Samjhauta Express
Encyclopedia
The Samjhauta Express commonly called the Friendship Express, is a twice-weekly train Tuesdays and Fridays that runs between Delhi
and Attari
in India
and Lahore
in Pakistan
. The word samjhauta means "Understanding","accord" and "compromise" in both Hindi
and Urdu
.
Until the reopening of the Thar Express
, this was the only rail connection between the two countries. The train was started on July 22, 1976 following the Shimla Agreement and ran between Amritsar
and Lahore
, a distance of about 42 km. Following disturbances in Punjab in the late eighties, due to security reasons Indian Railways
decided to terminate the service at Attari, where customs and immigration clearances take place. On April 14, 2000, in an agreement between Indian Railways
and Pakistan Railways
(PR), the distance was revised to cover just under three km.
It was a daily train when the service started, and changed to a bi-weekly schedule in 1994. Earlier the rakes were returned to the home country the same day but later in 2000 the rake remained overnight at that location.
Its termini are Lahore
in Pakistan and Delhi
in India. The border crossing takes place between Wagah
in Pakistan and Attari
in India. Originally, this was a through service with the same rake going all the way between the termini; later the Pakistani rake stopped at Attari at which point passengers had to change trains. The train service was set up with an agreement between Indian Railways
(IR) and Pakistan Railways
(PR) to alternately use an Indian and a Pakistani rake and locomotive for the train, six months at a time.
The train usually has between four and eight coaches. The rake supplied by Pakistan is usually hauled by an Alco DL-543 class ALU20 diesel loco (Lahore shed), with the entire train in the standard dark green livery of PR.
The train's first break of service was when it was discontinued on January 1, 2002 in the wake of the terrorist attack
on the Indian Parliament on December 13, 2001. Service resumed on January 15, 2004. Service was also suspended following the 27 December, 2007, assassination of Benazir Bhutto
as a preventive measure to deny militants a “high-value target” that was of great symbolic importance to both India and Pakistan.
i civilians and a few Indian military guarding the train) were killed and scores more injured in a terrorist attack on this "Peace Train". The attack occurred at Diwana station near the Indian city of Panipat
, Haryana
. Officials found evidence of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and flammable material, including three un-detonated IEDs. The National Investigation Agency
has stated that the blasts were masterminded by Swami Aseemanand
, a Hindu religious leader. Swami Aseemanand born as Jatin Chatterjee in West Bengal, joined the Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram, inspired by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in 1978.
On July 1, 2009, the US Department of Treasury designated Arif Qasmani of the Lashkar-e Tayyiba as a person involved in terrorism, citing among other things his involvement in the Samjhauta Express bombing..
On December 30, 2010, India's National Investigation Agency
claimed that they had solid evidence that Swami Aseemanand
was the mastermind behind the blasts. He had roped in Sandeep Dange, an engineering graduate, and Ramji Kalsangra, an electrician, to build the improvised explosive devices used in the blasts. On January 8, 2011, Aseemanand allegedly confessed that Saffron terror
outfits were behind the bombing of Samjhauta express, a statement later found to be obtained under duress.. Later the Hindu nationalist group RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh
) sent a legal notice to CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation
) accusing it of deliberately leaking Swami Aseemanand's confession in the media. RSS spokesman Ram Madavh called the investigation maligning of organizations and individuals.
Delhi
Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
and Attari
Attari
Attari is a villageof Amritsar District in the Punjab state of India. It lies on the rail route connecting Lahore, Pakistan with the Indian capital Delhi. The Samjhauta Express, the train service that actually crosses the international border, only runs from Attari station to Wagah, Pakistan a...
in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and Lahore
Lahore
Lahore is the capital of the Pakistani province of Punjab and the second largest city in the country. With a rich and fabulous history dating back to over a thousand years ago, Lahore is no doubt Pakistan's cultural capital. One of the most densely populated cities in the world, Lahore remains a...
in Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
. The word samjhauta means "Understanding","accord" and "compromise" in both Hindi
Hindi
Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
and Urdu
Urdu
Urdu is a register of the Hindustani language that is identified with Muslims in South Asia. It belongs to the Indo-European family. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in some regions of India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an...
.
