 "The 2007 Samjhauta Express bombing was a terrorist attack that occurred on February 18, 2007 on the Samjhauta Express, a twice-weekly train service connecting Delhi, India, and Lahore, Pakistan. Illustration: Santan")
It was on February 18, 2007, that the people of India and neighbouring Pakistan were stunned as two IED blasts on the Samjhauta Express train took place near Panipat, Haryana.
If you are a history geek who loves to learn about important events from the past, Firstpost Explainers’ ongoing series, History Today will be your one-stop destination to explore key events.
On this day in 2010, WikiLeaks published classified documents that were leaked by Chelsea Manning, a former United States Army intelligence analyst. Meanwhile, Pluto, once believed to be the ninth planet, was discovered by astronomer Clyde W Tombaugh in 1930.
Here is all that took place on this day across the world.
Samjhauta Express was bombed
On February 18, 2007, the Samjhauta Express train left The Old Delhi Railway Station at its usual time of 11:50 pm. It was headed to Attari Railway Station in Punjab, the last railway station on the Indian side. Two massive blasts shook the train and the people travelling in it near Diwana Railway Station in Haryana. The attack claimed the lives of 68 people, a majority of them Pakistanis, while 12 others were severely injured. The explosions caused a massive fire, trapping passengers inside the coaches.
Samjhauta Express was one of the few trans-border trains running between India and Pakistan. Started in 1976 following the Simla Agreement, it was an effort to promote people-to-people contact and cooperation between the two nations. Investigations revealed that suitcase bombs filled with flammable substances were responsible for the devastating blaze.
Following the attack, the Indian government launched a detailed investigation, which was later taken over by the National Investigation Agency (NIA). Initial reports linked the attack to extremist groups aiming to disrupt India-Pakistan peace efforts. Four people
In 2019, a special NIA court acquitted Swami Aseemanand and three others due to lack of evidence, sparking controversy and diplomatic tensions between India and Pakistan. Four extremists namely, Swami Aseemanand, Lokesh Sharma, Sandeep Dange and Ramji along with Sunil Joshi were arrested in connection to the blast. Citing insufficient evidence, a special NIA court acquitted Swami Aseemanand and three others in 2019. The verdict triggered controversy and further strained diplomatic ties between India and Pakistan.
WikiLeaks published documents by Chelsea Manning
It was on this day in 2010 that WikiLeaks, an obscure website, published a leaked diplomatic cable that detailed the discussions taking place between American diplomats and Icelandic government officials. This was one of the 7,50,000 sensitive documents that US Army analyst Chelsea Manning provided to the site.
As an intelligence analyst deployed to Iraq in October 2009, Manning had access to a wealth of classified and sensitive information. On January 5, 2010, she initiated a massive download of this material, beginning with 4,00,000 documents related to the Iraq War. She copied the data onto a CD marked “Lady Gaga” to smuggle it home. Her attempts to share the information with The New York Times and The Washington Post were unsuccessful, as were her initial contacts with WikiLeaks in early February.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsManning’s disclosures to WikiLeaks went beyond the Iraq War documents, encompassing a vast collection of US diplomatic cables that offered unvarnished insights into global leaders and international events. She also supplied a large cache of documents pertaining to the Afghanistan War.
In 2013, Chelsea Manning was found guilty of violating the Espionage Act and sentenced to 35 years in prison, although President Barack Obama commuted her sentence in 2017 following which she was released after serving seven years. The leaks and the subsequent legal proceedings surrounding Manning’s case became a focal point in broader conversations about government transparency, the ethical implications of whistleblowing, and the growing influence of media organisations like WikiLeaks.
Discovery of Pluto
Astronomer Clyde W Tombaugh discovered Pluto on this day in 1930. The planet, once considered to be the ninth planet of our solar system, was discovered at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona. Despite calculating the approximate location of the hypothesised ninth planet, Lowell’s search, lasting over a decade, yielded no results.
That changed in 1929 when the search for Pluto was resumed at the Lowell Observatory in Arizona. Tombaugh’s discovery of Pluto on February 18, 1930, was made possible by a novel astronomical technique involving photographic plates and a blink microscope. He used a technique called planetary motion comparison which led to the discovery of Pluto.
Venetia Burney, an 11-year-old girl from England, suggested the name Pluto after the Roman god of the underworld due to its cold, dark and distant location in the solar system.
Pluto’s discovery was significant at the time because it expanded our understanding of the solar system, adding a new, distant world. For 76 years, Pluto was considered the ninth planet until 2006, when the International Astronomical Union (IAU) reclassified it as a dwarf planet due to its small size and inability to clear its orbit. Despite the reclassification, Pluto remains an object of fascination. In 2015, NASA’s New Horizons mission provided stunning images and valuable data, offering new insights into Pluto’s surface, atmosphere, and moons.
This Day, That Year
On this day in 1960, seven nations established the Latin American Free Trade Association (LAFTA).
Hindu religious leader Ramakrishna was born in Hooghly, Bengal state, India on this day in 1836.
Martin Luther, leader of the Protestant Reformation, died at age 62 in Eisleben, Saxony in 1546.