Empty stands on the Indian side of Attari-Wagah border on Monday, a day after the blast.In a surprise move, Pakistan on Monday allowed the popular beating retreat ceremony at Wagah, a day after cancelling it following deadly terror attack near the International Border post.
Though there were no visitors on the Indian side, the BSF reciprocated and held a synchronised drill that was, however, a low-key affair as compared to the efforts by the Pakistan Rangers.
The Rangers conveyed to the BSF its decision to allow general public to view the flag-lowering ceremony at the border at around 4 pm — the time when visitors from the Indian side usually start pouring in. It informed the decision to the BSF at a commandant-level meeting.
The Pakistan Rangers allowed visitors into their pavilion and used loudspeakers to issue commands to the guards. Earlier, India had said that at the request of the Pakistan Rangers, there would be no beating retreat ceremony at the Wagah Border for three days from Monday.
Later, BSF IG (Punjab Frontier) Ashok Kumar said the retreat ceremony would be held as usual from Tuesday. “Unki koyi majboorian rahi hongi (They might have some compulsions),” the official said, maintaining that the Rangers should have informed the BSF well in advance if they were ready to hold the retreat ceremony.
As it was earlier decided that there would be no retreat ceremony for three days, the BSF had turned away the Indian visitors well over one kilometre away from the Joint Check Post. The electrifying ceremony starts with a blustering parade by the soldiers from both the sides, and ends up in the perfectly coordinated lowering of the two nations’ flags.
Meanwhile, security was beefed up by adding another tier over a kilometre from the main entrance to the Parade Avenue. The friendship buses were subjected to tighter security checks after crossing over to India earlier in the day with sniffer dogs being pressed into action and passengers being frisked.
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