Low-key Beating Retreat ceremony at 3 India-Pak border points in Punjab resumes today

Chandigarh, May 20 After 10 days of ceasefire between India and Pakistan, the Beating Retreat ceremony by the Border Security Force (BSF) is set to resume on Tuesday evening in a scaled-down version at the Attari-Wagah, Hussainiwala, and Fazilka borders, all situated in Punjab.

This comes after a 12-day pause amid military conflict between the two countries.

Officials informed IANS that there will be no handshake with armed personnel on the Pakistani side or the opening of border gates; however, audiences will still be permitted to witness the ceremony.

The ceremonies will take place at 6 p.m. at the Attari border near Amritsar, the Hussainiwala border in Ferozepur, and the Sadqi border in Fazilka.

The Border Area Development Front has given a call to the locals to reach Sadqi by 5.30 p.m. to enjoy the ceremony in large numbers.

On normal occasions, hundreds of spectators, comprising foreigners, gather to witness the ceremony.

The Beating Retreat, the first-of-its-kind iconic ceremony with an electrifying effect on the boisterous audience on the borders of two countries near Amritsar, has been witnessing a military exercise and lowering of the national flags of both India and Pakistan just before dusk since 1959.

The border guards on both sides normally exchange sweets on special occasions like Diwali and Eid, as well as Independence Day and Republic Day functions.

The Attari-Wagah Joint Check Post, which is some 30 km from Amritsar, while it is 22 km from Lahore in Pakistan, comprises a gallery with a capacity to accommodate nearly 25,000 spectators to witness the flag-lowering ceremony.

It was closed to spectators in the first week of March 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. India had chosen to skip the tradition in 2019 over growing incidents of ceasefire violations across the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir. After the surgical strikes by Indian forces across the borders in September 2016, the BSF did not offer sweets to the Pakistan Rangers.

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