Attack on Cricket Team May Signal the End of International Cricket in Pakistan

I feel the need to get this out of the way at the beginning of this article. My views towards the Pakistani people have been, and remain to be views of significant respect and admiration, despite the fact that I am damning those involved in this attack in this article. It does not reflect my views on Pakistanis as a whole.
Yesterday, while traveling to a test match (exhibition) in Lahore, Pakistan, the Sri Lankan national cricket team was attacked by a group of masked gunmen, killing 8 and injuring 9 others, including the Captain and Vice-Captain of the Sri Lankan team. This attack was brought on by a series of events which was mainly triggered by the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India, in November. Prior to those attacks, the Indian national team was supposed to come to Pakistan to do a series of test matches, but after the attacks, the Indian government pulled out, citing safety concerns, and the Pakistani government was only able to convince the Sri Lankans to come by promising “Presidential level security”. As it turns out, that was a load of garbage. While I do no doubt the fact that the Pakistani government provided some security, it is unfathomable to think that such an event could lead to the death of a president.
This attack comes 7 years after the New Zealand national cricket team had a suicide bomb explode outside their hotel in Pakistan, and as a result of that, many countries were very hesitant to travel to Pakistan in the first place. This attack will most likely put an end to any level of international cricket in Pakistan due to enormous safety concerns, and frankly, it absolutely should. This attack is yet another example of how people not only take sports too seriously, but identify far too much with their national teams. The senseless violence that was brought on by a foolish, close-minded, group of people not only puts a black eye on the Pakistani international sports scene, but also on global sports as a whole. The disgust that I got when reading about this event was indescribable. If people are willing to kill over exhibition cricket in Middle Eastern countries, I cannot imagine how far they would go for the sake of religion, nationalism, etc. If mankind is to ever progress from this current era of hate and prejudice, it is of utmost importance that we stop fighting over things that are, in the grand scheme of things, as small and insignificant as test cricket. Sometimes it’s good to just take a step back and realize just how insignificant this thing we call sport really is, and see the big picture.