Sri Lanka It's Happening

May 15, 2007

About 20 years ago for a sportsman to visit South Africa would mean the end of his career. Now it seems like Zimbabwe's turn. The Australian government has just forbidden their cricket team to tour Zimbabwe. How long before governments forbid their players from visiting Sri Lanka?

Sri Lanka is perhaps the only country in the world where the airport closes at night. So it's no suprise that many governments have issued travel advisories against visiting Sri Lanka. Often in the past, Sports events that were supposed to have been held in Sri Lanka were held elsewhere and at times, teams have pulled out of events halfway through a competition. The most famous of those events took place when West Indies and Australia refused to play their 1996 Cricket World Cup matches here.

If there is a sporting boycott of Sri Lanka it will not be because of the bombs going off. And it will not be because the airport shuts down at night or because of the threats of air raids by the only terrorist organization in the world to have an air force. The reason for a boycott will no doubt be the human rights records. We are spiraling downwards and pretty soon this will be another Zimbabwe (with all due respect to the couragous Zimbabweans who oppose Mugabe)