Until the reopening of the Thar Express
Thar Express
Thar Express is an international train that connects Karachi, Pakistan to Bhagat Ki Kothi, India. Six kilometres apart, Munabao and Khokhrapar are the two last railway stations of the India-Pakistan border. Jamrao, Mirpur Khas, Shadi Pali, Saeendad, Barmer, Pithoro, Dhoro Naro, and Chhore are some...
, this was the only rail connection between the two countries. The train was started on July 22, 1976 following the Shimla Agreement and ran between Amritsar
Amritsar
Amritsar is a city in the northern part of India and is the administrative headquarters of Amritsar district in the state of Punjab, India. The 2001 Indian census reported the population of the city to be over 1,500,000, with that of the entire district numbering 3,695,077...
and Lahore
Lahore
Lahore is the capital of the Pakistani province of Punjab and the second largest city in the country. With a rich and fabulous history dating back to over a thousand years ago, Lahore is no doubt Pakistan's cultural capital. One of the most densely populated cities in the world, Lahore remains a...
, a distance of about 42 km. Following disturbances in Punjab in the late eighties, due to security reasons Indian Railways
Indian Railways
Indian Railways , abbreviated as IR , is a departmental undertaking of Government of India, which owns and operates most of India's rail transport. It is overseen by the Ministry of Railways of the Government of India....
decided to terminate the service at Attari, where customs and immigration clearances take place. On April 14, 2000, in an agreement between Indian Railways
Indian Railways
Indian Railways , abbreviated as IR , is a departmental undertaking of Government of India, which owns and operates most of India's rail transport. It is overseen by the Ministry of Railways of the Government of India....
and Pakistan Railways
Pakistan Railways
This article is about the rail company in Pakistan. For technical details and operations see: Transport in Pakistan.Pakistan Railways is a national state-owned rail transport service of Pakistan, head-quartered in Lahore. It is administered by the federal government under the Ministry of Railways....
(PR), the distance was revised to cover just under three km.
It was a daily train when the service started, and changed to a bi-weekly schedule in 1994. Earlier the rakes were returned to the home country the same day but later in 2000 the rake remained overnight at that location.
Its termini are Lahore
Lahore
Lahore is the capital of the Pakistani province of Punjab and the second largest city in the country. With a rich and fabulous history dating back to over a thousand years ago, Lahore is no doubt Pakistan's cultural capital. One of the most densely populated cities in the world, Lahore remains a...
in Pakistan and Delhi
Delhi
Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
in India. The border crossing takes place between Wagah
Wagah
Wagah is the only road border crossing between Pakistan and India , and lies on the Grand Trunk Road between the cities of Lahore, Pakistan and Amritsar, India. Wagah itself is a village through which the controversial Radcliffe Line was drawn. The village was divided by independence in 1947...
in Pakistan and Attari
Attari
Attari is a villageof Amritsar District in the Punjab state of India. It lies on the rail route connecting Lahore, Pakistan with the Indian capital Delhi. The Samjhauta Express, the train service that actually crosses the international border, only runs from Attari station to Wagah, Pakistan a...
in India. Originally, this was a through service with the same rake going all the way between the termini; later the Pakistani rake stopped at Attari at which point passengers had to change trains. The train service was set up with an agreement between Indian Railways
Indian Railways
Indian Railways , abbreviated as IR , is a departmental undertaking of Government of India, which owns and operates most of India's rail transport. It is overseen by the Ministry of Railways of the Government of India....
(IR) and Pakistan Railways
Pakistan Railways
This article is about the rail company in Pakistan. For technical details and operations see: Transport in Pakistan.Pakistan Railways is a national state-owned rail transport service of Pakistan, head-quartered in Lahore. It is administered by the federal government under the Ministry of Railways....
(PR) to alternately use an Indian and a Pakistani rake and locomotive for the train, six months at a time.
The train usually has between four and eight coaches. The rake supplied by Pakistan is usually hauled by an Alco DL-543 class ALU20 diesel loco (Lahore shed), with the entire train in the standard dark green livery of PR.
