Amid the death and destruction that overtook the Samjhauta Express at Panipat on Sunday night, the images reproduced here seem to belong to a faraway time. But it was only a little over three years ago when the train to Pakistan renewed its journey from Delhi to Lahore on January 14, 2004 and it appeared that the relationship between two countries was being put back on track. It was a season of new beginnings. Earlier, the bus service from Delhi to Lahore had begun on July 11, 2003; Lalu Prasad Yadav regaled Pakistani audiences in August 2003; air services between India and Pakistan were re-established on January 1, 2004; and there seemed to be a breakthrough at the Saarc summit that wound up a few days before the train was flagged off.
But nothing symbolised the subcontinental thaw more than the inaugural run of the train to Pakistan, carrying ordinary men and women, many of them unaware of the political symbolism of their journey, along with their stories of estranged relatives, missed family occasions, and rishtedaari
July 22, 1976
The Samjhauta Express was launched following the Shimla Agreement and ran between Amritsar and Lahore (42 kms) for a period of three years, extended from time to time
Following disturbances in Punjab in the late eighties, due to security reasons the Indian Railways decided to terminate the service at Attari, where customs and immigration clearances take place
FEBRUARY 1994
Samjhauta Express changed from a daily train to one that kept a bi-weekly schedule. Passengers could only carry two pieces of luggage. This was because of security considerations for the Indo-Pak cricket series in March
... contd.
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