Initially, those who had crossed over to Karachi and Hyderabad in Sindh imagined (as did some of the earlier Congress leaders) that Partition was a temporary inconvenience and soon folks would move to and fro like in some imaginary Schengen visa regime. The opposite happened. Attitudes hardened as the two new nation states secured the contours of their distinct nationalisms. The two nations fought several wars, transforming that magical vale of Kashmir into a continuously muffled wail. Since 1989, not so muffled either. It was against this tragic backdrop that the poor on both sides clutched onto the only valuable, they had been left with — relatives on both sides of the border. This is where the Samjhauta Express comes in handy. And now is this thread too being snapped?

There are various categories of people who travel between India and Pakistan. The seminarists, track-two professionals and the rich fly. This costs Rs 15,000. The Delhi-Lahore-Delhi bus costs Rs 900 each way. Both these methods of transport are beyond the means of those for whom relatives are the primary emotional anchor in life — the poorest Muslims on both sides. The Samjhauta fare is Rs 120.

It is these poor lives that have been lost in a macabre incineration of the two coaches.

The Godhra train tragedy had a political consequence. After the tragedy and subsequent mayhem, Narendra Modi won the elections in Gujarat. Before the tragedy, the BJP was routed in UP.

What consequences might one expect from this tragedy? Either the authors of this ghastly act have been so subtle as to leave us all totally baffled. Or, they have been so foolishly transparent as to make their target crystal clear: the Indo-Pak peace process. Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri was to arrive the next day. The pundits, of course, will get down to sequencing — Baghliar, Sir Creek, Siachen, Kashmir, the joint mechanism — each one of them sunk in deep thought.

... contd.