Eamonn Fitzgerald's Rainy Day

THE TITLE of yesterday's symposium was "The First Nuclear Terrorist Power" and the power in question was Pakistan. "Scenario #1: (Worrisome Probability): Musharraf is removed from the scene either by death due to natural causes or through assassination either by a terrorist or an accomplice of the jihadi terrorists inside the armed forces."

MEANWHILE, a London courtroom watched footage yesterday of the "martyrdom" videos left by July 7 bombers Mohammed Sidique Khan and Shehzad Tanweer, and "a barrister produced what he said was evidence that the ringleader of the July 21 plot had planned a joint UK terror campaign with them while at an al-Qaida training camp in Pakistan months before the summer of 2005."

THE VERY FRIGHTENING scenarios sketched by B. Raman, and the possible Pakistan link to the London bombings come in a week during which the Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer was murdered in Jamaica, and the combination of the lot suggests that Pakistan is a mortal danger to the world. The country that has stolen nuclear secrets is a refuge for al-Qaeda, a school for terrorists and a society where corruption is so entrenched that those who might dare speak out against it are silenced — terminally.

THE WOOLMER KILLING may be a dot too many for some to connect in the Pakistan picture, but the murder is a microcosm of all that's rotten in Pakistani sport, which is an extension of the country itself. It is very possible that match-fixing involving one or more of Pakistan's World Cup games was the motive for his killing. How did it happen that the mighty Pakistan, which won the World Cup in 1992, was the first of the 16 teams to be eliminated this time? When will we find out if big money was placed on Ireland to defeat Pakistan last Saturday? This is the same Pakistan, by the way, that forfeited a test match against England in July, a first for cricket, after being accused by an umpire of tampering with the ball. In the 1990s, when cricket was rocked by match-fixing incidents linked to illegal bookmaking in Asia, Pakistani players were at the centre of the revelations. And, of course, Pakistan lost a World Cup match to Bangladesh in 1999, which was almost certainly fixed.

BOB WOOLMER was a big man, so it would have taken a number of people to hold him down and strangle him. Who were they? He must have known them; otherwise they would not have been in his room? Or, another scenario: they have been able to obtain a master key card to his room, which suggests an inside job using professional killers. Either way, appalling, revolting and deeply disgraceful for cricket. Footnote: some of the best blogging being done on the Woolmer killing is by Mukul Kesavan at cricinfo.