Blocking Samjhauta

The blast in Samjhauta Express on the ill-fated night of 18th February killing 67 persons is a setback on the ongoing peace process between India and Pakistan. The life line between the two countries joining the relatives on the two sides of the border was targeted to derail the warming relation between the two rivals. Experts suggest that the timing was also perfect as Pakistan's foreign minister is arriving New Delhi on Tuesday for talks on peace process between the two nation. The terrorists have tried to give this blast the form of arson but it was their bad luck that two of the bombs went unexploded and investigating officials could make out the reason behind this fire. Had they been successful in proving this fire to be arson the direct blaim would have come upon the Hindu extremists and that would have proved to be a real deterrent in the ongoing peace process.
The governments on both the sides have shown their maturity by coming up with statements to continue the peace process building measures. Both the governments have refrained from pointing fingers towards each other and have realised the intentions of the terrorists groups and have vowed to fight against them.
The train started in 1976 following Shimla Accord has run uninterruptedly for over three decades but whenever there was tension between the two neighbours, be it operation blue star, Babri Masjid demolition or Parliament attack, this samjhauta has always been threatened. This explosion has also thrown light on the laxity in the Indian railway security. The Indian government should try to fill these loop holes and continue the peace process with Pakistan. If the despite of this blast the peace process continues smoothly then it would be real defeat for the person behind this heinous act.

Cauvery Vs Baglihar

Sharing of natural resources has always been a major cause of disputes between neighbouring states and when the resource is water then it is definitely a major cause of concern. Recently India witnessed two major verdicts in this water share issue. One was within the land and the with its arch rival Pakistan.
Within the land the dispute was between Karnatka and Tamil Nadu with both the states fighting over Cauvery water. The dispute is over 100 years old with agreements held between them as back as 1892 and 1924. With the spiralling tension between both the states the Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal was constituted on June 2, 1990. When the tribunal gave its interim verdict on June 25,1991, directing Karnataka to release 205 tmcft each year to Tamil Nadu, there was widescale violence in Karnataka. Again when the final verdict was awarded on 5th Feb, 2007 Karnataka witnessed widespread protest against it. The cause of resentment is the 192 tmcft of water that Karnataka has to release for Tamil Nadu at Billigundulu . The Tribunal has taken all the cases into consideration before awarding this final verdict with an option to disribute the water proportionately if there is shortage of water in a water year(June 1 to May 31). But the two neighbours instead of co-operating with each other are fighting over the issue whose solution could not be evolved in the past 100 years.
On the other hand a few days later after this verdict there was also the verdict given by the World Bank's neutral expert Raymond Lafitte. The row is over Baglihar dam that India is building on Chenab river. The world bank turned down Pakistan's contention the the dam would violate the Indus water treaty but also suggested India to reduce the height of the dam and in the process both the parties seemed to be satisfied with the verdict. Definitely it suggest the strong confidence building measure between India and Pakistan whose relationship is improving due to the efforts from both the sides.
Karnataka and Tamil Nadu should emulate this example and compromise with the situation to build an healthier relationship between them