Monday, Feb 19:

Update: 11-30 pm

An Attempt to Derail Peace Process: Lalu Prasad Yadav

Times Now

New Delhi, Feb 19: Railway minister Lalu Prasad has called the blasts on the Delhi-Attari Samjhauta Express a clear “challenge issued to both India and Pakistan who have recently been successful in strengthening their neighbourly ties.” Significantly, while investigations have begun on the blasts, there has been no finger-pointing by either nations, and no official word on whether it was a terrorist attack.

A spokesperson from the Prime Minister’s Office, said the “evidence indicates a terror attack.” New Delhi also said visas are going to be issued immediately to relatives of Pakistani victims to travel to India.

The blasts come ahead of a three-day visit by Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri to India to meet with his Indian counterpart here, Pranab Mukherjee. The two are slated to sign crucial treaties to improve the peace process.

Giving his official statement on Monday morning, Lalu Prasad said 64 people including the elderly and children, were confirmed to have died due to two explosions that occurred at around 12:00 am last night, setting 2 bogies of the Delhi-Attari Samjhauta Express on fire about 7-9 kms from Panipat. The dead include 3 Railway Police Force (RPF) personnel who were inside the affected compartments. He also confirmed that two bombs had been recovered from the affected compartments.

Besides this, railway officials have also confirmed that three more live bombs - suitcases filled with explosives had been discovered in various other parts of the train, and were defused.

“It is coming out from various sources that most of the victims are our Pakistani brothers and sisters,” said Lalu Prasad, adding “It seems increasingly clear that this is a challenge issued to both nations after they have improved their ties, and that ordinary people have been targetted.” He however refused to confirm that the incident was a terror attack.

Lalu Prasad said he had cancelled all other appointments and was on his way to Panipat and the site of the incident.

Views of the bogies that perished

By 8:44 am, forensic teams had shifted to Deewana where the two bogies had been moved and all efforts at the blast site were directed towards getting rail services back on track. Meanwhile, the 13 reported injured - most of them critical patients - were moved to the Burns Ward in Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi and for this reason it is likely that the toll of dead could increase further. Moreover, though the official figure of injured is only 13, eye witnesses at the site said there were at least 50 people injured.

Were the blasts planned?

Speaking to TIMES NOW, railway sources said that it was still not clear whether the blasts were planned. There was a possibility that the explosives caused the fire were being smuggled to Pakistan on the train. In fact, following Intelligence agency reports of a possible terror attack on the Samjhauta as well as the train being use to smuggle fake currency and for espionage purposes, the RPF had recently increased security arrangements inside the train.

“Don’t react negatively”

Nevertheless, Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir, speaking to the channel has called the incident a “clear conspiracy to derail the peace process.” He also said that Pakistanis were concerned about the situation being faced by the Pakistani victims, and urged the Indian administration to increase rescue efforts.

Mir linked the incident, to the Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz’s ensuing visit to India for the 14th SAARC summit being hosted here.

“I think this train is not an ordinary train. Samjhauta is a symbol of friendship and peace, and terrorists have tried to derail the peace process. But the countries should not play into the hands of terrorists, they should make an alliance against all the such people,” said Mir.

New Delhi meanwhile responded today by convening a special meeting to ascertain how and why the incident took place and to come up with an official reaction. The Home Minister and Home Secretary also started for Panipat for a reconnaissance trip.

The Indian Government has stated in the past that acts of terrorism should not derail the peace process.

Security tightened

Security personnel onboard various trains and at railways stations across Punjab were put on high alert today following the explosion on Delhi-Attari special train in Panipat in Haryana, which killed 64 people, including Pakistani nationals. Various security agencies, including Punjab Police and the Railway Protection Force (RPF) have been asked to remain on maximum alert, Punjab police sources said.

They have been asked to be on the look out for suspicious objects and persons as part of attempts to check further incidents. The checking in trains coming from Jammu has been ordered to be stepped up, the officer said.

Security in the Delhi-Lahore and Amritsar-Lahore buses was also being tightened. At least 64 people were killed, some of them Pakistani nationals in explosions in the Attari special train. The train runs non-stop from Delhi to Attari where the passengers are shifted to the Samjhauta Express, which goes to Lahore after customs and immigration clearances. (With PTI inputs)  

Pak condemns attack

A spokesperson for Pakistan's government condemned the attack.

"We condemn this act of terrorism in which many precious lives have been lost," said Tasnim Aslam, adding early reports indicate that most of the victims were likely Pakistanis.

"It is the responsibility of the Indian authorities to provide security to the train inside Indian territory. We expect Indian authorities to punish the perpetrators."

