I was taken inside the train and I recalled whatever I could. I have been cooperating with the Indian authorities so that nobody raises a finger tomorrow saying that he was a Pakistani and did not cooperate,” said Rana Shaukat Ali who was brought to Panipat late last night to identify the bodies of his five children.

Ali is the most important witness of the Samjhauta Blasts. He was the one who saw the suspects, heard what they said and told investigators how they looked like. Ali was taken to the blast site near Diwana and the burnt bogies where he helped the investigators reconstruct the sequence of events.

Ali gave a detailed account of what happened on the train minutes before the blasts. He said that though he saw two men sitting at the door, only one of them entered into an altercation with RPF constable Kashmir Singh and he saw only one of them get down from the train.

It was believed that both suspects got down together, but Ali claims he only saw one get down when the train slowed down. “There was an argument between Sardarji (RPF constable Kashmir Singh who died in the blast) and one of the suspects. The suspect who was arguing got down from the train around 20-25 minutes after it had started from Delhi. Kambakht hans raha tha utarte wakht (he was smiling when he got down). I did not see the other person get down,” he said. At the Old Delhi railway station, Ali said he met Kashmir Singh as he was sitting on a chair near the door. “I asked him, ‘Sardar sa’ab khana kha lo (why don’t you have food?)’. When the train started I heard the Sardarji arguing with one of the men who told the RPF constable that he wanted to go to Ahmedabad. Sardarji ko gussa aaya aur kaha tumhe nahi pata yeh international train hai aur Attari jati hai,” Ali recalled.

... contd.