then ousted them from Afghanistan and installed its own puppet government, but the Taliban - and now, Al-Qaeda -- have their sympathizers. Their pathological hatred towards the West and frenzied determination to impose their will (according to their own interpretation of the scriptures) has turned the region into a hotbed of violence.

It is this Western colonial expansionist legacy, perpetuated by the neo-colonial powers fighting a war in another geographical area so that it does not come 'home' to them, that has come to roost in South Asia.

Pakistan has been a steadfast ally of Sri Lanka's own 'war on terror'. There is much to be grateful to Pakistan for, even if its support stemmed from India having foisted and nurtured Lanka's northern insurgency up since the late 1970s. Questions however arise as to why our national team was press-ganged into touring, like pawns in a chess game. The Government wanted them to tour (twice in two months) to show its appreciation to Islamabad's leadership, while the Cricket Board bankrupt as they were due to mishandling, and their own petty battles with the Indian Board, just kept issuing instructions to the players.

Yet, Sri Lankan players must stop bad-mouthing the Lahore Police, and not fall for the trick questions of foreign media, fuelling tension between nations, and making matters worse for their Pakistani cricket colleagues, who will probably not see a home-series for some time. Undoubtedly, there was great valour shown by the Lahore Police who lost their lives defending the Sri Lankan cricketers; but there was clearly, an awful lapse in security. The issue we raise is that of responsibility.

From whom did the Sri Lankan authorities get their 'assurances'? It was from the Pakistan Government - in Islamabad, and the Pakistan Cricket Board - in Karachi. It was the Punjab State Government however that was in charge of the Police and security at the time of the attack in Lahore. Our Political Editor points out the messy Centre-State politics of the federal State of Punjab in Pakistan. The Punjab State Government itself had been dissolved by the President of Pakistan following a Supreme Court verdict and the State is now under Governor's rule, and is reeling in political uncertainty.

This is devolution of powers - the heavy hand of presidential rule to oust political opponents - and police powers to a province -- the devolution that is advocated for Sri Lanka as well. Had these 'assurances' from Islamabad and Karachi the same weight when they were 'sub-contracted' to Lahore?

In Sri Lanka, are police powers to be conferred on the Provincial Councils, with the calibre of people being elected to these elected bodies of the provinces?

Our young men out in the battlefield, about the same age of our national cricketers are facing bombs, bullets and rockets day and night as they defend the territorial integrity of Sri Lanka. They don't get one-hundredth of the publicity the cricketers received.

Are all their sacrifices to be squandered by political giveaways like police powers to the provinces? The attack in Lahore, among other things, was a bad advertisement for devolution of power in general - and the devolution of police powers, in particular.