The train was near the town of Panipat -- about 80 kilometres north of New Delhi, in the state of Haryana -- when the fire occurred around midnight local time on Sunday (1:30 p.m. ET).

The train had been travelling from India's capital city to Atari, the last railroad station before the border with Pakistan. The final destination was Lahore.

The restoration of train service has been considered an important symbol of easing tensions between Pakistan and India.

India, Pakistan resume "peace train"

New Delhi: India and Pakistan have resumed the Thar Express train service after the rail link was suspended last year following floods in a bordering Indian state, officials said Saturday.

The Thar Express - also called the "peace train" as the South Asian neighbours hope it would help improve bilateral ties - was flagged off from Jodhpur city in India's north-western Rajasthan state on Friday night after nearly six months.

Massive floods in Rajasthan in August 2006 had damaged railway tracks bringing to a halt the train that links the state with Pakistan's Sindh province.

But there were few takers for the service, with only 71 passengers onboard. "We had no idea that the service has been resumed. We came to know about it just a few days ago,"a passenger told the NDTV network.

Railway officials however said the sales of the tickets would pick up in the coming weeks.

"As time passes by, many more people will get to know that the train has been restored," a senior railway official Vijay Sehgal, told reporters.

"It will provide a boost to people to people contacts across the border," he added.

The seven-coach train is expected to carry 400 passengers to Pakistan once every week and bring an equal number of travellers to India, officials said.

The Thar Express was launched on 18 February 2006 after being shut down in 1965 during a war between the two countries.

Named after the famous Thar Desert that straddles the southern half of the India-Pakistan border, the Thar Express is the second train service between the countries.

They already operate the Samjhauta Express between Lahore city in Pakistan and India's Attari town.

The service is part of the measures the two countries have taken to boost mutual trust since the start of their peace process called "composite dialogue" in February 2004 to resolve their outstanding issues including Kashmir.

But while there had been forward movement in the confidence building measures (CBMs), the two nuclear neighbours have failed to make any tangible progress in their most contentious dispute over Kashmir.

First report: Monday, Feb 19, 8-45 am IST

Agencies

Helpline numbers:

Delhi: 011-23342954

Ambala: 0171-2610329

Amritsar: 0183-2564485

Ludhiana: 0161-2760006

Jalandhar: 0181-2223504

Deewana (Panipat), Feb 19: In a suspected terror attack, 64 people, including some Pakistani nationals, were killed in explosions believed to have been set off by IEDs in two coaches of the Delhi-Attari special train for Lahore in Deewana near Panipat, about 100 kms from Delhi, on Sunday night.

Several people were also injured in the incident, which the Northern Railway said was a clear case of sabotage.

The explosions in the train took place at 11:55 pm Sunday night. The bi-weekly train left the Old Delhi Railway Station at 10:40 pm last night.

Northern Railway General Manger V N Mathur, who reached the spot from Delhi, told reporters that two suitcases were recovered from the spot -- one from the rail track and one from the train.

Both the suitcases contained IEDs - one of them also had incendiary material, either kerosene or petrol, he said.

He said he had talked to the gateman near Deewana station who told him that he had heard two "distinct explosions".

"From this evidence we deduce that this was a clear case of sabotage," Mathur said.

The two coaches, where all the deaths took place, were completely gutted and only the charred remains were visible.

After detaching those two coaches, the rest of the train left for Attari via Wagah.

Superintendent of police (Panipat) Mohinder Singh Sheoran told a news agency that forensic experts from Madhuban were summoned.

A senior police officer said a Pakistani national has also given information to police regarding some explosive being planted in the train.

The official said Shamshuddin, the Pak national, was travelling in the train.

Two Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel, who were on duty in the two compartments were missing, he said adding that it was suspected that they could be among the dead.

The train runs non-stop from Delhi to Attari where the passengers are shifted to the Samjhauta Express, which goes to Lahore after customs and immigration clearances.

The train only has operational halts at some stations, including Ludhiana and no passenger can alight or board it enrooted.

Reuters report

Sabotage suspected in India-Pakistan train fire

New Delhi: A fire on a cross-border train between India and Pakistan that is feared to have killed 60 people was suspected to be an act of sabotage, a senior Indian railway official said on Monday.

The coaches of the Samjhauta Express train - which connects New Delhi to the northern Pakistani city of Lahore - caught fire near Panipat town, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of the Indian capital, around midnight on Sunday (1830 GMT).

"It appears to be a case of sabotage. we have found two suitcases, there were IEDs in them," B.N. Mathur, a top railway official, told reporters referring to improvised explosive devices.