The train's first break of service was when it was discontinued on January 1, 2002 in the wake of the terrorist attack
2001 Indian Parliament attack
The 2001 Indian Parliament attack was a high-profile attack by Lashkar-e-Toiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists against the building housing the Parliament of India in New Delhi...
on the Indian Parliament on December 13, 2001. Service resumed on January 15, 2004. Service was also suspended following the 27 December, 2007, assassination of Benazir Bhutto
Assassination of Benazir Bhutto
The assassination of Benazir Bhutto occurred on 27 December 2007 in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Bhutto, twice Prime Minister of Pakistan and then-leader of the opposition Pakistan Peoples Party, had been campaigning ahead of elections due in January 2008...
as a preventive measure to deny militants a “high-value target” that was of great symbolic importance to both India and Pakistan.
2007 bombing
In the early hours of February 19, 2007 sixty-eight people (mostly PakistanPakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
i civilians and a few Indian military guarding the train) were killed and scores more injured in a terrorist attack on this "Peace Train". The attack occurred at Diwana station near the Indian city of Panipat
Panipat
Panipat بَنِبَت is an ancient and historic city in Panipat district, Haryana state, India. It is 90 km north from Delhi and 169 km south of Chandigarh on NH-1. The three battles fought at the city were turning points in Indian history. The city is famous in India by the name of "City of...
, Haryana
Haryana
Haryana is a state in India. Historically, it has been a part of the Kuru region in North India. The name Haryana is found mentioned in the 12th century AD by the apabhramsha writer Vibudh Shridhar . It is bordered by Punjab and Himachal Pradesh to the north, and by Rajasthan to the west and south...
. Officials found evidence of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and flammable material, including three un-detonated IEDs. The National Investigation Agency
National Investigation Agency
National Investigation Agency is a federal agency approved by the Indian Government to combat terror in India. The agency is empowered to deal with terror related crimes across states without special permission from the states. The National Investigation Agency Bill 2008 to create the agency was...
has stated that the blasts were masterminded by Swami Aseemanand
Swami Aseemanand
Swami Aseemanand is a former Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh activist from India who is accused of planning terror attacks on Ajmer Sharif, Mecca Masjid, 2006 Malegaon blasts and 2007 Samjhauta Express bombings. The Central Bureau of Investigation arrested Aseemanand on November 19, 2010 for his...
, a Hindu religious leader. Swami Aseemanand born as Jatin Chatterjee in West Bengal, joined the Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram, inspired by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in 1978.
On July 1, 2009, the US Department of Treasury designated Arif Qasmani of the Lashkar-e Tayyiba as a person involved in terrorism, citing among other things his involvement in the Samjhauta Express bombing..
On December 30, 2010, India's National Investigation Agency
National Investigation Agency
National Investigation Agency is a federal agency approved by the Indian Government to combat terror in India. The agency is empowered to deal with terror related crimes across states without special permission from the states. The National Investigation Agency Bill 2008 to create the agency was...
claimed that they had solid evidence that Swami Aseemanand
Swami Aseemanand
Swami Aseemanand is a former Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh activist from India who is accused of planning terror attacks on Ajmer Sharif, Mecca Masjid, 2006 Malegaon blasts and 2007 Samjhauta Express bombings. The Central Bureau of Investigation arrested Aseemanand on November 19, 2010 for his...
was the mastermind behind the blasts. He had roped in Sandeep Dange, an engineering graduate, and Ramji Kalsangra, an electrician, to build the improvised explosive devices used in the blasts. On January 8, 2011, Aseemanand allegedly confessed that Saffron terror
Saffron Terror
Saffron terror is a controversial phrase used to describe acts of Right-wing terrorism in India, allegedly inspired by Hindu nationalism. The phrase "saffron terror" is a neologism which entered public debate in India following the 29 September 2008 western India bombings.The Home Minister of...
outfits were behind the bombing of Samjhauta express, a statement later found to be obtained under duress.. Later the Hindu nationalist group RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh or National Patriotic Organization), also known the Sangh, is a right-wing Hindu nationalist, paramilitary, volunteer, and allegedly militant organization for Hindu males in India...
) sent a legal notice to CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation
Central Bureau of Investigation
The Central Bureau of Investigation is a government agency of India that serves as a criminal investigation body, national security agency and intelligence agency. It was established on 1 April 1963 and evolved from the Special Police Establishment founded in 1941...
) accusing it of deliberately leaking Swami Aseemanand's confession in the media. RSS spokesman Ram Madavh called the investigation maligning of organizations and individuals.